“Because It Was LeBron James”: Dwight Howard and Ice Cube Defend the Lakers’ 2020 Bubble Championship

Since the final buzzer of the 2020 NBA Bubble Championship, many fans, pundits, and critics have been embroiled in fierce debates about the legitimacy of the title. The NBA finished the 2019-2020 season inside a bubble at Walt Disney World after COVID-19 shut down regular play, and critics haven’t shut up since.

Take a broader view, and the picture may get clearer: Maybe the real problem isn’t the “Bubble Championship.” Perhaps critics simply dislike LeBron James.

That Lakers roster wasn’t soft — it stacked Kyle Kuzma, JaVale McGee, 2025 NBA Champion Alex Caruso, former champion Rajon Rondo, Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Hall of Famer Dwight Howard.

When Dwight Howard visited The Breakfast Club on Power 105.1 FM with BIG3 founder Ice Cube, Charlamagne tha God steered the convo toward the 2020 title. Cube, a lifelong Lakers fan, did not hesitate.

“How do you discredit something that everybody wanted?” he asked. “All of them played to get it, and you can’t discredit it when everybody wants it, and one person comes out with it.”

Cube hit the gas: “Everybody can’t look and say ‘Ah, that wasn’t nothing.’ Nah. Everybody wanted it. Everybody played hard for it, and the Lakers won the championship.” Howard smiled, nodded, and doubled down. “We was the best team before it even started,” he said. “Before we even got to the bubble, we was the best team.”

Howard may have a right to feel that way, but as the saying goes, “Feelings aren’t facts” because Milwaukee owned the actual “best” record. The Bucks carried a 53-12 record into the restart, slightly ahead of the Lakers’ 49-14. But Howard never wavered. For him, the Lakers brought chemistry and drive, not just stats.

Then Dwight uncorked his real point — and said what many think out loud. “I just felt like because it was LeBron and the Lakers, and it’s like ‘no that didn’t really count,‘” he said. “But then why don’t you take away the lockout year that happened before that?”

He threw it back to the 1998-99 NBA season, which was shortened due to a lockout, when the San Antonio Spurs won the title. Some fans question that ring, too — but not as loudly as they bash the Bubble.

Cube, proud and loud, never fakes his Lakers loyalty. Dwight, now officially a Hall of Famer, still glows when he talks about that Orlando run. Both men showed up to promote the BIG3 — but took time to set the record straight about one of the hottestly contested rings in NBA history.