The end of 2020 brought with it some sobering reflections from Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel and the team’s top two stars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
When the year began last January, life was moving at a normal pace, but soon careened into areas that brought with it tragedy and unprecedented circumstances.
Vogel, James and Davis offered some succinct observations on the year as a whole.
“One of the worst years ever,” Vogel called it.
“A lot of people lost a lot,” James said.
“A year,” Davis added, “that caused so much pain and heartache to the world.”
The first devastating blow came on Jan. 26, with news that Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others had been killed in a helicopter crash.
Recovering from that loss soon gave way to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic that’s not only killed over one million people worldwide, but also devastated economies, including that of the United States.
“I think it’s something that I will be able to sit down and talk to my grandkids about and say that the year 2020 was one hell of a year,” James said. “The good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between.”
The pandemic shut down the NBA in March, with the season eventually resuming within the bubble in late July. Within that time frame, painful racial strife across America developed in the wake of the deaths of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement officers.
“We learned a lot from this year,” he said. “At least I did, from always checking in with your family, love your family, any bickering or beefs or whatever that you have, just squash it or you never know what can happen.
“I think a lot of people kind of live by that, just loving their family more and loving the people around them and anything that can be fixed try to fix it, because so many people lost their lives to this virus.”
The NBA postseason was temporarily interrupted because of a boycott by players over one of those tragic racial incidents, but eventually resumed.
When the 2019-20 season finally came to an end in October, the Lakers had captured the franchise’s first title in a decade.
“From a professional standpoint, it’s probably been my best basketball year ever,” said Vogel, who won his first championship in his first season coaching the Lakers. “So, it’s a little bittersweet in that regard. So many people have lost loved ones. They’ve lost their way of life. It’s been very tragic from that standpoint. So it is a little bit bittersweet.”
Yet, it seems clear that as memorable a year as it’s been, the Lakers are set to throw away 2020 and hope that 2021 holds more promise for not only them, but the world as well.
