The Los Angeles Lakers have been told by the NBA not to wear their black In-Season Tournament jerseys at the semi-finals in Las Vegas against the New Orleans Pelicans due to concerns over the visual contrast between the jerseys and the court design. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin broke the news and even shared a two-word statement from a Lakers player over the decision.
“The NBA is preventing the Lakers from wearing their black uniforms because of concerns over the visual contrast between the jerseys and the design of the specialized in-season court the semifinals will be played on at T-Mobile Arena… When one Lakers player was informed the team wouldn’t be allowed to wear black on Thursday, he replied, ‘That’s ass.'”
The Lakers are 3-0 in Black jerseys this season, recapturing the magic of the Black Mamba jersey in 2020 which helped the Lakers go 4-1 in the bubble en route to a championship. The Lakers are expected to play the semi-finals while wearing their gold jerseys, a classic colorway, but one that will disappoint fans who have grown to like their Black statement edition jersey.
Hopefully, we can see the jersey back in action at some point during the season
LeBron James Loves The In-Season Tournament
Even with the Lakers not being able to wear their black jerseys for their semi-final matchup with the Pelicans, that hasn’t impacted how the Lakers view the tournament. Fans have seen teams go out of their way to compete in this tournament, with no player having made negative comments after the first round of games was over.
LeBron initially motivated his team to go after the Tournament win due to the financial incentive. When asked about how successful the tournament has been by ESPN, James referred to Adam Silver as a genius for making the tournament happen.
“Adam Silver is a genius. It’s that simple. This is gonna work.”
LeBron James, on players buying into the In-Season Tournament:
“Adam Silver is a genius. It’s that simple. This is gonna work.”
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) December 7, 2023
James is among the favorites for In-Season Tournament MVP after his fantastic performances throughout the tournament. Even though the Lakers had a controversial win against the Suns last night, nobody can question James’ excellence on the court in a 31-point performance with 11 assists and five steals, along with eight rebounds. He’s been sensational and needs to lead the team to two more wins.
The Lakers will face a scary Pelicans squad in the semi-finals. Both teams have had an injury-plagued start to the seasons but have found good health in the last week. The Pels will play almost everyone from their core, including Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, and Trey Murphy III.
The Pels came out of a very tough group featuring the Nuggets, Mavericks, Rockets, and Clippers, before beating the Kings in the quarters. This is not an easy matchup for the Lakers, but the purple and gold franchise will hope the returns of Cam Reddish, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Rui Hachimura are enough for them.
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