Years from now, it’s going to be difficult to believe that the NBA bubble even happened. Honestly, we’re only five years removed from it, and it doesn’t seem real now. Twenty-two NBA teams were crammed together all in the name of “the show must go on.”
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The bubble was a fascinating sociological and athletic event. Its unique conditions eventually saw LeBron James and Anthony Davis lead the Los Angeles Lakers to the title over Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat. Some critics have attempted to put an asterisk on the title, but in all actuality, the Lakers overcame more to hang this banner than any team has had to face before.
LeBron has been to the Finals nine other times, but the bubble was a different beast. He was asked by his Mind the Game cohost Steve Nash what it was like to compete under such circumstances, and he had lots to say.
“You have to get tested in the morning,“ he said. “You might bump into [the Heat] in the courtyard while you’re eating. It’s mental warfare. It’s no escape. It’s like, I’ve battled this guy, he’s pushed me, he’s cursed me out. It’s a physical game. And then when it’s time for me to finally relax and go back and have a glass of wine, I’m bumping into this guy in the elevator.”
Compare that to any other time when one team commutes to the arena from the comfort of their own home, while the other team is siloed off in their own hotel. Other than when they share the court for 48 minutes of basketball, never the twain shall meet.
“That was a very challenging, difficult thing,” LeBron said, “because you just don’t want to be around the competition, until I get on the floor. You want to save it for when it counts.”
Each player had to sacrifice and make a huge commitment just to be able to compete in the bubble. LeBron described the process of getting his family in to see the game, which meant his wife and kids were quarantined for a week before they were even allowed to see him. “You had to bring ’em in like two weeks beforehand, before the games even started,” he recalled.
For LeBron and the Lakers, at least, that sacrifice turned out to be worth it. He won his fourth ring, Anthony Davis got his first, and the Lakers, for the time being, tied the Boston Celtics with their 17th.
LeBron has always been lauded for his superlative basketball IQ, but what he did in the bubble isn’t talked about enough as supporting evidence for that. While other teams wilted under the pressure, the Lakers thrived, and LeBron strengthened his case as one of the best to ever do it.
