The Los Angeles Lakers won the 2019-20 NBA championship, and suddenly the league has been sent into a state of complete chaos.
The Los Angeles Lakers are your 2020 NBA Champions. It’s a statement that makes sense. It’s a statement that was ringing throughout the league long before the pandemic games started. Many will say that it was this season that marked the Lakers championship territory, but it was really last season that challenged and pulled the veil off the new-look Lakers.
The Los Angeles Lakers, with newly acquired star LeBron James, had a surprise tumultuous season in 2018-19, finishing 37-45. They failed to make the playoffs while some had projected them to win it all early. And of course, those were the expectations. The Lakers were going to win it all at some point anyway in the LeBron era.
This marked a new era for the Lakers. Talks continued to swirl around the new Lakers, and with the expertise of their new frontman LeBron, the Lakers were expected to build a roster for the future and for the King to win his fourth championship. And this is what the Lakers and LeBron did.
The expectations for the Lakers at the beginning were immediately high. They weren’t necessarily clear or perfect because of how and why LeBron decided to join the Lakers was complicated. Maybe it was the warm weather. Maybe it was the history. The fact that he would be one step closer to proving worthy of longtime comparisons to Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant motivated LeBron.
But the expectations were high, and this is why, when the Lakers fell, it was disappointing and shocking. The horrible start to last season confused many. It had to come from deep within, and this is something the Lakers worked on in their return in the 2019-2020 season.
As far as who would be joining LeBron in LA, the rumors were abuzz, and of course, the scouting had ensued as time went on. The King, soon to be the King of LA, had played scout himself, orchestrating the arrival of Anthony Davis.
As their season drew closer, new Lakers continued to be announced. Avery Bradley, Danny Green, Dwight Howard, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, and others. It already looked like a talented young roster mixed with some experience to assist LeBron.
The acquisition of former Indiana Pacers head coach Frank Vogel and his coaching staff, which consists of Hall of Famer Jason Kidd and former coach Lionel Hollins, was crucial. The coaching changes signaled something new and fresh for the Lakers also. Vogel is a steady and smart coach, up amongst the league’s notable. Vogel knows how to coach and he knows how to win. The Lakers having him aboard and actually using him would be useful.
Not that it would explain the horrific season they had and the losses and lack of chemistry in 2018-19, which all contributed to the Lakers’ downfall, but it would certainly make up for it. The Lakers put their heads down and went full force into this season with their new roster, their coach, and a new game plan.
The new game plan put the Lakers atop the Western Conference and only second to the Milwaukee Bucks in the entire league. The LeBron-led Lakers looked good on top of the league. The LeBron-and-AD Lakers looked better. It was clear that AD and Vogel were brought in to win. The team looked happy and fresh and ready to take on anything. At this point, the challenge was on everyone else. The others in the league had to take on the Lakers. It wasn’t easy for anyone.
Once the playoffs began, the Lakers weren’t expected to miraculously go downhill and let some other organization in on their glory. Of course, there were others. There was plenty of competition in the West this season, including the LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets out west. Then you had the east consisting of the Bucks, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, whom the Lakers faced off in the Finals.
The Lakers beat Miami 4-2 in the NBA Finals. LA reached their destination and came out with impressive victories. They nearly swept Miami, having been up 3-1 at one point. It looked dangerous to face the Lakers. LeBron and his supporting cast were achieving what they set out to do: win. They won it all because of it. LeBron was up against his biggest roadblock yet in the Heat and Jimmy Butler and still looked good.
In that matchup, the two best were head-to-head. Miami defeated all of their previous competition to get to the Finals and the Lakers did also. LeBron and AD were putting up a show, so were Heat stars Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. Many saw the others in their Finals, mainly Clippers and Bucks, but it was, at last, the Heat vs Lakers. It was a matchup that made sense. It was a Finals that made sense.
What propelled the Lake Show to victory was both their talent and their experience. AD brought something to the Lakers unseen by any team in the league. In LeBron, there was the experience, the genius to win. Although both teams competed hard, it made sense that the one with all the gifts and reason came out on top. It made sense because the Lakers wanted it and needed it more than any of their competition.
The Lakers success was deserving. It looked deserving. It felt deserving. In a historic season which saw the entire league hauled up in Orlando in the bubble, the league’s best showed and proved. The Lakers showed why they were the best in the league and even more so how their success had been hard-earned. Through the first-year challenges and all of the things the organization went through this season, from the China controversy to the passing of the great Kobe and the coronavirus, the Lakers showed and proved. The Lakers played through it and came out victorious.
The way the Lakers won and set out to win championships is something to admire. Having James and Davis this year meant that they could, and they can achieve a lot more in the years to come to compliment the Lakers’ history and their own. AD won his first ring this season, LeBron his fourth. LeBron won Finals MVP and his teammate wasn’t far behind with his performance to help them win. LA had a championship season. LeBron had an MVP season. It all made sense.
After the horrible season last year. After all of the offseason changes, acquiring LeBron and AD and others, it made sense that the Lakers have made an improvement to win and be the league’s best.