By Steve Aschburner
LeBron caps off the Lakers’ perfect run through the In-Season Tournament with 24 points and 11 rebounds in the NBA Cup-clinching win.
Lakers legend LeBron James added to his endless list of basketball achievements Saturday in leading his team past the Indiana Pacers at T-Mobile Arena. He helped nail down the inaugural tournament championship NBA Cup for the Lakers. And he fended off Indiana’s exciting young point guard Tyrese Haliburton to take home the In-Season Tournament’s Most Valuable Player award too.
Both James and Haliburton figure to hold spots on the All-Tournament Team that will be announced Monday by the NBA. But only one lugged home hardware immediately after the title game.
Here’s a snapshot of James’ In-Season Tournament run:
- James didn’t just shine in the Las Vegas semifinals and finals. In tournament play, he averaged 26.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists while shooting 56.8% from the field and 60.6% on 3s. All that heavy lifting got the Lakers through their group stage and Knockout Round with a perfect 7-0 record.
- In the clincher, James’ teammate Anthony Davis put up some monster statistics: 41 points, 20 rebounds and four blocked shots. But this wasn’t a one-game award and besides, James was no slouch. He scored 24 points with 11 boards and four assists. He got 16 of his 24 points in the second and third quarters, sending the Lakers into the fourth with a 90-82 lead they never lost. He finished the night with a plus/minus rating of +19, boosting his tournament total to +118.
- The Lakers star continues to defy Father Time as he nears his 39th birthday (Dec. 30). His performances in the quarterfinals and semifinals – totals of 61 points, 13 rebounds and 19 assists against Phoenix and New Orleans, making 21 of 37 shots – had rival players and coaches marveling over his late prime. Meanwhile, his own coach Darvin Ham said James definitely belongs in the 2024 MVP discussion in his 21st NBA season.
- James seemed excited from the start about the In-Season Tournament, with his and a few other stars’ buy-in providing instant credibility to what some saw as a confusing, new-fangled gimmick. He appeared to like the idea of competing, wasn’t shy about his interest in the $500,000 prize money per winning player and saw the tourney run as a tool to further the L.A. team’s development.
What this means: James had added incentive to chase the In-Season Tournament title and MVP honors. Las Vegas is a special market to him, the destination for what most NBA insiders assume will be an expansion franchise in the not-distant future. James has made no bones about his desire to become an owner and face of that organization when it’s a reality, so etching his name into every available space this week can only help. It helps the NBA, too, to have one of its legends win the first NBA Cup and plant a flag as tournament MVP.
James’ updated resume: It’s not as if it needed any padding, but that resume now includes a couple more achievements and slick trophies. The challenge will be finding room on the shelves and walls in and around the four NBA championship rings, four Finals MVPs, four regular-season MVPs, one scoring crown, a Rookie of the Year award, souvenirs of his 19 All-Star appearances and the tallest mountain of points amassed in NBA history. His stats from Saturday won’t count on his permanent record (that’s the NBA policy for the IST finale) but his 39,201 + 8,203 in the playoffs seem pretty untouchable.
His words: “We made history. Any time you’re on the right side of history, you take it, so …
On doing it in Las Vegas, where he has designs on running an expansion team: “Has not changed. My enthusiasm … Bringing a team here, has not changed. The fans are amazing here. They have everything here already. WNBA teams, have a baseball team coming in soon, NFL team, hockey team, F1 was just here over Thanksgiving week. … It’s a place that loves great attractions, and I think the NBA will be another great addition to this city.
On Anthony Davis’ play Saturday: “That was a Shaq-like dominant performance.”
Assessing the Lakers and their playoff ambition based on their Tournament showing: “Right now where we are in December, I would take it. But I’m definitely not looking to May and June. That’s too far. There’s too many steps that need to be taken still in order for our team to be who we want to be once the postseason starts.”
* * *
Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.