The 2020 Los Angeles Lakers were ecstatic after winning the NBA championship, but that victory quickly became one of the most criticized in league history. Because it came in the bubble, under unusual conditions that were nothing like real postseason basketball, many questioned its legitimacy. As far as head coach Frank Vogel is concerned, though, the critics were simply haters.
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Vogel is here to defend his only championship in his entire career, stating that they were going to win it regardless of the setting. When the NBA decided to suspend the season in early March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lakers were 49-14 and in firm control of the #1 seed in the Western Conference.
The Lakers had no issues in the playoffs once they went to the bubble, either. They went 16-5 in the playoffs and never trailed a series by more than one game. Simply put, they were dominant.
“I don’t really subscribe to the fact that teams that lost get to say, ‘We didn’t want to be there.’ And the thing that sticks out to be, for all the people that want to asterisk this thing, we were the #1 team from day one,” Vogel said per The Athletic.
“We entered the bubble as the #1 team in the league, the #1 seed. We were gonna win that thing, whether it was in the bubble or whether it was in Staples Center. We were winning that thing. We had that belief.”
It’s a hard notion to dispute. After all, many forget that the 2020 Lakers had a deep roster. Of course, we remember the team being built around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But Vogel also had essential veterans that played key roles like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, Rajon Rondo, Alex Caruso, and Dwight Howard. Even Kyle Kuzma managed to average 10 points per game in the playoffs.
Frank Vogel defends the Lakers 2020 championship saying they were the best team all year and they would’ve won regardless of where it was played, per @TheAthletic
“I don’t really subscribe to the fact that teams that lost get to say, ‘We didn’t want to be there.’ And the thing… pic.twitter.com/y7Yi9EruOy
— LakersMuse (@LALMuse) October 17, 2025
It’s tough to say whether the Lakers would’ve experienced the same success if the circumstances had been normal. They breezed through the playoffs, which was perhaps because the squad was dominant. However, one could easily argue that they might’ve faced a tougher challenge if they had to play some of their postseason games on the road.
Let’s not forget, the Lakers lost Game 1 in both the first and second rounds of that playoff run to the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets. This means they would’ve had to go on the road with the series tied at one against both teams. And almost every NBA fan knows how tough it is to play in Portland and Houston.
At the end of the day, Vogel is probably right. It’s hard to deny that the Lakers were the best team that season. There wasn’t any other clear-cut favorite. The Lakers had two top-10 players in the NBA and a supporting cast filled with experience. That’s why it’s time to admit that Los Angeles won a fair title in 2020. Nevertheless, it will likely be debated forever.
