Was the NBA Bubble a Success?
By Keegan Singh
When Adam Silver, the president of the National Basketball Association, announced that the league was restarting in a “bubble” on the premise of Disneyland in Orlando, I was slightly skeptical. After the league got suspended on March 11th, most fans thought that there would be no chance that the season was going to resume. These doubts began to amplify even more when Black Lives Matter riots started to take place within the United States after the death of George Floyd. After all this doubt, the NBA announced that the season would restart on the 30th of July with 22 of the 30 teams participating. The NBA also announced the structure of the “bubble” stating that 8 regular-season games would take place, then play-in games between the 8th and 9th to book a place in the playoffs.
Despite having no fans physically present and some players opting-out, the bubble was extremely successful. The NBA managed to host a tournament full of excitement and surprises on the court but also focused on off-court issues hindering society such as the BLM movement. The NBA stated that it was important for them to highlight social injustice in addition to providing entertainment instead of using basketball as a distraction to the injustices taking place in society. Considering the voice and impact that players have in society, it was a great move from the NBA to address social injustice issues in press conferences with the players and also by having “Black Lives Matter” on all the courts of all the games in the bubble. In addition to the success of addressing off-court issues, the bubble was also successful in terms of the on-court play.
Fans got to see a high level of play throughout the entire bubble, with many players having career scoring nights and constant highlight plays. Teams were also able to generate their own energy despite there being no fans, which added even more excitement to people watching the games from home. There were also some incredible surprise individual performances from individuals because of the lessened pressure of having no fans present. Certain players who weren’t scoring efficiently before the bubble such as Jimmy Butler, Jamal Murray, Tyler Herro, and Rajon Rondo looked like completely different players during the playoffs which added to the excitement of the bubble. It was also a very good touch from the NBA to implement virtual fan viewing during games to still add some “authenticity” to this extremely bizarre NBA season.
The Los Angeles Lakers won their 17th NBA Championship in the NBA Bubble. (Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports)
This season was like none other and will always be remembered. From the season being suspended to dealing with off-court issues and also dealing with the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, the NBA players and association had to undergo many obstacles in 2020. The eventual champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, have secured their place in NBA history as being one of the most resilient teams to ever win a championship because of all the hardships surrounding this season. The start date for next season has not been announced yet but even if fans are still not permitted to be in attendance, the level of play displayed during the bubble should have everyone excited. I can’t wait for the next season to begin and see which team will be crowned champions next.
Follow Keegan on Twitter @keegns