Asterisk or Star: The Story of the Lakers’ Championship

Contrary to what some might think, the Lakers’ path to the 2020 NBA Championship was filled with adversity, deserving of a star, not an asterisk. 

The unprecedented circumstances surrounding this year’s NBA playoffs show why the 2020 champions deserve a star for their historic accomplishment and not an asterisk, as some have posited. To take a closer look, let’s go back to how the league was in March, and see how everything developed from there. 

The league was midway through the regular season and teams were still fighting to win a spot in the top eight seeds to advance to the playoffs. The race for the league’s MVP between superstars Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James had gotten closer than it had at any point of the year, after James led the Lakers to wins over the Bucks and the Clippers to shorten the gap between him and the frontrunner Antetokounmpo.  Then came March 11, 2020, a sorrowful day for basketball fans across the world. That was the day when the NBA announced a hiatus following Utah center Rudy Gobert’s diagnosis of COVID-19. 

Then uncertainty hit. A majority of people were convinced that the NBA was done for the year, that basketball was gone. More importantly, people were convinced that the world was done for. The COVID-19 pandemic had shut down everything, from schools to stores to churches. This wasn’t just a sports struggle, it was a people struggle. 

That was only the first wave of adversity. The second one hit on May 25th, when a video went viral of an officer kneeling on the neck of an unarmed African-American male, whose name was in short time chanted in all of the major streets of America: George Floyd. Unrelated though it may seem on the surface, the death of George Floyd had a big impact on the NBA, whose players are predominantly black. Many NBA players were spotted participating and leading in the marches and protests that occurred. 

This posed a potential problem. NBA players, like many people in the country, were angry. They were taking action on the front lines of social justice. But this was all taking place while the league was attempting to create a situation where the NBA would be able to continue their season. Would NBA commissioner Adam Silver be able to create a compromise between the need to finish the 2019-20 season and the players’ need to be in their communities fighting for social justice? 

The “Black Mamba” jersey, a style designed by Kobe. A small heart emblazoned with a number 2 memorializes his daughter, Gianna Bryant. (Lili Burrows / News Road)

The answer: the NBA bubble. Based in Orlando’s Disneyworld, the NBA had prepared a place where NBA teams would stay together after testing for the coronavirus and quarantining. Throughout the remainder of the regular season and postseason, the NBA bubble managed to keep all its inhabitants safe, with zero cases of the coronavirus reported. 

Yet the NBA bubble is also important because of other factors, including social justice. Commissioner Silver, after talking with the NBPA (NBA’s Players Association), understood that the only way the season could go on in a league where 80% of the players are black, was if the NBA bubble fully embraced the views on social justice held by these athletes. The result was that players were allowed to put phrases of their choosing on their jerseys — “Black Lives Matter,” “Say Their Names,” and “I Can’t Breathe” —  all in reference to the issue of police brutality. 

The courts in the NBA bubble had, in clear black font, the phrase “Black Lives Matter”, a phrase which the players insisted on being promoted if they were going to play. All the players with the exception of a few, kneeled and locked arms together during the national anthem as a sign of unity with the protesters. 

The bubble also has a historical significance from the standpoint of racial justice as a symbol of compromise between business and culture. Starting with Bill Russell, the NBA legend who fought for the rights of African-American athletes in sports, there has been a legacy of athletes who are also activists for change. The medium and compromise between the business and the social aspect of sports is a big picture issue. The bubble was the result of Commissioner Silver’s decision to make the ultimate compromise and give the players leeway to turn the entire NBA into a platform for racial justice. The positive effect this will have, and already has had on sports and on the world in general, is apparent, but it hasn’t been all positive. 

In the world of social justice, there is always a price to pay. The NBA paid this price in the controversy that brewed from viewers who disagreed with players kneeling during the national anthem, and with those who disagreed with the meaning behind Black Lives Matter. Oklahoma Representative Sean Roberts threatened to rescind tax breaks for Oklahoma City Thunder if they kneeled for the flag, which didn’t deter the team. The controversy even reached the White House, with President Trump actively opposing the NBA’s stance. For example, the President recently tweeted on September 1, “People are tired of watching the highly political @NBA. Basketball ratings are WAY down, and they won’t be coming back. I hope football and baseball are watching and learning because the same thing will be happening to them. Stand tall for our Country and our Flag!!!” 

President Trump is partially right in saying that ratings were down, although there isn’t any proven connection between the declining ratings and the social justice movement of the NBA players. The more likely reason is the fact that the postseason of the NBA took place at the same time as several other sports, as well as during the election, the first time in NBA history.

Social justice wasn’t the only field where players encountered adversity. Part of what made the NBA bubble so efficient was their strict policy on COVID-19 prevention. For nearly two months, NBA players were forced to stay in a bubble isolated from their families and friends. They were assigned to a room to stay in alone, where they were delivered food. On August 30th, the NBA allowed for loved ones to join players in the bubble, but it was still on a strict basis. The result was a psychological and emotional test on the players. Stuck on a proverbial  “island,” they had to learn how to prepare their mind to play without a familiar scene, or friend to help them. 

The combination of anguish the players felt because of the movement for social justice and the emotions they felt in the bubble reached a peak when Jacob Blake was shot by police officers. That was when the Milwaukee Bucks decided to boycott their playoff game, which led to all of the other NBA teams in the bubble boycotting their games as well.. Yet again, the NBA was on pause. 

This led to a reportedly emotional meeting between all the players in the bubble. Discussions were held about the boycott, with some frustrated that the Bucks had not coordinated their decision with the other clubs. A vote was made to continue the postseason, and all teams voted to continue, with the exception of the Lakers and the Clippers (coincidentally the two favorites to win the championship). Lakers’ forward LeBron James and Clippers’ forward Kawhi Leonard both voiced their dissatisfaction with the NBA governors’ performance on the front of social justice. Both Leonard and James’ voices were not ones to be taken lightly. Leonard, the leader of the LA Clippers and one of the top athletes in the league, and LeBron James, the face of the NBA and the biggest social activist in the league, were ultimately leaders all the players looked up to. 

Both the Lakers and Clippers walked out of the meeting, and LeBron James had a call in the middle of the night with President Obama, who helped LeBron form a plan of action. Ultimately, the Lakers and the Clippers decided to continue the season, on the condition that NBA owners would help the players with furthering social justice. This included all the NBA owners using their stadiums and arenas as voting centers for the election. The Milwaukee Bucks spent time on the phone with Milwaukee Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes discussing their plans, which led to Governor Evers calling a special session and introducing a package that included police reform. 

The word “historic” is often overused, but the sequence of events that allowed for the postseason to continue on from here all qualify as historic. They are why this postseason will go down as one of the most eventful postseasons ever. These NBA players weren’t just playing a game. It was always more than just a game. 

The championship is even more meaningful when we look at the story of the franchise that won it: the Los Angeles Lakers. The Los Angeles Lakers are the most celebrated franchise in the league, winning the most championships in modern NBA history. But, for the last decade, the Lakers were not a winning team. The last time they had won was in 2010, with arguably the greatest Laker of all time: Kobe Bean Bryant. Kobe, a man who was the definition of work ethic and discipline, who had given 20 years of blood, sweat, and tears to the Lakers, had passed away at the beginning of the year in an unexpected death, which had devastated not only the franchise, but the entire city of LA, and the world. The Lakers winning the championship gained meaning not only because of their legacy of winning, but because it would be dedicated to the legacy of the victorious Kobe Bryant.  

It’s even more valuable when we consider the leader of the Lakers, LeBron James. LeBron James, thought by most as the greatest player in the world and the face of the NBA, had been invested the entire postseason with his activism. As the creator of More Than A Vote, he had fought for voting rights for African-Americans, and helped restore voting rights for thousands of ex-felons in Florida. As one of the biggest voices in sports on racial justice, James had received plenty of backlash for speaking on the struggles of black Americans and against the Trump administration. 

LeBron James had always had a great relationship with Kobe Bryant. Earlier in his career, he had been friendly rivals with Bryant. While Bryant ruled the West, James ruled the East, and even though they never met in the finals, they dominated together on the USA Olympic team. When LeBron James was still in high school in 2002, prior to entering the league in 2003, he had driven with his friend to Philadelphia to meet Kobe, who was playing in his first NBA All-Star game. He received a pair of sneakers from Kobe, which he wore in his own game the next day. 

Nearly two decades later, LeBron James was welcomed by Kobe Bryant to LA as a Laker, despite wary fans, who saw LeBron as a threat to their beloved Kobe’s legacy. Not long after that, LeBron James passed Kobe Bryant in all-time points in a game that took place in that same city of Philadelphia, Kobe’s hometown. 

Then, when Kobe died, the sorrow hit, and fans saw LeBron, amongst other players, filled with tears and immense grief. That grief eventually turned into determination, as he, together with his teammate Anthony Davis, a protege of Bryant, were filled with zeal to win the championship. 

During the playoffs and the finals, we witnessed LeBron James, even in his 17th year, play with a mindset similar to the mamba mentality of the late Kobe Bryant. We saw greatness, a greatness very much like Kobe Bryant, and a greatness like another giant: Michael Jordan. 

That was ultimately where LeBron’s greatness was pointing during this postseason. It wasn’t about this championship, nor about the three he had won prior; it was about establishing the greatest legacy any player had established. Jordan had come out with the Last Dance, a ten part documentary about his last and most historic championship run. LeBron was coming out with his own dance, although it now seems like it is far from being his last. Both point to a struggle for winning the title of GOAT: the greatest of all time. 

Whatever stance you have on the debate between LeBron and Jordan, what is undisputed is that LeBron’s fourth ring and fourth finals MVP furthers his legacy, whether it belongs to a GOAT or not. 

As we look at the 2020 postseason and the championship campaign of the Lakers, we see that far from an asterisk, this championship deserves a star. This championship is emblematic of a group of players that fought for justice, that fought for their fallen hero, that fought for historic greatness, despite all the unprecedented circumstances. Grit, zeal, determination, those are things that speak to us, whether or not we are fans. We can do well to apply these values to our own battles, so that we, too, can become champions.