Patrick Beverley on 2020 Clippers: We Would Have Won NBA Title If Not for Bubble

The Los Angeles Clippers were one of the best teams in the NBA during the 2019-20 season, finishing second in the Western Conference with a 49-23 record.

However, former Clippers guard Patrick Beverley believes the team's title hopes were derailed because of the NBA's Orlando bubble, which was used for the postseason because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We were fortunate to get Kawhi [Leonard]," Beverley told Joey Linn of All Clippers. "We think we would've won a championship if it wasn't for the bubble. But to come back and get to a conference finals with a hurt Kawhi—we've done a lot of good things here."

The team was eliminated in the 2020 Western Conference Semifinals in seven games by the Denver Nuggets, dashing its chances for the franchise's first-ever championship.

It wasn't easy for teams to be isolated in the bubble at Walt Disney World, but a club like the Los Angeles Lakers, which won the title, flourished in that type of environment.

The Purple and Gold downed the Portland Trail Blazers in five games in the first round; the Houston Rockets in five games in the Western Conference Semifinals; the Nuggets in five games in the conference finals; and the Miami Heat in six games in the NBA Finals.

Beverley is now a member of the Chicago Bulls, which sit 10th in the Eastern Conference and are in danger of losing a play-in spot. The Clippers, meanwhile, sit fifth in the West and are in a better position to make the postseason.

However, it's going to be difficult for L.A. to overcome the likes of the Nuggets or Memphis Grizzlies, who have both already clinched their divisions, to make it to the NBA Finals.