‘Lakers’ title has no asterisk but a gold star”: Rob Pelinka slams Pat Riley for questioning LeBron James and co. on Bubble title

Rob Pelinka defends the Lakers 2020 NBA championship by saying it was one of the hardest championships won in NBA history.

As soon the NBA Bubble was announced back in June, the narrative shifted rather quickly from, “thank god the NBA is back” to “this title run wouldn’t even count when it’s all said and done”.

Despite all hubbub surrounding the ‘difficulty’ of this title run, almost all players came out in favour of saying that the Bubble was one of the hardest challenges they had to overcome.

This last Friday, Heat executive Pat Riley said that the Lakers championship actually does have an asterisk next to it and Rob Pelinka answers back.

Riley though wasn’t questioning the lack of travel in the Bubble or the absence of fans. He was pointing out to the fact that Heat played the finals without two very important players in Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic. Both stars missed multiple games of the NBA finals, and thus Riley feels that the world didn’t get to see how to full strength sides would have competed for that elusive Larry O’Brien trophy.

Also read: ‘Lakers’ championship will have an asterisk’: Pat Riley takes dig at LeBron James and co. after historic Bubble title

Rob Pelinka has a message to everyone who doubts the how legit this Lakers title is

Rob Pelinka appeared on an episode of the Woj Pod on the same day Pat Riley said that this Lakers title had an asterisk next to it. Pelinka said, “I think some have asked, ‘will this championship have an asterisk on it?’ I like to say ‘no’, it has a gold star.”

He continues on to say, “Just because you had to do so much more to get to the end, and I think it was a testament to our team and the players and staff coming together in that environment.”

Pelinka’s comment comes in as a direct response to Riley’s dig at Lakers’ title, as he feels that LeBron James and co. brilliantly adjusted to the circumstances around them and were able to deliver when it mattered.

Does this Lakers championship have an asterisk next to it?

Pat Riley tried it discredit this championship win because the Heat didn’t have Goran Dragic for most of the series and Bam for 2 games.

Also read: “Michael Jordan is far superior to LeBron James”: Hakeem Olajuwon explains why Lakers star is not the GOAT

The same could be said for the Lakers as they were missing their best perimeter defender in Avery Bradley.