NBA basketball: the Lakers champions after an extraordinary season

Los Angeles Lakers fans masked because of Covid-19 celebrate their team's NBA coronation and pay tribute to a Kobe Bryant who died on January 26, 2020. REUTERS / Ringo Chiu

Text by: David Kalfa Follow

6 min

The Los Angeles Lakers have won the North American Basketball Championship (NBA) for the 17th time.

LeBron James, best player of the finals, and his partners, beat the Miami Heat 4 to 2, after a chaotic season.

From the death of Kobe Bryant to the Black Lives Matter movement, including the coronavirus crisis and its consequences, a look back at nine extraordinary months.

Publicity

Read more

On October 22, 2019, the 74th season of the North American Basketball Championship (NBA) began.

Twelve months later, it ended with

.

For the Californians to equal the Boston Celtics' NBA title record (17) is an event but not a surprise.

On the other hand, the circumstances and the context in which

- and his teammates overcame the Miami Heat (4-2) are unprecedented.

In conflict with China

The first three months are initially disrupted by a diplomatic conflict with China.

In early October, during the Houston Rockets' Asian tour, one of its leaders tweeted a message of support for protesters in Hong Kong, angering Beijing.

In retaliation, the Chinese media stop broadcasting the matches.

.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are lost.

On January 1, it was

, a great architect of its internationalization, who died.

The all-powerful league consoles itself, however, by organizing three regular season matches abroad: two in Mexico City in December;

and especially one in Paris, January 24.

Delighted by the enthusiasm around

, Stern's successor, Adam Silver, proudly announces a return to France from 2021.

Death of Kobe Bryant

Two days after the NBA Paris Game, January 26, 2020, it is however astonishment.

, perishes in a helicopter crash with his daughter and seven other passengers.

The death of the former Los Angeles star, who retired in April 2016, plunges the world of sport and especially basketball in astonishment.

Especially LeBron James, who succeeded him as Lakers star, and Michael Jordan, who was Bryant's idol.

The two best basketball players of all time pay deep tributes to the player, who died at the age of 41.

The derby between the Lakers and the Clippers, scheduled for January 28, is postponed sine die.

It will only be played on July 30 ...

The season interrupted by the Covid-19

In March, like everywhere in the world, the Covid-19 pandemic leads to the cancellation or postponement of many major events.

The NBA, concerned about its image, takes the threat very seriously.

Rudy Gobert, French player of the Utah Jazz, a little less, obviously… After a press conference, the Frenchman voluntarily touches the microphones of the journalists present in the room.

Gestures that he repeats with his team-mates' belongings, in the locker room.

Problem: a few hours later, the prankster is officially the first player in the league to test positive for the new coronavirus.

Many more cases will be detected very quickly.

But the National Basketball Association immediately takes the lead and

as of March 11.

The Black Lives Matter movement

During the following three months, behind the scenes, NBA leaders, team bosses and player representatives, are busy around the next step.

But a new element comes into play: the death of George Floyd, an African-American of 46, killed on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis by a police officer.

In a league that is significantly more progressive and politicized than other major North American sports organizations, this affair arouses immense anger.

When the resumption of the 2019-2020 season is voted on, on June 5,

refuse to return to the courts.

For them, the fight against discrimination and inequalities are their priority.

In a bubble, at Disney

On July 30, however, the season does restart… at Disney World.

To limit the risk of contagion, the NBA and 22 of the 30 teams are gathered in Orlando, Florida, in an area that is sealed off from the outside world.

All the delegations are accommodated in the vast complex of amusement parks.

The meetings are played out in rooms without spectators and with the strict number of people necessary.

All those living in this "bubble" comply with a very restrictive health protocol.

After three months, no case of Covid-19 will be officially detected.

A strike in the middle of the final phase

Despite the surreal context, the NBA finally thinks it is at the end of its sentences.

But on August 26, 2020, the

play-offs, following the police shootings on August 23 on Jacob Blake, a young African-American.

Among the players, the discussions are linked: should we finish the play-offs or mark the occasion more for things to change in the United States?

After three days of hesitation, the meetings resume.

A 2020-2021 season already disrupted

On the night of October 11 to 12, 2020, the Lakers therefore put an end to an unprecedented season, four months longer than usual.

Which is obviously not without consequences.

Adam Silver has already announced the 2020-2021 fiscal year will not start before the end of December and that it may not end before the Tokyo Games, postponed for a year because of the coronavirus.

Many NBA players could therefore skip the Olympics next summer.

As for the format of the next season, a return to a “bubble” cannot be ruled out, if the sanitary conditions do not change sufficiently ...

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• Basketball

• Sports

• United States