When the NBA announced its first in-season tournament last summer, some were skeptical it would be effective. They questioned whether players and coaches would be motivated to win a trophy they thought might be meaningless at the start of the season.
But so far, the in-season tournament appears to be a success. In particular, the Los Angeles Lakers seem to have more enthusiasm in the in-season tournament than in other games.
They improved to 3-0 in such games after defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 107-95 on Friday. Later, LeBron James hinted that the team will be more motivated in these games, saying that the team knows what is at stake.
James scored 35 points and dished out nine assists against the Trail Blazers on Friday. A week ago, in Los Angeles’ first in-season tournament, he scored 32 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists, helping the team come back from behind to beat the Phoenix Suns.
Anthony Davis confirms Lakers’ motivation to win in-season tournament
Teams that win in-season tournaments will receive cash prizes as an added incentive to compete for the new NBA Cup. Davis said recently that the Lakers are motivated to win the cash prize, citing a teammate who said last Friday’s win over the Suns was “one step closer” to winning the money.
Anthony Davis isn’t trying to hide the fact that cash prizes for in-season tournaments are a real lure for the Lakers: “$500 (thousand) sounds really good to us. It would bring that kind of motivation, you know what I mean? …I heard one of our players, I won’t say who, but he…
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 15, 2023
Los Angeles’ fourth and final group game will be at home against the Utah Jazz on Tuesday. Currently, the team has the best record in Western Conference Group A, but the points difference is huge.
Story originally appeared on LeBron Wire