The Los Angeles Lakers hung a banner on Monday night to commemorate being crowned the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament champions. L.A. was publicly undecided on whether or not they were going to hang a banner at all, but ultimately decided to do so with the NBA clearly getting involved on some level.
The league wants the In-Season Tournament to carry weight almost at the level of the regular NBA championship as a way of validating the unique concept in American sports. And if the Lakers — one of the league’s premier franchises — had won it all in the first year, then opted not to hang a banner, it could have been a huge hit to the tournament’s credibility.
It appears the Lakers did feel some pushback from the NBA on their hesitancy to hang an In-Season Tournament banner before ultimately deciding to display one in the rafters at Crypto.com Arena, via Chris Haynes on the “#thisleague UNCUT” podcast:
“I wasn’t sure they would do it but I know the league really wanted any team who won the In-Season Tournament, they wanted the team to do something to kind of say that this is a big deal. I know that the Lakers had a little bit of pressure. I don’t know to what extent but I know the Lakers felt a little bit of pressure to do something.”
The Lakers opted not to hang a traditional banner, instead designing one that is shaped differently than that of their 17 NBA championships. It includes empty space for any future In-Season Tournament championships to be added to the same banner.
With this decision from the Lakers and pressure from the NBA, a precedent has likely been set on what is expected of teams that win the In-Season Tournament. And the league’s hope is that by having a banner hanging in the rafters, it will increase the meaning on winning the tournament.
The In-Season Tournament’s introduction was undoubtedly a success, and if teams can start to view winning this tournament as a big deal, it will even further increase intensity of future tournaments.
Lakers stars enjoyed raising In-Season Tournament banner
Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis both spoke about raising the In-Season Tournament banner positively.
“I think it’s awesome,” James said. “To be able to acknowledge wins throughout the course of the marathon, I think it’s pretty cool.”
James also was the first ever In-Season Tournament MVP, but it was Davis who dominated the championship game.
“Yeah, I think it’s a cool thing,” he 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 be 3-4 years and then it’s over because now it’s like alright, we got a banner for what? So I think it’s cool.”
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