Celtics icon Paul Pierce says Lakers put up In-Season Tournament banner out of ‘spite’

Once the Lakers conquered the first-ever In-Season Tournament, there was a lot of talk about if they should hang up their championship banner. The NBA world was mostly divided between both options, but the Los Angeles organization decided to cave into the pressure and hang the banner. 

As the purple and gold and the Boston club are the two teams with most league titles, some basketball personalities believe the Lakers did this to prove they are the franchise with most accolades in NBA history.

In a recent interview with Kevin Garnett, Celtics legend Paul Pierce is convinced that the L.A. team did this out of spite. “They did that to spite the Celtics bro,” he said per SHOWTIME Basketball. “I’m telling you, because we got 17… so that count towards the 17?”

Paul Pierce says the Lakers hung up an in-season championship banner to ‘spite’ the Celtics 😅

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It all started when the Timberwolves icon told Pierce that the In-Season Tournament championship doesn’t really count towards the NBA Finals triumphs. This is when Paul insisted that the Lakers should’ve not held up the banner.

“So they shouldn’t have put a banner, maybe they should have put like a plaque,” Pierce insisted. “They should have put like a big screen TV and put it on that. Like just a video image of it. You know how you go in your house and you’ve got the images?”

The solution, according to the Boston icon, is that the NBA should provide a different banner, since those have typically been used for Finals championships. He also explained he’s not discounting the In-Season cup.

Another ex-Celtics player who became a two-time NBA champion with the club also spoke his mind in a different interview. Cedric Maxwell mocked the Lakers for hanging the banner this season.

“Oh, wait a minute,” he started. “They got their 18th banner right there! (points to the IST banner). Is that it? I’m asking you. Is that it? Didn’t they stop the game so they could bring it up and unveil it? What’s that.”

Even though league Commissioner Adam Silver clearly wants the In-Season Tournament to be important and expected banner to be hanged, Maxwell took a shot at the purple and gold and their fans. “Whatever floats their boat,” Cedric said. “If you’re a Fakers fan, whatever floats your boat.”

Heat veteran Udonis Haslem also showed his disapproval with the Lakers’ grand celebration after winning the new cup

Another who wasn’t pleased with all the celebrations that went on in Los Angeles was Udonis Haslem, the recently retired three-time champion with Miami. In an episode of his own podcast show “The OGs” he shared his view on the matter.

“What we ain’t going to do is pop champagne and put up banners, we ain’t gonna do that. Not for that… Bron [LeBron James], you my dog, I love you. Come on, King. You know what you are playing for, you know what you work out every summer. That 500,000, the rich get richer. Bron, AD don’t need that,” he said.

In spite of all the polemic, Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal actually appreciated the distinction made for the new banner, that looks different from the traditional ones, but still looked special.

“There’s a loophole there… It’s not really a banner. This is just flag. What I call it an accoladed flag… It is a Championship, but the loophole is, like I said it’s an accoladed flag… because it’s Black and Gold, it’s an accoladed flag. So I don’t mind”, the former center said on the Big Podcast.