EL SEGUNDO — For the first time in years, downtown Los Angeles will host a championship parade on Wednesday.

It’s not for lack of champions.

Though only four players from the Lakers’ 2020 NBA title team remain on the roster, some regret lingers: The team that went through a grueling 15-month regular season, punctuated by the death of Kobe Bryant, the hiatus of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mind-numbing rigors of the NBA bubble never got much of a chance to celebrate their win.

With the Rams defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday, there was a natural desire to clamber on the bandwagon. After watching the game from a suite on Sunday and getting caught grooving to Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre during the halftime show, LeBron James tweeted on Monday that L.A. should make up for all the parades it missed when the Lakers and Dodgers won their leagues.

Wrote James: “We, Dodgers and Rams should all do a joint parade together!!!! With a live concert afterwards to end it!!”

While the Lakers (and Dodgers) have played a season-and-a-half since their respective championships, it’s easy to understand why they feel they never got the adulation they deserved. Indeed, within six weeks of winning their title, the Lakers were already back in training camp after a truncated offseason.

Coach Frank Vogel couches that viewpoint, however. The Lakers weren’t the only ones to lose out because of the pandemic.

“There’s a real void for me personally of not having that experience,” he said. “But a lot of people missed out on a lot more things with the pandemic than that. So I’m going to try to keep the proper perspective.”

But among L.A. sports franchises, the Lakers were rooting for the Rams. Vogel congratulated the Rams’ Sean McVay on getting the team through the Super Bowl after coming up short in Super Bowl LIII. James has a soft spot for Joe Burrow, a former Ohio State quarterback (who had a decorated career at LSU), but was cheering on Odell Beckham Jr. when he scored the Rams’ first touchdown (James is also friends with Josh Kroenke, son of Rams owner Stan Kroenke).

While the Lakers’ current struggles make another championship parade in June seem unlikely at the moment, Vogel thought L.A. fans should be uplifted by seeing NBA, MLB and NFL titles coming to town in short order. Maybe the Rams, a franchise that built out its roster with all-in moves, can serve as inspiration.

“Super happy for the fans of our city,” he said. “I think there’s always positivity to our group and what we want to accomplish this year, seeing what the Rams did.”

REAVES KEEPS PLUGGING AWAY

Of course, the Lakers skipped a film session on Monday morning. It figures that after the game when Austin Reaves, the gangly rookie from Arkansas, made a chase-down block on Golden State’s Klay Thompson, he wouldn’t get to bask in that moment in the film room at least a little.

Not that Reaves, 23, is basking for any reason right now. While he admitted to watching the video of his defensive highlight in a strong individual game Saturday against the Warriors, it doesn’t mean much to him without the accompanying win. Even if the Lakers had watched film, Reaves would have likely found himself ruminating on the rebound that bounced off Anthony Davis and back to Thompson for a 3-pointer, or an Avery Bradley deflection with the same result.

“If they did go our way it might have changed the game,” he said. “Yeah, it sucks to lose but the energy and effort that we had, we can really build on it moving forward and continue to play as hard as we did in that game.”

Reaves might have been as much of a positive as anyone in that game, helping fuel the 42-20 bench point advantage the Lakers had over the Warriors. He helped paper over for the absence of Carmelo Anthony (left hamstring strain) who has missed three straight games, all losses, ones Vogel said the Lakers might have won if Anthony could have played.

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Even though Reaves is the only rookie on the main roster, Vogel said, he’s shown maturity while establishing his role in the rotation. He makes fewer mistakes than most players his age.

“I mean all young players have those moments; I would say that his are less than most rookies that I’ve coached, though,” Vogel said. “He really carries himself like a vet, and his attention to detail is unlike a lot of rookies that I’ve worked with.”

Averaging 6.1 points in his 21 minutes per game, Reaves has shown his value not through statistical production, but by capably filling in the gaps around the stars. When Reaves and James are on the court together, for example, the Lakers have a plus-4.8 net rating. James himself isn’t shocked that the skinny wing out of Oklahoma has kept pulling his weight for the Lakers (and maybe a little above that).

“He’s been doing it all year when he’s had the opportunity,” James said. “The kid has hit a game-winner this year. He’s made big plays over and over offensively and defensively. So nothing has surprised me.”