The Los Angeles Lakers announced that they will unveil a banner for winning the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament ahead of their game against the New York Knicks on Monday, Dec. 18.
The team announced that they will unveil a unique, add-a-year In-Season Tournament banner, recognizing the inaugural 2023 win. The banner will be a different shape and color than the Lakers’ championship banners and should they win future In-Season Tournament championships, those years will be added to the single banner. The Lakers have always said that they will only raise banners for NBA Championships so they want to acknowledge their In-Season Tournament wins while also making sure there is a distinction between that and actual championships.
Additionally, both LeBron James and Anthony Davis will be honored before the game after the league announced that they both made the All-Tournament team along with Tyrese Haliburton, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant.
The duo played a big role in the Lakers winning the inaugural NBA Cup, leading the team to a perfect 7-0 record.
Davis appeared in all seven In-Season Tournament games for the Lakers, 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 and 79.6 percent from the free-throw line. He was particularly dominant in the final game against the Indiana Pacers when he had 41 points, 20 rebounds, five assists and four blocks. He led the tournament with 102 total rebounds and ranked second with 20 blocks.
In seven In-Season Tournament games, James averaged 26.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 1.6 steals in 30.7 minutes while shooting 56.8 percent from the field and 60.6 percent from 3-point range. He was named the MVP of the tournament and had the best plus/minus in the tournament at +116.
The Lakers were previously undecided on if they would raise a banner and it’s possible that the league influenced them to do so after winning it all. Regardless, this feels like a good compromise where the Lakers can recognize their In-Season Tournament wins while also making sure everyone knows it is not on the same level as an actual championship.
Reaves says In-Season Tournament win means a lot of him
While some fans have downplayed the importance of winning the In-Season Tournament, it clearly means a lot to the players. Being a competitor, Reaves spoke on how much it meant to him to win the NBA Cup.
“It means a lot. I’ve spoke about it a lot. Just being able to bring light to kids that had the same situation as I did growing up. You know, for me, being from a small town of 1,100 people, not a lot of people leave that graduate high school. They might go to college and stay there and basically just work their whole life there and find a job around the town that you live in.
“But just being able to show kids that it’s possible to chase your dream, and regardless of what your dream is, don’t let anybody tell you that it’s not possible. I probably had a lot of people look at me sideways when I was running around school, telling everybody I wanted to be in the NBA. I didn’t care what they thought. I was just going to chase that regardless.”
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