LeBron James increases his legend and honors the 'Cup', an experiment with many unknowns: "There will be changes"

LeBron James was the best soda for the NBA experiment, the first Cup in its history, a complete success thanks to the King, forever in the germ of this new competition still in the adjustment phase. About to turn 39, honoring his legendary career, he led the Lakers to win the first In-Season Tournament in Las Vegas, one more notch in the most successful franchise in basketball.

In the early hours of Saturday to Sunday, on the colorful parquet of the T-Mobile Arena, LeBron culminated the wonderful path of the Angelenos in this new tournament, strange for American players and fans, a European Cup in the middle of the season , but so different. The Lakers defeated the Pacers (123-109), with a display by Anthony Davis (41 points, 20 rebounds, five assists, four blocks…), MVP of the final, accompanying the titanic effort of James (24 points, 11 rebounds…), MVP of the tournament and 28 points from the bench by Austin Reaves. They dried up the powerful attack of the Indiana team, the NBA's top scorer, and its star Tyrese Haliburton. And without needing the perimeter (just two triples, the first already late in the third quarter) they put the finishing touch to an immaculate In-Season Tournament for them: seven wins and no losses.

LeBron wanted to provide context to the event: “We have made history”. He praised his teammate Davis -“Anthony is everything to me, especially since it is the last stage of my career. Being able to have a young man who is hungry and who does the things that he does, is definitely giving me an opportunity to be there and continue growing” -, who he compared to the Shaquille O'Neal of the three-peat and assured that the The effort went to the young people on the team – we must not forget that in the desire to give importance to the tournament, the NBA awards half a million dollars to each player of the champion and 200,000 to the finalists… -, in addition to the fans of the Lakers.

And, incidentally, while he waits for his son Bronny to close his career playing together in the NBA, he continues to increase his record of achievements that places him on the Olympus of world basketball.. Individually LeBron, the top scorer in the history of the league, has been MVP of everything (All Star, regular season, finals…) and collectively boasts four rings with three different teams. The question now is whether these In-Season champion Lakers have the courage to fight for the title. “We're still too far away to have perspective on that, but we like where we are now. We're going to continue with our work habits, continue to be healthy as well. But it's December. I'm not thinking about May or June. They're too far away, There are many steps we still have to take and games to win before the postseason begins,” commented the King.

The NBA's successful trial leaves many questions, however. And Adam Silver himself appeared in Las Vegas to admit that they continue “learning” from the experience and conclude that in the next editions “there will be changes.” “Overall, we are delighted with the interest we have seen so far this season, but I know it is not without challenges. People are probably tired of hearing the word 'tweak'. So we will find another synonym for that,” explained the league commissioner. These adjustments have to do above all with sports, with the “point difference” as a scale for tiebreakers and with the calendar, since those In-Season Tournament games are part of and count for the regular season.

With its invention, the NBA has achieved its first purpose, to increase the lost mid-season competitiveness with a team lifting a title in December, something unthinkable does nothing. But there is still a lot of work ahead. You just have to pay attention to Anthony Davis' response when he was congratulated on the title: “We know it's not the real one.”