The 2023-24 season can’t start soon enough for Los Angeles Lakers fans as the team looks like one of the few teams that can compete for a championship.
Things look like they’re shaping up to be in the Lakers’ favor as the roster is expected to be fully healthy coming into training camp. LeBron James and Anthony Davis both dealt with foot injuries last season but having them 100 percent ready to go should result in a much faster start.
The new season also will mark the debut of the NBA’s new In-Season Tournament. Although it was initially met with mixed reactions, Rob Pelinka said that Los Angeles will accept the challenge and do its best to win.
“I’ll be quick. Listen, at the end of the day, we all understand that the NBA is a business and we’re trying to maximize revenues that the players and the teams can split. The NBA in-season tournament is a big part of having a new property that I think our fans are really going to be excited about and embrace. And we want to attack that like anything, with a winning spirit.”
Darvin Ham agreed with Pelinka and added that he believes it’ll be a great experience for the fans to have more competitive games to watch.
“I agree. Just any time that you can infuse a competitive environment into what already is a competitive environment, with there being incentives as well on the financial level, I think it’s going to be great. It’s going to be great for the fans. Any time you give these NBA players a chance to go compete for something, their antennas kind of go up. I’m looking forward to it.
“And one of the beautiful things about it is also it doesn’t — certain games will have that tournament emphasis on it, but it’s not like you have to stop the season and play an additional 15, 20 games. Things are going to be normal. Certain games are going to be for tournament seeding and whatnot. I think it’s going to be great. I can’t wait to see how it unfolds.”
The league has been experimenting with ways to spice up the regular season and the In-Season Tournament is their latest attempt. There’s optimism that it’ll be a success given the popularity of the Play-In Tournament, so it should be interesting to see how things pan out.
Gabe Vincent not a fan of in-season tournament
While fans are excited about the prospect of more entertaining games, players like Gabe Vincent aren’t too supportive of the In-Season Tournament.
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