Which Team Has the Biggest Asterisk of the Last 7 Champions?

[Phreak50]

2017 Warriors.

They wouldn't have even made the finals to be in this thread conversation if Kawhi wasn't attacked by ZaZa.

The Spurs would have swept them and history would have been changed, Kawhi still being a Spur to this day.

[Antinomy]

Giannis was injured though…….

They also lost their starting SG in Round 1…….

The answer here is the 2017 Warriors — they combined an unprecedented cap spike with the most cowardly move in sports history, which opened a wide open path to the championship that season.

They were easily the most talented team of all time & the league was still 2 years behind them.

There was no doubt that they would win.

[picc]

The irony is that by any of you answering the question, you invite others to bring attention to your own asterisk. I love it.

[NbaAllDay]

Can someone define what having an asterix means? Mind you, the whole asterix thing is ridiculous based on all the versions I have seen.

- If it means that the circumstances were possibly different then the Bubble is the obvious choice.

- if its that it was 'easier' then it's a different story.

So many are choosing the Lakers who were the number 1 seed going into the Bubble, & had just come off a number of games againstv top seeds in which they had won.

Any and all the advantages & disadvantages they got were also the same as every other Club. If anything the Bubble was almost a chance to reset and & even out the playing field as you didnt have:

- Any Home Court Advantage
- External pressures from the Crowd were non-existant
- Everyone had a rest. Yes everyone.

The list goes on.

[michaelm]

How about none of them since they all beat everyone who turned up to play them ?.

[Capn'O]

No.

[Capn'O]

1999: Spurs only won because of lockout

Also, Ewing was hurt

[otwok]

Asterisks are for seasons that are true aberrations and season and situations unlike any other. Injuries happen every year. It's part of the game. There is only one season on that list that was a tfe aberration - a shortened season. A break in brand not all teams played the same number of games.

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[Hello Brooklyn]

To me its the Bucks.

They basically got by two injured teams in the EC. They were down to the Nets and Hawks until injuries changed the series. And then faced a weak team in the Finals that only got there because of multiple injuries.

The only other team with a case is the '19 Raptors.

15- Warriors were the best team and could have won anyway
16- Draymond was back for games 6 and 7. Stupid.
17- Ws were clearly the best team anyway
18- Warriors were again the best team and I don't think they lose
20- Everyone dealt with the bubble. Stupid.

[Hello Brooklyn]

I really don't understand why anyone would say its the Lakers.

The Lakers were the best team all season. They had the best record.

If anything the Bubble made it worse because they didn't even get home court.

[art_tatum]

2016 imo bc it was affected by silvers decision to keep the tech on draymond (not rescind which at the time he said was a hard choice one that his wife disagreeed on)

Everything else was just injuries or part of the game.
Tho 2020 lakers was weird + the heat team was also massively injured.

But I would say 2016 due to what I think a * should be.
Cheating and outside the court intervention

[Percentsign]

I wouldn't say "asterisk," but the Warriors in 2017 and 2018 are the cheapest wins I've seen. They added Durant to a team that won 73 wins in 2016. In those 2 seasons, there was an aura of unfairness

[WarriorGM]

2017*

*Playoffs wins record. Widely considered the greatest NBA team of all-time.

[DeBrick]

Lakers 2020

one of these years is not like the other... no fans, players randomly not being able to play, weird season so seeding was messed up. Just all around it was a DIFFERENT year.

[Ni Da Ye]

Anyone who thinks players will perform the same without crowd doesn't understand sports.

Therefore what Lakers won was a Disney ring. I would say the same if other team won that year too.

[jorbroni]

I truly believe if anyone not named LeBron had won the "Bubble Championship", There wouldn't be any asterisk conversation.

[jorbroni]

I really don't understand why anyone would say its the Lakers.

The Lakers were the best team all season. They had the best record.

If anything the Bubble made it worse because they didn't even get home court.

Exactly !!! There were no advantages they had over teams except pure talent and coaching. Its strange to me that people think the ring was easier.

[Slim Charlez]

Anyone who thinks players will perform the same without crowd doesn't understand sports.

Therefore what Lakers won was a Disney ring. I would say the same if other team won that year too.

So do the Clippers not choke in 2020 with crowds? Does Milwaukee's offense stop being one dimensional with crowds? If somebody completely out of the blue won in 2020 your comment would make sense but I think most people will agree that before the pandemic everyone had either one of the LA teams or Milwaukee winning the title. The team that was probably winning in a normal setting won anyway.

[Sprewell4Three]

2020 and it’s not even close. 2021 being an asterisk is ridiculous . Injuries are part of the game for crying out loud.


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[Percentsign]

Lakers 2020

one of these years is not like the other... no fans, players randomly not being able to play, weird season so seeding was messed up. Just all around it was a DIFFERENT year.

But at the same time - those circumstances were nobody's fault (nothing the players could have done), and there was nothing anybody could have done to eliminate the weirdness of that season. Asterisks usually function to make something less important or significant. An asterisk seems harsh.

I feel more comfortable bashing the '17 & '18 Warriors because Durant could have easily refrained from taking the easy route