Frank Vogel says there’s a ‘void’ of never having championship parade with Lakers

Sports fans in Los Angeles have certainly been blessed over recent years with titles. Since the fall of 2020, the Lakers, Dodgers and now Rams have each won titles in their respective leagues, the latter of those obviously coming in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Unlike the Lakers or Dodgers, though, the Rams will be able to celebrate their title with a championship parade this week. An annual tradition, championship parades offer a chance for fans and teams to celebrate reaching the pinnacle of their sport.

But for much of the last two years, that opportunity has been taken away from both franchises and fans as a result of the pandemic. The Lakers were one of the very first teams to be stripped of the opportunity to celebrate their title and have long campaigned for a parade since, including Dwight Howard on multiple occasions.

On Monday, LeBron James tried once more to do so on Twitter after the Rams parade was announced.

Dodger Justin Turner also campaigned to take part in the parade as well on Monday.

After the Lakers practice, head coach Frank Vogel was asked about his team never having a parade and whether that was something that he thinks about.

“There’s a real void for me personally of not having that experience,” Vogel said. “But, a lot of people missed out on a lot more things in the pandemic than not so I try to keep perspective.”

While the logistics would be tough to work out, the stars have somewhat aligned for the possibility of a #MegaParade, as Turner called it. The Lakers will play a game on Wednesday before heading into an All-Star break that will last nine days. Aside from the All-Star Game itself, the league as a whole will have their lone lengthy break of the season.

And when it comes to baseball, the league is locked out right now, so there is no hurdle to clear for spring training. There are certainly questions about how much involvement the franchise itself can have in the parade considering the lockout, but nothing is stopping the players themselves from taking part.

Logistically, there are a lot of problems that could arise. Would the NBA and respective teams allow players like Alex Caruso, Danny Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, JaVale McGee and others to take part in the parade? Players often use the All-Star break as a chance to vacation mid-season, so how many of the former Lakers would postpone or leave their vacation to take part in the parade?

None of those questions are any fun, though. And what would be incredibly fun is a #MegaParade with all three franchises being represented. In reality, it feels like the last remote chance the Lakers could have some type of parade for the 2020 title anytime in the near future. If it doesn’t happen now, the best bet is to wait some number of years when all the players are out of the league and have the parade when schedules are more clear.

Again, though, that isn’t fun to think about. A #MegaParade is. Do it, NFL and NBA. Have a #MegaParade.

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