LeBron James still has one gripe from the Lakers’ 2020 championship run: the celebration never got its proper moment.
On the “Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash, James looked back on his time in Los Angeles and made it clear the title means everything to him - even if the full party never happened. He pushed back on the idea that his Lakers stint was about Hollywood first, saying he embraced the challenge of joining one of the league’s most storied franchises.
“A lot of people said when I came to the Lakers, I was just coming to be in Hollywood and movies and sh*t like that,” said James on the ‘Mind the Game’ podcast. “But I’ve always loved a huge challenge, and to come to a historical franchise that has some of the greatest basketball players that we’ve ever seen in the history of sports… to be a part of that was a super, super big thing for me.
It was cool and humbling at the same time. The expectations around here in Los Angeles when it comes to the Lakers, it’s like, let’s win championships.
I heard that, I understood that, and for us to be able to win one, that was something I will never forget.”
James spent eight seasons with the Lakers and put up 25.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game while shooting 51.3% from the field. The peak came in 2020, when he led the franchise to its 17th NBA title.
But that championship arrived without the kind of celebration Lakers fans had been waiting for. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team never got a parade, and James says that still sticks with him.
“That bothers me. 1 to 10, it’s 20. Like, just to be able to celebrate with the Laker faithful,” James added.
“I don’t know what the route would have been. I’m thinking go down Olympic just like all the way down Olympic, and then end up downtown right by Staples Center.
They want to call it Crypto and sh*t, but I call it Staples Center to me. It would have been super duper dope, man.
But yeah, we did that. We did that.
And that banner is up there. That banner is in that arena forever, along with the other ones that have been able to go up in the history of the Lakers Franchise.”
The Lakers’ first title since 2010 should have come with the full-pageantry treatment, and James made it sound like he still thinks about what that day would have looked like. Instead, the team settled for private dinners and outings, trying to make the most of a celebration that never fully got off the ground.
Even now, with his 24th season ahead, James is still chasing more - and still wants the kind of championship moment that never came in 2020.
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