File this one under weird, unique, and just plain strange. The NBA is shut down indefinitely with no signs of return. While there is every intention to get games going eventually, Lakers fans have started to wonder what the future looks like. Mainly, the question is what happens if the rest of the season is called off?
Apparently, the answers can be found in some unique NBA bylaws. Some folks who had way too much time on their hands did a deep dive on the laws to find out that if the season were to be called off, the Lakers could theoretically be handed the NBA Championship.
NBA Bylaws 6.23: If the season ends prior to April 1, the team with the best record in the year the NBA Finals will be held shall be crowned the undisputed champion.
The bylaw does not say the team with the overall best record gets crowned, interestingly enough. It is the team with the best record in the year of the NBA Championship, meaning the team with the best record in 2020. It actually clarifies that the team with the best record since February 1st, to be exact. Don’t ask how they came up with that date.
The Lakers are 13-3 since February 1st while the Milwaukee Bucks are 12-5. I don’t know about you, but I certainly would not want to win a championship like that. The Lakers were just starting to get hot when the coronavirus shut the league down. They had beat the Bucks and Clippers in back-to-back games and four of their last five. They lost to the Brooklyn Nets right before the league suspended all games.
Also April Fools.
