“Mickey mouse banner”, "Adam Silver made that call”: NBA fans launch furious rant against the Lakers hanging In-Season Tournament banner

The LA Lakers won the first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament after defeating the Indiana Pacers in the Final at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. After the win, the Lakers decided to hold an In-Season Tournament celebration in the Crypto.com Arena on Dec. 18.

The Lakers broke the NBA Cup celebration news through their official account on “X” (formerly Twitter). The celebration will include honoring Anthony Davis and LeBron James for their outstanding performances throughout the tournament.

They also announced that they will unveil an Add-A-Year In-Season Tournament banner in the rafter that will recognize the Lakers’ inaugural win.

However, as excited as the Lakers are for the ceremony, NBA fans do not seem to favor the decision. Reacting to the post by the Lakers and update by Shams Charania from The Athletic, fans unleashed furious rants over the decision to hang the banner in the rafters.

One of the fans blamed NBA commissioner Adam Silver for making the decision, stating:

“Adam Silver hit Jeanie hand with something to do this shit.”

Another fan wrote:

“Lakers bandwagon bronsexual f**** really happy about the lakers hanging a Mickey Mouse tournament banner I’m weak lol.”

Here are some reactions from fans on X.

LeBron James and the Lakers win first-ever NBA Cup

LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the Lakers to the first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament championship after defeating the Indiana Pacers in the Final. Davis had a monster night and put in a massive 41-point dominant performance against the Pacers. He also had 20 rebounds, five assists and four blocks in the game.

James was declared the MVP of the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament. After receiving the award, the four-time NBA champion put the meaning of winning the tournament into perspective, and perhaps only James could have put it like that.

"Records will be broken but one thing that will never be broken is being the first to do something," said James.

"We're the first champions of the in-season tournament, and nobody can ever top that.”

Since the tip-off, the game always remained a close contest. Despite trailing by double digits, the Pacers continued to close the deficit. They cut the deficit to three points with just six minutes remaining on the game clock.

However, the Lakers kept attacking the Pacers in the paint and eventually capitalized on Myles Turner, who was fouled out of the game. The Lakers finally went on a 13-0 run that took away the Pacers’ chance to come back in the game.

The In-Season Tournament banner might not compare to the NBA championship banners in any sense. However, after watching teams compete as hard as they do during postseason games, it would be unfair to say that the championship doesn’t hold a meaning beyond the $500,000 paycheck.