Charles Barkley Says 2 NBA Teams Were ‘Bubble Gangsters’

Less than a year ago, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat competed for an NBA championship in the league’s Bubble playoffs. LeBron James and Anthony Davis emerged with the Lakers 17th franchise title and immediately set their sights on the 2020-21 season.

However, for both teams that made last year’s NBA Finals in the bubble, the 2021 postseason proved to be a challenge. The injury-ridden Lakers fell to the Phoenix Suns in six games and the Heat were run off the court against the recharged Bucks in a series sweep.

The showing by both teams stunned most of the NBA world. For Charles Barkley, the performances were proof that something was clearly different about last year’s postseason.

In an appearance on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz”, the NBA Hall of Famer and TNT analyst called the Lakers and the Heat “bubble gangsters.” He even went as far as to say that last year’s championship deserves an asterisk.

“Listen, that bubble basketball,” Barkley said, per Lakers Daily. “It was a bunch of bubble gangsters. That don’t count. Bubble gangsters don’t count.”

Barkley is certainly right that the conditions for last year’s Bubble playoffs were unlike any other season in the NBA. However, it’s for that reason that the Lakers and the Heat deserve ample credit for their runs to the finals.

Miami in particular seemed to show a mental toughness in last year’s bubble. This season, Goran Dragic and Tyler Herro struggled to recreate their production from the previous postseason, leaving the Heat without enough depth to challenge the Bucks.

The Lakers suffered from injuries throughout the regular season, which landed them in the Western Conference play-in game. Although Frank Vogel’s team advanced to the first round, a groin injury to Anthony Davis limited the potential for the defending champs.

Both teams started the 2020-21 season on short rest, which has to be taken into account when thinking about this year’s performance. The Lakers and the Heat will now get a lengthy offseason to recharge and retool before the 2021-2022 campaign.

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