LeBron James was “about” to leave the Disney bubble

LeBron James has achieved his fourth NBA championship at the collective level and the fourth MVP of the Finals at the individual level, two trophies that place him in the Olympus of the North American league if he was not already in it. But the situation has not been easy in the bubble, which was reached to protect players from the coronavirus and be able to play most of the 2019/20 season. A difficult year with a lot patience on the part of the protagonists, who were locked up for more than three months in the complex that the Walt Disney Company has in Orlando.

There were players who doubted whether or not to go to the bubble. In the Lakers, for example, Avery Bradley made that decision. Others like Dwight Howard, they were about. LeBron James was the member who wielded the most power for the season to resume and everyone traveled to Florida to play basketball again, but everything changed the August 26. The Bucks, with the rest of the teams giving their support, went on strike in full playoffs to vindicate social justice. The Black Lives Matter, massively promoted by the NBA after the murder of George Floyd, was joined by another police act of which there was a graphic document: a shooting of another black man, Jacob Blake, in Wisconsin. For the second time the players considered the direction of basketball and LeBron was one of those who adopted a position contrary to the one he had supported until then: he was close to leaving the bubble.

Journalist Ramona Shelburne (ESPN) tells how the Lakers star took that pulse of the Bucks not to the NBA but to the established order, asking for concrete measures to avoid police brutality against the black community and urging it to make an effort to vote in the next elections .

“When the Bucks improvised a protest in their game against the Magic after hearing the story of Jacob Blake, James spoke with friends and advisers that night. Until the wee hours. He supported the cause of the Bucks, but the lack of an approach and strategy then they frustrated him. Those closest to him say he was about to leave that night “, reports. “What changed everything was the call he and Chris Paul made to Barack Obama. His words were clear: get something out of it by putting pressure on the NBA and society to do more.”, Add.

The Lakers and Clippers, the two favorites of the Western Conference, were the most reluctant to continue playing given the extremely tense situation on the streets of the United States, not only because of the coronavirus but also because of the racial struggle in which many players had already participated. before locking himself in Disney World. Finally the nerves were tempered and one of those teams, the Los Angeles Lakers, has taken the victory with LeBron, one of those who could give it up for lost, at the head.