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Par Joël Pütz | Journaliste sportif
Five years later, the Lakers’ championship run in the Orlando bubble remains one of the most controversial in history. Alex Caruso, a member of the Purple and Gold at the time, even delivered a fiery rant about it after OKC’s victory.
For the first time in its history, Oklahoma City is NBA champion! Beating the Pacers in Game 7, the Thunder ascended to the league throne after narrowly failing to reach the Finals in 2012-13, losing to the Heat. An incredible achievement for a very young team, led by Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
On the other hand, this situation is nothing new for Alex Caruso, the only member of the team to have already been an NBA champion before 2025. The guard was a member of the Lakers during the 2019-20 season, when Los Angeles triumphed in the Orlando bubble. Interviewed at a press conference, he dropped a savage punchline:
Alex Caruso unfiltered on the Thunder and Lakers titles
Yeah, now I got a real one. Now nobody can say anything. Yeah, I think just because of the way the team is constructed now versus the team I had in 2020, like it was much harder with this team just because of the experience, right? And everybody talked about you need experience, win a championship, and you need this, that, and the other.
And I said multiple times through the postseason with this team that the good basketball is good basketball, winning basketball is winning basketball. And the best team can win no matter what happens. If you go out there and execute and do the stuff that you need to do to win the game. And I think through the playoffs, this team grew up and learned on the fly, which most teams have to learn through losses and learn through defeats. And I think this team learned through success.
As a reminder, many consider the Lakers’ 2020 title triumph to be accompanied by an asterisk, given its exceptional circumstances. The journey of LeBron James and his teammates is therefore regularly downplayed by observers, while many stars explain that the bubble was one of the most difficult periods of their careers, particularly psychologically.
AC was asked to compare the Chosen One to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was voted both regular season and Finals MVP this year:
Comparing to LeBron is a crazy start just ’cause LeBron was anointed at 18 years old and surpassed everything that has ever been put in front of him. As far as face of the league and best player on best team, SGA’s got that capability.
