Lakers News: LeBron James Talks Rocking WNBA Hoodies In 2020 Bubble
During today's episode of his Uninterrupted series "The Shop," producer and All-NBA Los Angeles Lakers small forward LeBron James spoke with a distinguished panel of basketball royalty: Hall of Fame Los Angeles Sparks center Lisa Leslie, future Hall of Fame Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green, and championship-winning 76ers power forward P.J. Tucker.
While James, Anthony Davis, and the rest of the 2019-20 Lakers worked their way to capturing the NBA title on the court of the pre-COVID-19 vaccine era "bubble" league restart, James and some other league stars were hungry to spread the good word about the WNBA.
Players were holed up at a "bubble" campus at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, supplies were at a relative minimum. James, eventual teammate Russell Westbrook (then with the Houston Rockets), All-NBA point guards Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, and Trae Young, plus All-NBA small forward DeMar DeRozan, all wore the W's orange-and-white pullover hoodie in the hopes of building awareness and supporting the NBA's sister league.
The WNBA was in its own bubble at the time, now referred to as a "wubble," elsewhere in the Sunshine State: at MG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, to be precise.
ESPN's marketing team reportedly shipped 140 WNBA hoodies to the NBA bubble campus, but James tells Leslie on "The Shop" that he had trouble securing additional shipments. Sources inform Meredith Cash of The Insider that this was a result of "various logistical issues" associated with the COVID-19 pandemic (probably supply-chain related, if this writer had to venture a guess?).
"We went through [hoops] to get that s*** down to the bubble," James told Leslie. "They would not send us those hoodies."
Check out this clip of their exchange for additional context:
The 6'5" Leslie is a Southern California legend. The Compton native enjoyed a storied NCAA career at USC before joining her hometown Los Angeles Sparks at the start of the WNBA in 1997. Across her 12-year pro career, the eight-time All-Star and 12-time All-WNBA Team selection was thrice named league MVP, and brought the Sparks, as coached by former Showtime Laker Michael Cooper, to two consecutive titles in 2001 and 2002.
