Report: Lakers won’t unveil 2019-20 championship banner until fans can return to Staples Center

The Los Angeles Lakers will open up their 2020-21 campaign on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Although the Lakers will have a ring ceremony, the defending champs will not unveil their championship banner until fans can return to Staples Center.

“We won’t be unveiling a banner because we want to wait for the fans on that,” Lakers president of business operations Tim Harris told ESPN. “When you win a championship, the championship has a lot of quote-unquote owners. A championship belongs to the team, it belongs to the players, it belongs to the fans.

“And then the stuff that comes with a championship, the assets that come with a championship, it’s kind of like the ownership group are the caretakers of the trophy. And the rings when you win a championship, those belong to the players. And the banner when you win a championship belongs to the fans. That’s kind of how I look at this.”

The coronavirus pandemic has adjusted several normalities in the NBA world.

Of course, the NBA finished the 2019-20 season in an exclusive bubble in Orlando, Fla. Furthermore, the league conducted the 2020 NBA Draft virtually.

The Lakers won the title in the bubble. They defeated the Miami Heat in six games in the 2020 NBA Finals.

While they won’t be able to fully celebrate their championship with fans, the Lakers will receive rings. Lakers superstar LeBron James expressed himself in an emotional post regarding the ring ceremony on Tuesday.