As the Los Angeles Lakers progressed through the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, the reality of winning the first NBA Cup became more and more realistic. That begged the question of whether the team would hang a banner up in the rafters of Crypto.com Arena to commemorate winning the In-Season Tournament.
At first, the Lakers were reportedly undecided on hanging a banner for an In-Season Tournament title as the organization traditionally only hangs banners for championships. L.A. simply only cares about Larry O’Brien trophies, not Pacific Division titles or Western Conference titles.
However, it was determined that a banner would ultimately be hung on Monday, Dec. 18 against the New York Knicks. One person who is in favor of that is Anthony Davis as he believes it’s cool to commemorate the team’s accomplishment, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I think it’s pretty cool. Obviously it’s not the real thing but it is something that the league recognizes as us being champions for. So I think it’s cool that they’re doing that. They said it will be like not the shape of a regular banner but something different to kind of distinguish between the two. So I think it’s cool that the organization decided to do that.”
While Davis acknowledged after winning the tournament that it was not the ‘real thing,’ the team should still celebrate what they did being the first team ever to win an NBA Cup.
It was announced that the banner to commemorate the In-Season Tournament title will be unique and different from the traditional championship ones, thus being a different shape and color. This will be the only banner as should the Lakers win additional NBA Cups, those years will be added to this banner.
Davis seemed motivated to win this tournament judging by his play, averaging 23.3 points, 14.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.9 blocks in 33.9 minutes while shooting 52.5 percent from the field. Additionally, in the championship game, he had 41 points, 20 rebounds, five assists and four blocks. It was pure dominance throughout these seven games, earning himself All-Tournament Team alongside fellow teammate LeBron James.
Max Christie: Lakers being first In-Season Tournament winners means more than money
While it is hard to judge the weight that the NBA Cup will hold for winning teams, being the first team to win it does carry some validity. Lakers guard Max Christie believes that being the first In-Season Tournament winner means more than the $500,000 cash prize that came with it.
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Los Angeles Lakers(96) - Minnesota Timberwolves(103)