There are still quite a few people who think the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 2020 NBA championship, which was won inside the Walt Disney World Resort bubble at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, was illegitimate. With a comment in a recent article in The Athletic, Philadelphia 76ers executive Daryl Morey was placed in that group of skeptics.

Morey was quoted as saying that “everyone” around the league he has spoken to “agrees that it doesn’t truly hold up as a genuine championship.” Shortly after that article was published, he spoke to Anthony Irwin of ClutchPoints and tried to elaborate on that comment.

“I’m frustrated,” Morey said over the phone Wednesday afternoon. “Of course, I respect that title. I defend it to people all the time. It’s the thing I want the most.”

It wasn’t as if the Lakers had an underwhelming regular season prior to the pandemic hitting critical mass and then benefited from the lack of fans and travel. They started the season 24-3 and maintained a high level of play throughout the schedule, and in a span of under 48 hours just prior to the season getting suspended, they defeated the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers.

The Bucks finished with the best record in the NBA that season, while the Clippers started out as strong favorites to win it all. Los Angeles ended up holding a 3-1 series lead against the Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat before claiming the world championship.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Daryl Morey walks back comments on Lakers’ 2020 NBA championship