When the Lakers won the inaugural In-Season Tournament, there was a question of how the storied franchise would handle celebrating the accomplishment. After initial reports indicated they would not hang a banner, they reversed course (likely under pressure from Adam Silver and the NBA) and announced their plans to raise a banner that would have a different look from their championship banners — and noted they would hang just one, with space to add future years to it.
On Monday night, the banner officially went into the rafters in L.A. in a mild pregame celebration of the accomplishment, and unsurprisingly it drew mixed reviews. The Lakers have, rather famously, only hung banners for NBA championships, but the NBA Cup presented an interesting conundrum because it wasn’t just a conference or division title, it was an actual leaguewide title they won — just, not the big one. The black vertical banner was the compromise, but not everyone was thrilled with it.
Shaquille O’Neal is among those that isn’t a fan, as the former Laker great put three NBA championship banners in the rafters and refused to even acknowledge the IST banner’s existence, calling it an “ornament” and a “decoration” but not a banner. That had Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson in stitches, as they poked the bear further and further while Shaq tried to compare it to putting a ribbon on a coffee cup and calling it a Christmas tree. It’s no surprise Shaq is not in on raising banners for In-Season Tournament crowns, and he’ll defiantly refuse to even call it a banner because it’s not gold.