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Jared Dudley wants Lakers to repeat as NBA champions to celebrate 'the right way'

The Los Angeles Lakers want to do it the “right way.”

It was an unusual, odd, strange 2019-20 NBA season with a sudden stop in March short of the postseason and resumed play in July within a bubble at Disney World. That’s a sentence that sounds bizarre if written out one year ago.

The Lakers met their mission, though, and won the 2020 NBA championship. But there weren’t fans in the arena and they couldn’t even celebrate it through the streets of Los Angeles.

Lakers want to win 2021 title, celebrate ‘right’ way

It’s time for a re-do.

“That’s why we want to run it back. We missed the parade. We didn’t get the proper celebrations,” Lakers forward Jared Dudley said Thursday, via USA Today Sports, after he signed a new one-year deal with the team. “So the only way to do it is hopefully Pfizer cures everyone in June, we win it again and then do it the right way.”

Pfizer is one of the companies developing a COVID-19 vaccine and is awaiting regulatory review to begin distributing it to the public. Vaccines are expected to begin this month with the highest-priority individuals.

Lakers celebrated in Vegas, Dudley says

Jared Dudley in a purple "equality' shirt.
Los Angeles Lakers forward Jared Dudley wants to win the 2021 NBA championship so they can celebrate 'the right way.' (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The Lakers did celebrate their title together in Las Vegas and San Diego shortly after winning, Dudley said via USA Today. It happened before the Centers for Disease Control advised against traveling.

“We had a tester there testing everybody so I felt like I was still in the bubble,” Dudley said, via USA Today Sports. “Even though we were out of the bubble, we were so prone to testing every day and hanging out with each other and taking the trophy, having some alcoholic beverages together and reminiscing.”

He said the players were in a private setting and “it wasn’t crazy.” Players were not subject to NBA COVID-19 protocols in the offseason. They were required to self-quarantine from Nov. 27 through Dec. 2 before beginning mandatory individual workouts this week.

Los Angeles facing strict restrictions

Unlike in past years, the Lakers were not able to safely celebrate their 17th NBA championship with a parade. The team announced it had consulted with the city, which had restrictions on large public gatherings, and the county and will plan its parade “as soon as it is safe to do so.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide order on Thursday ramping up COVID-19 restrictions as the number of cases around the country soars. It has the NFL’s Chargers and Rams designing back-up plans if they are forced to move to alternative playing sites due to the restrictions, Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson reported.

Fans at NBA games unlikely, Fauci says

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Yahoo Sports’ Henry Bushnell it’s unlikely the NBA can hold full-capacity crowds throughout the season.

“It probably will be well into the end of the summer before you can really feel comfortable [with full sports stadiums] – if a lot of people get vaccinated,” Fauci said. “I don't think we're going to be that normal in July. I think it probably would be by the end of the summer.”

That would eliminate a chance for fans at a 2021 Lakers championship and a packed parade in June.

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