LOS ANGELES — Nearly one year after winning the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament and the sluggish play that followed, it’s become common to question what the Lakers’ approach would be in their quest to win the NBA Cup again.
And if they would have similar motivations as last year.
So far, it appears they do.
“We want the money,” forward Rui Hachimura said after the team’s home win against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night. “Last year, we were very motivated. We have the big prize. This tournament did kind of motivate us to kind of get in [to a] different level.”
The “big prize” Hachimura is referring to is the $500,000 bonus each Lakers player took home as their monetary reward for winning the inaugural NBA Cup.
The prize money has increased to $514,971 for players on the team that wins the NBA Cup, with the runner-up, semifinal participants and quarterfinal participants also being rewarded financially.
The Lakers went undefeated in last season’s Tournament Group Play games before beating the Phoenix Suns in the quarterfinals, the New Orleans Pelicans in the semifinals and the Indiana Pacers in the final.
They’ll play the first of their four Group Play games this year against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night at Frost Bank Center. As part of West Group B, the Lakers will also host the Utah Jazz (Tuesday), play at the Suns (Nov. 26) and host the Oklahoma City Thunder (Nov. 29) in group-stage games.
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is coming off the first 50-point game of his career in Wednesday’s victory over the Washington Wizards.
“One game at a time,” Anthony Davis said. “I know it kind of was the hype around us last year, but we’re approaching each game – regular-season game or Cup game – as the same. I don’t think just because it’s a Cup game that we should change how we approach it. We should approach each game the same way and that’s how we’re going to approach it.”
Including last year’s NBA Cup final and the regular-season games sandwiched around the group-stage matchups, the Lakers went 12-4 during a month-long period when it was clear their focus was raised to a different level.
But the Lakers lost 10 of their next 13 games after winning the tournament – a stretch of disappointing play that was a factor in previous coach Darvin Ham being fired shortly after the regular season ended.
New coach JJ Redick doesn’t expect the Lakers’ approach to change for Cup games.
“I expect our guys to be highly competitive,” Redick said. “Said this a number of times last year, you don’t need to give a reason to competitive people to compete. They wake up in the morning, they wanna compete. And the games count for the regular season. We all recognize how difficult the Western Conference is. And every game is gonna matter.”
LeBron James, who was last year’s tournament MVP, had Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on his mind before the team traveled to San Antonio on Thursday. The Spurs announced on Wednesday that Popovich suffered a mild stroke at their home arena on Nov. 2, adding that the Hall of Famer has already started a rehabilitation program and is expected to make a full recovery.
“There’s much bigger news out of San Antonio right now and that’s my dear friend Coach Pop,” James said. “I’ll be thinking heavily about him as I travel there. And I’m wishing him the best of health. And hopefully, I see him soon. It doesn’t even have to be on the sidelines. Hopefully I’ll just see him soon. That’s most important for me.”
LAKERS AT SPURS
When: Friday, 4:30 p.m.
Where: Frost Bank Center, San Antonio
TV/radio: ESPN, Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM
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