NBA: The bubble champion shouldn’t be viewed differently

The NBA’s bubble champion should be praised

There have been weird seasons in the NBA in the past, and whenever it happens there are always people who say they won’t count the team that wins the championship at the end of the season. One good example of this was in 1999 when the NBA lockout caused the players to play in only 50 games.

This season is like no other season in NBA history. With a global pandemic on hand, playing basketball wasn’t at the top of any one’s list. Not only can players transmit the virus quickly in a contact sport like basketball, but the thousands of fans that fill each arena would also be put at risk.

That’s why the NBA entered a hiatus in mid-March. Eventually, the NBA announced that they would finish the season at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando on Disney property. The news was expectedly met with skepticism from players and fans.

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Will they jump into the playoffs? What about the rest of the regular season? Does everybody travel to Orlando? These were the questions everyone who covers and is a fan of the NBA wanted to know. It was announced 22 teams would travel to Orlando, have a training camp, and play eight more games before heading to the playoffs. Some people believe due to the unorthodox season, a team that normally wouldn’t be in a position to win a championship could win.

"“Any team that wins this year there’s an asterisk, there not going to get the respect,” hall of fame center Shaquille O’Neal told USA Today Sports."

If the past lockout seasons show us anything, it is that people won’t stick to that mindset 10 years from now. Twenty years from now people will have to look up and see what year the NBA Bubble season was. Tim Duncan by many is considered the best power forward of all-time. His resume says five NBA championships, although his first one came in a 50-game season.

There were a lot of people who hated the Miami Heat when they had the big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. They were known as the villains in the league. A lot of people hated them, but no one remembers they won their first championship together in the 66-game 2011-12 NBA lockout season. Why would we expect anything different from this season? Over the next three to five years people will remember this NBA season was strange, to say the least, but in 10 years people will forget just as they did with the Tim Duncan-led Spurs and the big 3 in Miami.

I actually will have tremendous respect for whoever can pull this off and win a championship. The NBA lockout seasons were different for the players, but this bubble NBA is like being on another world.

It feels like the NBA is trying to survive during the zombie Apocalypse. Not only are players away from their friends, family, and daily routines, they can’t leave the bubble until their team is eliminated from playoff contention, or they are eliminated in the playoffs. Although the Disney resort has given the players some activities to do during their downtime, like golfing, fishing, ping pong, being away from the people you love for that long could take a mental toll on some of the players.

Another issue will be the game condition. I always hear NBA coaches and former NBA players say you can practice and lift weights all you want, but nothing can prepare you for an NBA game. Some of the players hadn’t touched a basketball since the season was suspended. When fans look at players like LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard they think they are genetically engineered cyborgs and that Giannis Antetokounmpo was an NBA 2k created player brought to life, but these NBA players are human.

Giannis became a dad in February and Gordon Hayward said he will leave the NBA bubble for the birth of his fourth child. How will this affect the teams? What if the virus goes through a team during the playoffs? Not only will this NBA championship come down to the players’ physical health, but the players’ mental health will also be tested in a way it never has before.

With the uncertainty that lies ahead for the NBA, I will have the ultimate respect for whatever team can finish the season as a champion.