After LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the Los Angeles Lakers to the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament Championship, there were questions as to whether or not the team would choose to raise a banner to commemorate the accomplishment.
The Lakers only raise banners to celebrate NBA championships, so it was unclear where the In-Season Tournament stood as opposed to something like a division or conference championship. The franchise ultimately chose to honor it with a banner, but it was one that differentiated it from the Lakers’ standard championship banners.
Prior to the Lakers hosting the New York Knicks on Monday night, the In-Season Tournament championship banner was unveiled and LeBron believes it was good of the franchise to honor it.
“I think it’s awesome,” James. “To be able to acknowledge wins throughout the course of the marathon, I think it’s pretty cool.
“It’s the first inauguration of it and we were able to win it, so for our fans that didn’t get an opportunity to be in Vegas, they got an opportunity to kind of share that celebration with us tonight, share that moment. Something that will live on forever for sure here, so it was a good moment.”
James also was the first ever In-Season Tournament MVP, but it was Davis who dominated in the championship game itself. And like his Lakers teammate, the big man enjoyed the banner being displayed.
“Yeah, I think it’s a cool thing,” Davis added. “Obviously, I was just talking about it the other day, and I just said it has to be a continuous thing now. It can’t three, four years and then it’s over because now it’s like alright, we got a banner for what? So I think it’s cool.
“If it’s something that is gonna continue to stick around for years to come then it’s cool and I think possibly other teams will continue to do it if they win as well. We’re the inaugural winners and I think it was really cool to hang that banner.”
The banner the Lakers created is a singular one and has room on it to add on future In-Season Tournament championship years as well. Unlike with winning an NBA championship, the Lakers won’t hang a different banner for each possible In-Season Tournament title.
Austin Reaves enjoyed raising In-Season Tournament banner
Another who enjoyed raising the In-Season Tournament banner was Austin Reaves, but unlike James and Davis, he has yet to experience the joy of winning an NBA championship. And now that the tournament is in the past, raising another banner is Reaves’ focus.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s the first one, and it was cool,” Reaves said of the banner. “It was cool to be a part of winning that and that whole deal. But now that’s over, and we got to focus on the season and try to hang another one up at the end of the year.”
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