Five years after the Lakers won the 2020 championship, Daryl Morey has sparked controversy by questioning the legitimacy of that title. While Morey may have retracted his statement and clarified what he meant, the damage in the NBA world was already done at this point.
Morey’s comments did not sit well with former players Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson. While Jefferson was more focused on his own experience in the Bubble, Perkins turned the tables on Morey and reminded him that he has bigger things to worry about than something that happened half a decade ago.
In his recent appearance on the Road Trippin’ podcast, Kendrick Perkins vented his frustrations with Daryl Morey’s take on the bubble championship.
“Five years later, like five years later, one, I don’t even know if Daryl Morey was in the bubble, right? Like, I don’t even know if he was there, right? Like that’s what I want to know. That’s number one.”
“Number two, we’re not going to start this asterisk by the bubble championship. I wasn’t in the bubble, but I did cover the bubble. I was on television, and I was watching when guys were getting eliminated, and I was seeing some of the guys. Damian Lillard said it felt like he did a bid, it felt like he was in jail.”
“It tested your mental toughness. One could argue that it’s probably one of the hardest championships to accomplish. Forget an asterisk, when you talk about being away from your family, being basically locked up in one place, and probably having to eat the same damn food every single day.”
“God knows what type of practice course they had to do. Seeing your opponent on a day-to-day basis, figuring out certain things. The pandemic took a toll on everybody in the world, let alone guys having to go down there and compete at the highest level.”
“Also, you don’t have the fans, which some people say, ‘Oh, well, that’s a reason to put an asterisk by.’ No, it’s not. It’s even harder to be motivated, right? It’s even harder to be motivated when you don’t have fans there. When you’re down 10 to 15 points, if you’re at a home game, your fans could help you get through games of having home-court advantage.”
“And last but not least, why is Daryl Morey even talking about this sh**? He had bigger things on his hands to worry about. Like one of your franchise guys, Joel Embiid, in an article that came out about three weeks ago basically called your a** out.”
“Basically said that this is a dysfunctional organization… said that y’all have been pressuring this man to play through injury… saying he doesn’t trust anybody anymore in the organization. Information was leaked from the Philadelphia 76ers meeting, with only the players and the coaches present. So you’ve got bigger things to worry about than to be worrying about a championship from f***ing five or six years ago.”
Joel Embiid’s recent interview with ESPN gave us a peek into the dark side of the 76ers organization. From pressure through injury, to hitting a reporter and allegedly knowing there’s a leak in the locker room, some very questionable things came to light about Daryl Morey’s team.
Kendrick Perkins essentially reminded him that instead of worrying about other teams’ championship runs, Morey should focus on providing his players a stable organization. Morey was the general manager of the Rockets at the time of the Bubble. If they had won the championship that year, the narrative may have been drastically different.
