LeBron James Credits Mom Gloria For His Sly ‘Homecourt Advantage’ Tactic Towards Bubble Staff En Route To Lakers Title

Against all the odds, the Los Angeles Lakers clinched the 2020 NBA Championship, referred to as the NBA Bubble Championship. The title was LA’s seventeenth championship and the first and only chip in the LeBron James and Anthony Davis era.

Locked inside Walt Disney World during COVID, the Lakers won eight straight games before defeating Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat 4-2 in the series final.

Like all 22 teams in the Bubble, LA had pushed past travel bans, silent arenas, and tight health protocols, but the Lakers were the last team standing and returned the Larry O’Brien Trophy to Southern California.

James showed generosity during the NBA Bubble by treating every hotel staff member with consistent kindness and respect. He greeted the workers, bus drivers, and food service staff every single day with warmth, which created a subtle bubble of “home-court advantage” for the Lakers.

LeBron discussed this strategy for doing so recently on his Mind The Game podcast with co-host Steve Nash, giving credit to the way his mother, Gloria, raised him.

“I would like to say I take credit for creating a home-court advantage, but also my mom raised me a certain way just to be kind to people, no matter the circumstances you’re in. Ain’t no telling what they can do with my food, I would like to eat,” he said.

During the episode, LeBron described the Bubble as a level playing field: “It was the purest form of hoops. It was just strictly basketball.” Later, Bron discussed life inside the Bubble being stripped down to just focusing on basketball.

“But when the basketball portion was the focus. That’s all it was. You could go downstairs, and you had an opportunity to go downstairs and just work on your game, or they brought weight rooms in. But it was strictly strictly basketball.”

Daily testing and silent stands did not shake him. He found ways to raise his game, physically and mentally, that helped him carry the Lakers through the title run.

LeBron James credits his mother for almost everything

Over ten years ago, LeBron James published a moving essay about his mother, Gloria James, calling her “my champion.” In the essay, he credits her for teaching him work ethic and belief, and showing him how to outwork and outthink rivals long before his NBA stardom. He wrote about Gloria’s sacrifices as the base of his success.

He remembered nights when she chose groceries over bills so he could keep training. That mindset fueled his Bubble performance, where focus and discipline defined champions. Her values helped him throughout his legendary career and helped him push through the Bubble’s pressure and COVID distractions during the title run.

Her teachings about resilience, structure, and dignity molded his approach. That mother-son connection explains why LeBron still calls her his champion.