The National Basketball Association has never, and may never see a season go the way the 2019-20 campaign did ever again. Perhaps the most anticipated season in a decade due to the amount of teams that could realistically win a championship got all the way to March with that same state of the league being the case.
Then the coronavirus pandemic hit North America and threw everything off the rails.
The NBA, along with the entire sports world, was put on hold, and are just now returning to play four months later. While players have been hesitant to return to the court, some even skipping the trip to the NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida all together, stars across the league fought to get a resolution to the 2020 season. The likes of LeBron James pushed to resume play with the hopes of winning another ring. For older veterans like James that are in a great position to get to the NBA Finals, there is no guarantee another opportunity like this will be back as the three-time champion pushes 36 years of age.
Now that play has resumed and LeBron has an opportunity to regain the spotlight from Michael Jordan who felt his "G.O.A.T." status slipping through his fingertips before creating a seven-part series about his greatness, another question has arose. Even if a star like James was able to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to their first NBA title in 11 years, winning his fourth, would there be an asterisk on the championship win?
Some will say, yes. An argument could be made that teams got a mini offseason to rest and better prepare for the playoffs. They won't have to travel to different cities where the opposition will have home-court advantage.
That shouldn't make this championship any less prominent. If anything, winning it all in 2020 may be more difficult than in the traditional postseason format. No team having a home court is a huge disadvantage that everyone will need to overcome. No fans in attendance at all will be an adjustment when it comes to matching the same playoff intensity, and having the same atmosphere.
Taking time off may have been beneficial to older players who have much fresher legs heading into the playoffs, but the stoppage couldn't have helped for teams that were getting hot heading into the summer. It might have been a huge momentum killer for a lot of teams.
Contenders that are in Year 1 of a new core such as the Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers, and the Houston Rockets will have to rebuild the chemistry that was developing throughout the course of the season.
This isn't an easy task. Overcoming these obstacles, while having to take on a league that realistically has at least eight championship contenders will be quite the challenge for whoever comes out on top.
Sorry, Jordan. If LeBron wins another one, you might have to make another documentary.
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