The NBA Bubble Was Even Crazier Than You Remember

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
The 2020 NBA season was the strangest and most challenging in NBA history. The preseason started in September of 2019, and the last game of the finals was played on October 11th, 2020, 377 days after the first preseason game, which made it the longest season of all time. But it wasn't just the longest, it was marked by scandals, devastating losses, and uncertainty. First, there was the Darrell Murray scandal in early October. In January, the NBA mourned the loss of David Stern, not even a month later. The whole world cried after the tragedy of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. In March, the NBA and the rest of the sports world were suspended indefinitely due to the pandemic until it finally resumed on July 30th in the Orlando bubble. During the bubble, amid all the testing and unprecedented protocols, there was a player boycott due to social injustices. The whole season was in jeopardy once again. But in the end, basketball won. Vince Carter broke multiple longevity records, LeBron and Russ made history, becoming the first players to notch triple-doubles against every NBA team. We saw one of the greatest duels in playoff history, with Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray trading clutch buckets and 50-point games. Luka went crazy with one of the best game winners of all time.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:12)
Bang! Bang!

**SPEAKER_3** (1:14)
It's good!

**SPEAKER_4** (1:15)
Dunchech wins the game at the buzzer!

**SPEAKER_1** (1:18)
The joker and the Nuggets came back from a 3-1 deficit twice, while Miami and the best barista in the bubble showed the power of the heat culture. And when the dust settled, the best team won, with LeBron James trying to add to his case as the greatest of all time. This is the story of the 2020 NBA season, the Orlando bubble, and the most unique season in NBA history.
After the Raptors won the 2019 title, the NBA had a wild offseason. The Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard held franchises and free agents hostage.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:49)
I can't remember in the last decade so many different people in the NBA trying like heck to get information and not being able to.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:55)
Until he finally decided to join the Clippers along with Paul George, Paul is always a player that I wanted to play with. Who got traded from Oklahoma for SGA and a plethora of picks. The Lakers finally landed Anthony Davis after months of pursuit. KD and Kyrie joined forces in Brooklyn despite Durant's Achilles injury, while Russell Westbrook got traded for Chris Paul, reuniting with James Harden in Houston. In one of the most hyped draft classes ever, Zion Williamson was selected first overall by the Pelicans, John Morant went second to Memphis, while RJ Barrett got picked third by the Knicks. Darius Garland, Tyler Hero, and Jordan Poole were also selected, in a class that proved rather underwhelming, despite plenty of quality rotation players. But as the players and teams were getting ready for the season, on October 4th, 2019, Daryl Morey became the biggest story in sports. Morey, the Rockets' GM, tweeted in support of the Hong Kong protests against China, drawing criticism from the league, the Rockets' owner, and several high-profile players, including LeBron James.

**SPEAKER_6** (2:53)
But I believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:56)
The backlash from China was so severe that it resulted in roughly a $400 million loss for the NBA, the suspension of Chinese partnerships with the Houston Rockets, and a total blackout of Rockets' games by Chinese broadcasters. However, when the games started, the Morey scandal was soon forgotten, amid a plethora of interesting storylines around the league. On October 23rd, Kyrie Irving set the record for most points in a debut game with a new team, scoring 50 for the Nets against Minnesota. And on the next day, Vince Carter became the first player in NBA history to play 22 seasons, and in January, Vince Hannity became the first and only player to have played in four different decades. Anthony Davis broke the record for the most free throws made in a quarter with 18, while James Harden set a new record for most free throws without a miss with 24 Giannis and the Bucks continued their great form from the previous year and were on pace to win 70 games, with a 35-6 record after the first half of the season. In the West, a new partnership of LeBron and AD proved to be successful from the start, as the Lakers were comfortably leading the West ahead of the Nuggets and the Clippers. But on the first day of the new decade, the NBA family suffered a tragic loss.

**Maggie Newland** (4:03)
I'm Maggie Newland at the breaking news desk tonight. Former NBA commissioner David Stern has died.