When a team wins a title, it changes lives forever. And not only those who played on the team or who work for the organization. Friends, family, fans, and anyone who had an emotional connection to the journey will hold a championship near and dear to their hearts forever. You can never take that title away, no matter what happens. For this year's Lakers team, their title will not only be remembered forever because they won it all, but because of how they won it, under the circumstances of outlasting everyone else in the NBA's bubble down in Orlando. Whether or not this title was the hardest championship in NBA history is a debate for another day, but you already know the Lakers and their close friends are going to celebrate this one extra hard.
DJ Bamboozle, who is a longtime friend of Lakers reserve Jared Dudley, had an front row seat to the entire Lakers season and everything that came with it. From road trips where Bamboozle likes to point out the team was 15-0 when he DJed to the bubble to the title clinching game against the Heat, Bamboozle had an up close look at probably the wildest season in NBA history. We talked to DJ Bamboozle about spinning for the Lakers, what it was like for friends in the bubble, his new single, the title celebration in Las Vegas, and much more.
(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
How did you become connected to this Lakers team?
Man, the way it started was Jared Dudley got drafted into the NBA years ago, maybe 14 years. And I decided to drop out of college, very gutsy move, but I dropped out and he got drafted by Michael Jordan's team, Charlotte Bobcats at the time. So all the teams that he ended up playing for, I was always around him. And as I started to DJ, they started to embrace me, because I wasn't good at first. And it was more of a laughter and like, here's this guy with entourage and his friends around. I started DJing and they really embraced me. Fast forward to now and Dudley got signed to the Lakers in summer, and it's been a perfect storm for me, man. Lakers won a championship and it was amazing.
So tell me about DJing for the Lakers on the road trips when the teams were still traveling.
I just started to DJ with these guys, and on the road they would come out and hear me play, they don't want to stay in the rooms. And we went out the first road game, I believe it was Dallas Mavericks, and they won a game. So after that, they just said, "Hey, you know what? We need you every road game because we're winning." So we went 15-0 this year on the road when I played. Every road game I played this year they won. So it was kind of a good luck charm, obviously they're the No. 1 seed in the West and have LeBron James and Anthony Davis, so that made it easier.
How was the title celebration in Vegas?
It was amazing, man. The city of Las Vegas is desperate for a team that's winning. I know the Raiders are there right now. They have the Knights, but Lakers being in Las Vegas, everybody loves the Lakers. Laker nation is so strong and it was amazing going everywhere. Seeing how much love they really did. They had the trophy walking around. It was a great time.
What's it like celebrating in Vegas right now in a pandemic? Did they open up some spots for you guys?
Yeah. Technically they weren't open, but they were flexible for the Lakers [laughs]. So they had some private parties for us where, we social distanced and all that. So yeah, Vegas really opened up their doors for us. It was a really good time.
What was that last stretch in the bubble like? With the Lakers winning it all.
Yeah. Well, when I flew from Los Angeles to Orlando, there's two bubbles and when you get there you have to quarantine for seven days straight. Then you can be around family, friends and all that kind of stuff. So while I was there, I was working, doing production, producing my single, just trying to get everything done because I knew once [the] Lakers would win, I would have a platform to play my music. Also, I knew I was going to be DJing for the team during the celebration. So I brought all my stuff. I was working on different mix, different edits, and stuff like that. As soon as they won, we had plans to go to Miami, but they lost Game 5. So instead of that, we stayed in Orlando and then we went to Vegas for the celebration.
Let me ask this, who is the best DJ on the Lakers? Gotta be Bron, right?
Kuzma, he's a DJ. He can DJ really well.
I know Bron can, but Kuzma, I didn't know that. So who is the best?
Kuzma can spin for sure. He would come with me to some of the parties and we would exchange tips, I'll kind of help him out. And he actually has a really, really good ear for music. He needs to work on some of his transitions, but he can be a good DJ one day, hopefully. And you know what, I'll say Bron has the best playlist skill. I wouldn't say actual DJ, but he has a really good ear for music and the pulse of where the music should be and go for a party.
