🏀 Will This Be The Toughest NBA Title Ever?

No one can seem to agree on what the significance of winning this year’s NBA Championship will be. As the season gets closer, the debate heats up. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS] In today’s FOX Sports Insider: It has never been easy to win an NBA title, but the challenges facing players and coaches this season are both varied and complex ... one of the top high school basketball prospects in the nation makes a historic commitment to an HBCU school ... and Bronny James gives us a good laugh on Instagram Live. It is moving closer, this restarted NBA season that will be – depending who you listen to - the most competitive, least competitive, toughest, easiest, quietest, most controversial and most argumentative campaign that we’ve ever seen, even before it has gotten underway again. No one can quite agree on what the significance of winning a championship will be under the NBA’s reimagined rules, as 22 teams descend upon Orlando to strive for a title with no one but themselves in attendance. There are still bumps in the road, with nine more players having tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday and the Los Angeles Clippers having shut their facility after a confirmed case in their traveling party. But when basketball does resume, it will be a thankful end to a pause that began in March and seemed truly endless at times. [STORY IMAGE 1] Assuming that everything goes to plan for commissioner Adam Silver and his crew, a champion will be crowned some time in October, hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy and being enshrined forever as one of the league’s elite teams. And that is where opinion starts to diverge the most, with some lines of thought suggesting that this title would somehow be less important than one collected on normal circumstances. The asterisk, that most malodorous of punctuation marks when it comes to sports, has been mentioned more than once. On the flip side is this combined voice coming strongly from the ranks of players making their way to Central Florida, as there is belief that this title might actually mean more than normal, given the obstacles the victorious team will have had to overcome. [STORY IMAGE 2] “I think whoever wins should (have an) asterisk next (to) it,” Houston Rockets guard Austin Rivers told Bleacher Report. “But only for it being one of the toughest championships ever won. Asking guys to take 3-4 months off, then come back and find chemistry, then play during a pandemic, while players are fighting for (Black Lives Matter). “There's a lot going on right now. Crazy times and a lot of worry. And during these times, players are leaving families to go live in a locked down bubble. For all these reasons and more, I think it will be one of the tougher championships ever won.” All-Star Game captain Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks agreed. “I feel like this is going to be the toughest championship you could ever win, because the circumstances are really, really tough right now.” Some will never see it that way. For many fans and some critics, the NBA Finals is supposed to look a certain way, and there is no way to replicate that given the current situation. [STORY IMAGE 3] “The truth is this will be by far the easiest championship ever there was to win,” FOX Sports’ Skip Bayless said on Undisputed. “These players do not have to travel to a single game. There is no air travel. There are no coast-to-coast flights, no time zone changes. You’ll have everything set up in your own room. You’re not in solitary confinement. You’re in Disney World heaven.” Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal also weighed in during the NBA’s hiatus, [going so far as to say]( that this season will come with such an asterisk that the season should be canceled: “To try and come back now and do a rush playoffs as a player? Any team that wins this year, there's an asterisk. They're not going to get the respect.” It is insufferably boring to be the fence sitter in the middle of any argument, but that’s right where I find myself here. Yes, there is no travel. Moreover, the rest conferred by the past few months could do certain teams like LeBron’s Lakers a world of good. But whoever wins it all won’t have been resting on their days off while others have been trekking all over the country. It is an even playing field. [STORY IMAGE 4] And while the champion won’t have had to triumph on the road, they don’t get home-court advantage and all that entails, either. Now the players will have to raise themselves without the typical atmosphere they have been accustomed to their entire careers not once, but probably around 30 times, should a team make the Finals. Again, it is the same for everyone, but the requirement to get motivated feels like an appropriate challenge of willpower that will reward the mentally toughest and most resilient. Will it be the toughest title ever, though? That remains to be seen, with so many questions still ahead. It will be difficult, to be sure, but we won’t know how those unique circumstances stack up until the players are in the middle of it. And we certainly won’t know how hard a path a team will have to take on the court to a ring this year. The challenges are varied and complex. The title will be different – but more than worthy to stand alongside those historical champions that prevailed in the past. [STORY IMAGE 5] Here’s what others have said ... Doc Rivers, Los Angeles Clippers Head Coach: "If you think about the mental toughness it's going to take to — whoever comes out of this, it's going to come down to that. It's going to come down to talent. It's going to come down to teams trying to get back together and play together. But there's going to be so many things that are thrown at us that we don't even know yet that it's really going to be a mental toughness challenge." Michael Malone, Denver Nuggets Head Coach: “If you’re able to go into a bubble to be isolated from your friends and family, to have no home court advantage, to have a league interruption of four months, and you’re able to spend 90 days and come out of there a champion, I think this will be the toughest championship ever won. There’s no asterisk. You win an NBA championship anytime, it’s a hell of an accomplishment. But in these circumstances, these unprecedented times, with everything going on ... I think it will be a remarkable accomplishment.” Bradley Beal, Washington Wizards: “It's kind of like a whole new ballgame. It's almost like anybody can win. I think that's why a lot of people are like 'it's gotta be an asterisk next to whoever wins. But I think it just makes it that much tougher. I think it makes it an even playing field in a way. It gets guys back healthy for teams who didn't have that during the year. It gives guys times to really rest and get ready to jump back into it.” Mike Decourcy, Sporting News: “It seems doubtful anyone will forget the year 2020 for the rest of their lives. When it comes to the championships that will be won during this pandemic, though, it is profoundly inaccurate to suggest each of those titles will come with asterisk attached. Instead, they’ll deserve an exclamation point. We do not know who will claim the NBA championship this autumn, nor the Stanley Cup or World Series. We are certain whichever teams arrive at that point will have survived circumstances that go well beyond the challenges presented by a typical season.” [IN OTHER WORDS] - The NBA is in deep discussions surrounding a second “bubble” for non-playoff teams in Chicago. [ESPN senior writer Jackie MacMullan lays out the plan]( being put in place, which would consist of a mini-training camp and subsequent games against other clubs with a target date in September. - FedEx, which owns the naming rights to the Washington Redskins’ stadium, has made a request that the team officially change its nickname. This isn’t the first time this request has been made, and as [USA Today’s Mike Jones writes]( it’s time for team owner Daniel Snyder to do the right thing. - Five-star basketball prospect Makur Maker made a historic commitment Friday morning by choosing to play at Howard University. [CBS Sports writer David Cobb dives into]( Maker’s decision and his dedication to make the HBCU movement real. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( If you’re a fan of the NBA and in need of a good laugh, you’re in luck. During a recent Instagram Live video, LeBron James’ 15-year-old son Bronny was answering fan questions when someone asked who his dad was. “Stef Curry,” he joked. Even LeBron had a good laugh at his son’s answer, replying on Instagram with a series of laughing emojis. And who knows? Already heading into his sophomore year in high school, it’s possible Bronny could be playing with both his dad and Stef in the NBA in a few years. [VIEWER'S GUIDE] WWE Friday Night Smackdown (FOX, 8 p.m. ET) AJ Styles will look to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Drew Gulak on Friday Night Smackdown. PGA Tour Golf: Rocket Mortgage Classic (Saturday, CBS, 3 p.m. ET & Sunday, Golf Channel, 1 p.m. ET) The second annual Rocket Mortgage Classic concludes this weekend from Detroit Golf Club in Michigan. 2020 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest (Saturday, ESPN, 12 p.m. ET) One of America’s annual Fourth of July spectacles will take place without any live spectators this year as Joey Chestnut looks to capture his 13th Mustard Yellow Belt. NASCAR Cup Series: Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered By Big Machine Records (Sunday, NBC, 4 p.m. ET) Kevin Harvick will look to extend his lead atop the NASCAR standings this weekend at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( Joey Chestnut total hot dogs eaten at the 2020 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest: Over 73.5: -125 Under 73.5: -111 The annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest is synonymous with the Fourth of July weekend, which makes this the perfect “bet of the day.” Joey Chestnut will chase his 13th career Mustard Yellow Belt and is looking to break his own world record of 74 hot dogs that he set back in 2018. Chestnut has topped the 70-hot dog mark in each of the past four contests, and with this year’s competition taking place at a private indoor location, the conditions should be more favorable. Taking the over of 73.5 hotdogs consumed seems like a good play, and one that will be certainly be fun to root for. A new FOX Sports app and website is coming. [Click here]( to be notified when the reimagined app is available. 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