NBA Legend Gets Honest About the In-Season Tournament

In this story:
The Los Angeles Lakers are the first ever NBA In-Season Tournament champions, defeating the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night to take home the NBA Cup. LeBron James won tournament MVP, and his good friend Carmelo Anthony spoke on the legitimacy of the tournament during the first episode of his 7PM in Brooklyn podcast.
This episode aired prior to the In-Season Tournament Championship game, so Anthony's answer was not impacted by the game's outcome. For Anthony, he believes the tournament means something, and he would be hyped if his team won it.
"Yes, I'm happy. I'm hyped," Anthony answered when asked if he would be excited about winning this tournament. "You know why I'm hyped? Because it's something new, and we're the first ones to get it. We set the tone of like, we win this, this is how we're gonna carry winning this. So whether you wanna believe it or not, we here. We won something. We competed against the teams. It wasn't like new teams. These are games we had to play anyways."
“It’s something new. We the first one to get it.”
— 7PM in Brooklyn (@7PMinBrooklyn) December 9, 2023
Might not be Larry but history is made tonight. pic.twitter.com/tk2X21K1j1
This is a good point from Anthony, because every In-Season Tournament game outside of the championship game counted towards the regular season, so it was not an artificial environment against different competition. For Anthony, who is a Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks legend, he would have been hyped if his team won the In-Season Tournament.
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Joey Linn is a credentialed writer covering the NBA and WNBA for On SI. Covering the LA Clippers independently in 2018, then for Fansided and 213Hoops from 2019-2021, Joey joined On SI to cover the Clippers after the 2020-21 season. Graduating from Biola University in 2022 with a Communication Studies degree, Joey served as Biola's play-by-play announcer for their basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. Joey's work on Biola's broadcasts and in the classroom earned him the Outstanding Communication Studies Student of the year award in 2022. Joey covers the NBA full-time, primarily serving as a Clippers beat writer.