LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – LeBron James keeps hearing the same questions. How’s it going? How’s the bubble?He now has a one-size-fits-all answer.“I just say it’s 2020,” James said. “Nothing is normal in 2020.”That’s not entirely true.
The NBA is a few weeks from playoff mode, and James -- just like normal — has himself and the Los Angeles Lakers squarely in the mix to compete for championship.
It is a rare bit of normalcy for a player who appeared in eight consecutive NBA Finals from 2011 through and including 2018, and for a franchise that has won 16 championships.Everything else about this year has been most abnormal.
A pandemic suspended play. David Stern, the NBA’s commissioner emeritus, died. Kobe Bryant, who was the third-leading scorer.