The New York Knicks won the NBA’s third edition of their in-season tournament on Tuesday after a comeback victory over the San Antonio Spurs. The Knicks follow the Lakers and the Bucks as champions of the NBA Cup, a rare celebratory moment for a franchise that is better known for playoff droughts and postseason disappointment when they do play in April, May, and June.
Knicks Decline Championship Banner, Lakers May Remove Their Own
Some would think that the Knicks would want to hang a banner and honor this achievement, but the franchise has decided the regular-season achievement is best left out of the rafters of Madison Square Garden.
Shams Charania reported that the franchise will instead have a celebration with its fans on Friday when it plays the Philadelphia 76ers.
The NBA can’t be happy with the Knicks’ decision, though. The NBA Cup is being marketed as a major event on the league’s schedule with massive marketing and a dedicated timeslot on Amazon Prime Video for streaming the event.
Adam Silver was at the final game between the Knicks and Spurs, and the semifinal and final rounds are played at a neutral site, Las Vegas. The use of alternate courts and a unique trophy demonstrates how vital this is to the game’s image and the efforts Silver and the owners are putting into making the regular season feel important.
The Lakers and the Bucks both hung championship banners after winning the NBA Cup the past two seasons. Still, Chris Haynes is reporting the Lakers may take theirs down after hearing about the Knicks’ decision to skip it.
Haynes doesn’t have any definitive report yet, but rather seems to be predicting what the Lakers may decide to do based on past evidence. Apparently, the Lakers weren’t keen on hanging a banner after their inaugural win. Why would a team as successful as the Lakers want to equate a regular-season tournament win with an NBA championship anyway?
The Lakers won the league’s first edition of the NBA Cup in 2023-2024 and were the guinea pigs for how to honor the victory. Haynes indicated the team was pressured into recognizing the tournament win with a banner, but a franchise with 17 NBA championships has higher standards than most.
Seeing the Knicks, a team with every reason to hang something recognizing the NBA Cup win since they haven’t won an NBA title since 1973, decide not to hang one makes the Lakers look bad.
The Lakers will play the Utah Jazz tomorrow night as part of their current road trip. They don’t return home until Christmas Day against the Rockets. That game may just have one less piece of laundry in the rafters than before.
