JAMES A DYNASTY IN HIS OWN RIGHT AFTER CLAIMING FOURTH NBA CROWN
Lakers superstar and Spanish tennis great Nadal both still performing at highest level
BULLS OF THE WEEK
It's been a bullish week for the heritage brand that is the Los Angeles Lakers, who won the bubble games in Orlando, Fla., to capture their 17th NBA championship in franchise history, and the 12th since moving to L.A.
It's also been a good week for Lebron James and the power tandem he created with teammate Anthony Davis.
James won his fourth Larry O'brien Trophy, capturing top honours with his third different team after leading the Miami Heat to titles in 2012-13, and winning one for Ohio with the
Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. He has mirrored those four league championships with playoff MVPS in each of those years.
James certainly hasn't laid to rest the debate over who is the greatest NBA player of all time, but there's no question he has built his career into a dynasty in its own right. As others have noted, to consistently excel over 17 seasons at the highest level puts King James in a league of his own. It's why many believe that James has at least one more NBA title in him. That's the ultimate compliment, given how difficult it will be next year just to get out of the Western Conference, let alone California, with the L.A. Clippers and the Golden State Warriors sure to be nipping at his heels.
Meanwhile, Spaniard Rafael Nadal was as terrific playing on clay in October as he typically is each spring in Paris. He consolidated his status as the greatest clay court tennis player of alltime with his 13th French Open title and 20th Grand Slam tournament championship overall, bringing his career match record at Roland Garros to 100 wins and just two losses. That's nothing short of remarkable.
BEARS OF THE WEEK
The bearish headline continues to be the sport business challenges created by COVID-19. It's forcing leagues and tours to be creative and bold to bridge the gap until the return to normalcy, whenever that will be. To that end, the hottest topic in sport
— at least among hockey fans in Canada — is the notion of the NHL realigning for its 2020-21 season.
Border travel restrictions and the myriad other constraints caused by the pandemic have the NHL deep into plans to create an all-canadian division of seven teams for at least part of the new season projected to begin Jan. 1, 2021. The other 24 U.s.-based franchises would form three divisions of eight teams each. Long term, it would fly in the face of season-ticket marketing to not sell at least one visit each year by the NHL'S star players to every market. Yet in the short term, the concept of an all-canadian division has considerable sport business merit. All one has to do is look at the historic appeal of games featuring the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, which consistently drive the biggest national TV ratings for NHL rights-holders. TV ratings would get a significant boost with an all-canadian division because every game would feature two markets for measurement purposes.
Long term, the NHL is more likely to adopt an NFL structure of eight divisions of four teams each. Yet the pandemic is likely to force the all-canadian schedule — at least to begin with — for the new hockey season.