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The Lakers failed to reach the playoff spots six times in a row before this season and haven’t reached the league final since 2010 with Bryant. Six years were the hardest outside of the “playoff,” which also saw the worst three seasons in Lakers history, which hit rock bottom in 2016, when they closed with 17 wins to 65 losses in the regular round. The gold team also plunged into “humiliating” matchups during that period, suffering the worst three losses in their history between 2014 and 2017, including a loss to the Dallas Mavericks (73-122) in January 2017.
The worst case scenario during those years pushed the club’s management and administrators to take action and restructure the team again to return to competition and win titles. General Manager Mitch Kupchak was fired on February 21, 2017, and the former Magic Johnson star was named to the position of Chief of Basketball Operations. Later, team “governor” Jenny Bass announced that her brother Jim Bass was no longer vice president of basketball operations and that Bryant’s former agent, Rob Belinka, was named general manager. It was also during this period that almost all of the club’s staff changed hands.
The 2017-2018 period saw the arrival of many players who contributed to the rebirth of the team in 2020, including Kentavius Caldwell-Pop, Alex Caruso and Kyle Cosma. But the biggest prize was the arrival of LeBron James in 2018 with a four-year, $ 154 million contract.
LeBron James was injured in his first season with the team, but he came back and led the Lakers this season to the championship title, at the age of 35, and is in his 17th season in the NBA. It is also the third time he has won the Best Player award in the Final. (James won twice with Miami in 2012 and 2013, and once with Cleveland in 2016 and Lakers 2020). James became the fourth player in history to reach the final ten times, compared to 12 for former Boston player Bill Russell, 11 for Sam Jones (Boston) and 10 for Lakers legend Karim. Abdul-Jabbar.
In addition to James, there was Anthony Davis, who came to the team from the New Orleans Pelicans, who had been in impressive form in recent stint with the team. The harmony between LeBron and Davis was the cornerstone of the Lakers’ success this season, unlike other duos that created tension at the big clubs.
The Lakers’ road was not an easy way to win the title, as the favorite team to win was the Los Angeles Clippers, but the Lakers came from afar and may have benefited from the hiatus imposed by the emerging Corona virus. Portland is among the favorites to compete for the title. En route to the series finale, the Lakers edged out the Houston Rockets with their iconic players, led by James Harden.
The remarkable thing is that the Lakers won the championship this year, having won it in 2010 and 2000, that is, every 10 years they win the title.
Squashed numbers
LeBron James first reached the final at the age of 22 when he led Cleveland to the 2007 final, where he lost to the San Antonio Spurs. He then led the Miami Heat to the final four times in a row, winning the title twice and putting together a powerful hat-trick with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bush. He then returned to his first home in Cleveland and played exceptionally well with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love and won the title in 2016 at the expense of the mighty Golden State.
And Cleveland reached the final in James II (2015-2018) 4 times and won the title once. LeBron is considered the third highest grossing player in NBA history and has played in the “All-Star” game 16 times.
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