Welcome to the PHLY Sixers podcast here, presented by Rothman Orthopedics, along with Derek Bodner, Kyle Newbeck.

I'm Devon Givens, Breed producing the show.

She's the president of basketball operations.

But today, the Sixers president of basketball operations is in the news a little bit because of a statement made about the bubble championship and the asterix that goes along with it, Kyle.

Could you read the actual quote about why he's in the news and we'll give it to it?

Darrell Mori didn't just summon the thought about the bubble out of thin air.

Joe Barden over at the athletic did a story five years removed.

Hey, oral history type of story.

Let's talk about it.

Let's reflect on it.

It's mostly media members that spoke on it.

One of the series of questions that he asked to everyone was, do you think this is a title that deserves an asterisk on it, which has been a big conversation piece inside and outside of the league for the last five years?

Here was Darrell Mori's full answer.

Had the Rockets won the title, I absolutely would have celebrated it as legitimate, knowing

the immense effort and resilience required.

Yet everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees it doesn't truly hold up as a genuine

championship.

Perhaps the lasting legacy of the NBA bubble is that the NBA should be proud of its

leadership at the beginning and end of the pandemic,

even though the champion will forever be marked by an asterisk. And so when this quote gets circulated on Wednesday,

there was a ton of backlash because it was promoted as just him saying,

everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees

...