Dave McMenamin, ESPN Staff Writer December 18, 2023, 11:32 p.m. ET
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- Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN.
- He covered the Lakers and the NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009 to 2014, the Cavaliers for ESPN.com from 2014 to 2018, and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005 to 2009.
LOS ANGELES – The new season tournament championship banner unveiled by the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night may not be confused with the NBA title totems hanging from the rafters of Crypto.com Arena, but that is something the team is proud of in its own right .
“I think it's great for the organization,” coach Darvin Ham said before the Lakers lost 114-109 to the New York Knicks. “Apparently [the tournament is] something that will exist. It's only going to get bigger and better. I think it's really, really cool that we're doing this. Especially because he was the first to win the first tournament of the season.”
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The Lakers players paused their pregame warmups for a brief ceremony about 20 minutes before the game began. A video tribute was played on the video board with highlights from LA's 7-0 tournament victory, which culminated in a championship win over the Indiana Pacers in Las Vegas just over a week ago.
And then a black curtain covering the banner was lowered to reveal the new decor.
The banner — black with gold accents, with a graphic of the NBA Cup trophy in the center and 2023 to mark the year the Lakers won it — is about half the size of the 12 banners that the NBA -Representing the franchise's championships since moving to LA It is located in the rafters to the left of it, along with the five banners honoring titles won in Minneapolis.
While the NBA championship banners won in LA are oriented horizontally, the season tournament banner is vertical and has a pointed bottom, resembling medieval tournament decoration.
The ceremony was simple. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was not present. Lakers Governor Jeanie Buss did not appear in court. After the video recap and banner unveiling, the NBA Cup trophy was placed on a table in center court while the Lakers stood nearby and were recognized as the champions by announcer Lawrence Tanter.
Those in attendance were given black T-shirts commemorating the tournament title, and the Lakers wore their black alternate jerseys in which they went 3-0 during the tournament.
Lakers star Kobe Bryant famously cited the team's celebratory standards for refusing to hang the division championship banners on the court honoring all the Larry O'Brien trophies the franchise has collected; Nevertheless, Monday's ceremony was greeted with a warm ovation from home fans.
All tournament games during the season, except the championship, counted as regular season games, so it was appropriate that the pregame ceremony ended quickly without a player or coach taking a microphone to address the crowd . LeBron James simply took a few steps from the center circle toward the 3-point line and his teammates followed him, returning to their layup lines to prepare for another regular season game.
“It's a great win in terms of being up to the challenge from a competitive standpoint,” Ham said of the tournament's role in adding intensity to the schedule early in the season. “And it also creates and maintains a foundation that we want to create to get through the regular season and then ultimately get into the playoffs.”
LA was 3-5 going into the tournament in early November and used an undefeated streak to climb as high as No. 4 in the Western Conference standings.
After the tournament concluded, LA was 1-2 on a road trip through Dallas and San Antonio heading into Monday night's game against the Knicks. While Friday's loss to the Spurs, which ended an 18-game losing streak for San Antonio, was a disappointment, it also had a bright spot: That day, each player's $500,000 winnings were deposited into their account as a lump sum payment, sources told ESPN.
While the Lakers players acknowledged the obvious emotional disappointment that came with trying to get back into the swing of things after the tournament ended, Ham praised the overall experience.
“I think it’s huge, man,” he said. “The intensity with which everyone played. You could feel it. I think it is awesome. Any time you can play highly competitive basketball with the best athletes in the world, I think it's great for the fans, great for the organizations and ultimately great for the NBA.”