Given how divisive it is, there will never be a uniform opinion on the Lakers’ 2020 title.
For some — like basically any respectable NBA player who was there — the title is one of the most impressive, given the circumstances. For loud wrong people, it’s a lesser-than title.
What shouldn’t be up for debate, regardless of the validity of the title, though, is that it’s a shame they never got to properly celebrate it. Because of everything going on in the world in 2020, a parade was never a viable option.
And that’s something that still bothers LeBron James.
In his return to his Mind the Game podcast prior to training camp kicking off around the league, LeBron James spoke about his time in Los Angeles and brought up the fact that the Lakers never really got to celebrate their title.
“It bothers me, [on a scale of] 1-10, 20. Just to be able to celebrate with the Laker faithful. I don’t know what the route would have been. I’m thinking go down Olympic, just all the way down Olympic and then end up downtown right by Staples Center. Everybody want to call it Crypto but it’s Staples Center to me. It would have been super, duper dope. But we did that. We did that and that banner’s up there. That banner’s in that arena forever along with the other ones that’s been able to go up in the history of the Lakers franchise.”
Even if the Lakers wanted to celebrate, the league didn’t exactly give them much time to do it. Their six-week offseason didn’t exactly lend itself to much time to plan things.
Now, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where they get to ever truly celebrate the title. Perhaps in the future if/when the Lakers win another title, they can have members of the 2020 team tag along. But would it feel the same?
It would likely have to happen in the distant future as it’s hard to imagine LeBron being on a different team and celebrating a title in LA with the Lakers. Hopefully, though, it’s something the team has to contemplate in the future because that 2020 team does deserve to be celebrated and given it’s flowers.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
