The Big Diesel has spoken!
Over the last few weeks, your Los Angeles Lakers have gotten some criticism from members of the basketball media world at large. After winning the first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament, the team raised a banner to the rafters in Crypto.com Arena and got some backlash for it.
Originally, the team hadn’t planned to raise a banner for the accomplishment, but the league itself pressured the Lakers to do so. Normally, the Lakers have held a firm stance against raising any banner that wasn’t an NBA championship, but they decided to celebrate their achievement.
hISTory pic.twitter.com/1aU0Zq3ovN
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 19, 2023
The team raised the banner, but it had a different look than the other NBA championship ones. Former Lakers star big man Shaquille O’Neal gave some thoughts on the banner that the team raised.
O’Neal called the Lakers In-Season Tournament banner an “accoladed flag”, so he is okay with them hanging it up.
“This is just an ornament. … It’s not a banner because it doesn't look like the other banners… it’s decoration.”
Shaq reacts to the Lakers hanging an In-Season Tournament Championship banner 😅 pic.twitter.com/LwKKxUKHq5
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) December 20, 2023
O’Neal helped the Lakers organization put three NBA championship banners into the rafters, so he is one of the few players who can speak on what L.A. should do here. He is a Lakers legend, and his opinion does hold weight in this discussion.
The franchise plans to just add future dates to the single banner if they are to win more In-Season Tournaments in the future. This is the best way to go about everything, without putting too much weight into winning this event.
It’s an accomplishment, so it deserves something, but I’m glad that the team didn’t parade the win around. O’Neal is correct in saying that this is an accolade, and nothing more.
