Five years have passed since the NBA set up shop inside the Disney World bubble and crowned the Los Angeles Lakers as 2020 champions. Time may have moved on, but one debate clearly hasn’t: whether that ring holds the same weight as the rest.
This week, Philadelphia 76ers president Daryl Morey added fuel to the fire with a telling comment on The Bill Simmons Podcast. When asked about how people inside the league view the 2020 championship, Morey didn’t dodge. “There’s definitely a feeling that the bubble was different,” he said. “Not illegitimate, but different. And some people around the league see it with an asterisk, unofficially.”
Morey’s remark wasn’t meant as a dig-at least not overtly-but it confirmed what fans and analysts have whispered for years. The bubble playoffs removed crowds, travel, and all the external chaos that normally defines NBA postseason battles. To some, that made it purer. To others, easier.
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This isn’t the first time players and execs have aired similar views. Back in 2021, Scottie Pippen told Forbes that “AAU-style ball” doesn’t carry the same weight. Shaquille O’Neal has hinted at the same. Even Charles Barkley chimed in at the time, calling it a “pickup game environment.”
Of course, LeBron James has pushed back hard against that narrative. He called the 2020 title “the most challenging championship in NBA history,” citing the emotional toll of isolation and the constant uncertainty of a global pandemic. “You had to be mentally locked in,” he told ESPN in 2022. “No distractions, just basketball-and your thoughts.”
Statistically, the bubble saw some of the highest-level play in years. Jamal Murray, Devin Booker, and others had breakout performances. And let’s not forget: every team played under the same conditions.
Not everyone is rolling with Morey’s take. Goran Dragi, who played for the Heat in that Finals run, tweeted simply: “No asterisks. That bubble was real ball.”
The bubble season will likely never be replicated-and that’s what keeps it so polarizing. Whether it was more mentally grueling or less physically demanding, one thing is clear: people are still talking. And that, in the NBA, is the mark of a title that mattered.
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