Lakers Won NBA’s In-Season Tournament And No One Knew How To Act

The Los Angeles Lakers are champions again.

Sort of.

On Saturday night, LA captured the NBA's inaugural In-Season Tournament crown, earning each player $500,000 and a piece of history. Not bad for a Christmas bonus. There's only one problem: Los Angeles still has 59 regular season games to play.

After beating the Pacers handily, Los Angeles celebrated more than any team normally would for a mid-December contest ($500k is reason enough to get excited), but things still felt awkward.

LA is currently 14-9, 5th place in the Western Conference. They're also champions...of a tournament that concluded on the second weekend of December in Las Vegas on a court that looks straight out of a children's coloring book.

LA Lakers Celebrated, But Dialed Down The Excitement

When the final whistle blew, streamers fell from Vegas' T-Mobile Arena, but there were no Lakers rushing the court to pile on superstars LeBron James or Anthony Davis. There was disappointment, but no tears from Pacers players and coaches.

Truth is, no one really knew what to do or how to act.

In the immediate aftermath of the *historic* win, LA's Anthony Davis admitted as much during an on-court interview, stating through a smile: "Ahh...we know it's not the real thing."

The real thing, of course, is an NBA championship that's earned in June and is the ultimate measuring stick of a player's career. December's title isn't technically recognized as a championship. Instead, the league awards the winning team with the prestigious NBA Cup.

But make no mistake, it's the money, not the Cup, that means the most to these players. That's especially true during the holiday season, despite the fact that the average NBA player salary for the 2023-24 is more than $9 million.

LeBron told ESPN's Malika Andrews the first question his Lakers teammates asked him in the seconds that preceded their In-Season Tournament win was: "When do we get our money?"

Fair question.

Also, probably not the same Q&A Jordan and Pippen, Shaq and Kobe or even LeBron and Dwyane Wade were having with their teammates after hoisting a Larry O'Brien trophy.

NBA Gave Out...Medals?

Adding to the awkwardness of the confusing, albeit entertaining, event was the other award given. In addition to half a million dollars, each member of the Lakers was presented with a medal. LA's team members stood on a podium, unsure of what to expect, before having kids place medals around their necks.

Yes, medals.

$500K > medal. But maybe that's just me.

Had you not known any better, you'd have thought this was the Dream Team in Barcelona at the '92 Olympics.

Right?

But give credit where credit's due. The players were dialed in and the league found a way to make December basketball entertaining and (somewhat) meaningful. Even if no one knows how to feel about it.

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