The In-Season Tournament is in its final week of play after being a massive hit amongst fans and players. The inaugural champions of the tournament will also receive a prize of $500,000, an amount that many players have come out and said is a motivating factor for them. Anthony Davis has joined that group, claiming he wants to win the IST so that he can buy Christmas gifts for his family.
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“Christmas coming up, some gifts for the kids, the wife. The money obviously plays a part. At this stage, everyone receives something. But you always want the top prize.”
Anthony Davis is making $40.6 million this season and signed a contract extension which will boost his salary to $54.6 million in 2026. One thing we know for sure is that Davis didn’t ‘need’ the money to buy gifts for his family, though the extra scratch helps. That’s a lot of money too, so I guess the Davis family will be showered with gifts if the Lakers win.
Finalists in the tournament get $200,000 extra, so if the Lakers beat the Pelicans tonight, at least Davis will guarantee a generous amount of prize money, even if the Lakers then wind up losing to the Pacers in the Finals.
Are The Lakers Favorites To Win The In-Season Tournament?
As of the tip-off of Lakers vs. Pelicans in the semi-finals, it looks like the Lakers are the presumed favorite to win the tournament due to their incredible form in the same. LeBron James has been playing with extra aggression and even explained during the group stages why the Lakers were motivated to win.
“I think it’s an incentive for sure. Early in the season, when you are playing the in-season tournament, so we understand what’s at stake. It’s not something we’re putting all our eggs in one basket in the in-season tournament. But we know when the games come, every Tuesday and Friday, we know what it’s about, we know what’s at stake. So, it’s been good for us so far.
With the Bucks being eliminated from the tournament after their loss to the Pacers, the Lakers will smile due to them matching up better against the Pacers. But getting through the Pelicans in the semi-finals will be no easy task. The franchise has been on a tear since getting Trey Murphy III and C.J. McCollum back from injury. The Lakers will try and contain the various two-way weapons the Pels have, but it will not be an easy task.
We’ve seen LeBron become a different player in the playoffs to lead his teams to wins when nobody is expecting it. This year, people are expecting the Lakers to win for the historic magnitude of them being the inaugural IST winner, especially with LeBron on the team. Hopefully, James can treat this like a playoff game and lead the team to beat the Pelicans to make it to the Finals.
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