The Lakers are the 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament champions after a masterful performance by LeBron James and Anthony Davis. However, the Los Angeles squad would’ve not been able to beat Tyrese Haliburton’s Pacers without Austin Reaves‘ 28 points coming off the bench.
After all the medals were awarded, the trophy handed, the confetti was thrown, and the champagne was spilled in the team’s locker room, what’s next for the purple and gold?
As this was the first-ever In-Season competition, there has been a lot of talk whether the winners should parade their trophy around the city, or even hang a banner at the Crypto.com Arena to honor their championship run.
As they head back to their regular-season schedule, Reaves believes the Lakers have no need to raise the banner. “The Lakers are so used to winning championships, like actual championships, I don’t think we’ll raise a banner but you know what it is to for anybody to win that tournament- that’s special thou,” he said. “Regardless if we do or don’t, I will be happy for it. You know, like raise a real championship banner this year.”
During the interview, Austin was also asked about when each player will receive the money earned for conquering the tournament. “I don’t think- I honestly don’t know the answer to that question. Someone told me at the latest we get it by January 15. But I don’t know. I don’t know if anybody got any of the money yet,” he responded.
He recognized that the prize money doesn’t mean too much to players like LeBron, but that the team’s younger core was very excited to earn this. The 25-year-old revealed how the Lakers were motivated to win the title for their rising stars.
“All the young guys were running around even before the game like, ‘Please win, please win.’, 2-ways were like ‘This is a $150,000 game for us, we need you to win,” Reaves shared.
The Lakers confirmed they are going to raise a special banner in honor of the In-Season title
The Los Angeles franchise have decided to go all in on their In-Season Tournament championship. Despite many rumors suggesting there was no need to raise a banner, the team recently confirmed their intentions of hanging it during their next home game.
However, the team said it won’t look anything like their NBA championship ones. According to their latest statement,…