It has now been just over a week since the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA’s first in-season tournament by gliding past the Indiana Pacers 123-109. For doing so, they were awarded the first NBA Cup.
LeBron James was named the in-season tournament MVP for averaging 26.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.6 assists a game while shooting 56.8% from the field and an amazing 60.6% from 3-point range during the tourney. Meanwhile, Anthony Davis was utterly dominant during the final game versus Indiana with 41 points on 16-of-24 shooting, 20 rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots.
On Monday, prior to the opening tip of their game versus the New York Knicks, the Lakers unveiled a banner at Crypto.com Arena honoring their in-season tournament win.
hISTory pic.twitter.com/1aU0Zq3ovN
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 19, 2023
Plenty of people have been criticizing the organization for deciding to hang this banner, especially since the only other banners it hangs are NBA championship banners. It is one of the few organizations in any major team sport that doesn’t hang division or conference title banners in its home arena.
But the NBA wants everyone to take this tourney seriously, as it isn’t going anywhere, and thus one should perhaps expect the winner of the tourney to hang a similar banner each season.
