The NBA had a “three-month science project” during the 2019-20 season. From quarantine videos to the near abandonment of the restart to the Lakers’ title, joevardon and sam_amick share memories of 'The Bubble' in this episode of “A King’s Reign.” More:
The unique experience of ‘The Bubble’The context of this, of course, is that there was a bubble. And at the end of it, LeBron and the Lakers won the NBA championship. It was LeBron’s fourth title. He became the first player ever to lead three different teams to an NBA championship. We have never seen any circumstances like that before or since. But this episode isn’t just about that.
As you kind of highlighted, they come up with this plan: 22 teams, 13 from the West, nine from the East. That differentiation was based on essentially the idea of who was closest to playoff position at that time in the standings. If you were within six games, then you got the invite of the playoff position. If you weren’t, you did not. And it was kind of “away we go.”But it was a grand experiment that was hatched by everybody from Commissioner Adam Silver to Disney CEO Bob Iger.
So we can start from the top. But you were there first, so take us behind the curtain a little bit. How was the opening stretch for you?Looking back on it, I always look at it fondly. And I know when it was happening in the moment, in the present tense, I recognized the weirdness of it and the difficulty of the schedule of living and of all the precautions we had to take for COVID of the week in total quarantine inside your room.