The Los Angeles Lakers took home what some have called the hardest NBA championship to win in the history of the league.
The unique nature of the NBA bubble brought unforeseen challenges for players and coaches alike. However, Miami Heat team president Pat Riley has come forward to express his belief that the 2020 title will always be marked with an asterisk in his mind.
“I would like to see what it would be like with everybody whole. We’ll get our chance again,” Riley said of the championship series. “The Lakers have the greatest player in the game today in LeBron [James] and Anthony Davis.
“They beat us fair and squarely. But there will be always be that asterisk; if we had Bam [Adebayo] and Goran [Dragic] 100 percent — Goran was our leading scorer [entering the Finals] — it might have gone to a seventh game.”
It is an interesting take, but not necessarily a fully fair one. After all, teams that advance deep into the playoffs very regularly have to deal with injuries.
Just the season before, Kawhi Leonard and Toronto Raptors went up against a Golden State Warriors squad that lost both Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson in the finals series. Still, few have argued that the Raptors’ championship needs an asterisk attached, let alone Warriors president Rick Welts.
Beyond that, the Lakers were shorthanded for the entirety of their championship push. Avery Bradley, their best perimeter defender, missed the entirety of the season’s restart.
In the end, whatever anyone says about the Lakers’ title doesn’t matter much. What matters most is that a 17th banner will be hung in Staples Center and all the fantastic players and staff on the team from last season will get to wear their much-deserved championship rings.
