LeBron James: 'I Think It's Awesome' Lakers Raised NBA In-Season Tournament Banner

Some on social media may have clowned the Los Angeles Lakers for hanging a banner for their In-Season Tournament win, but LeBron James embraced the pregame ceremony ahead of Monday's loss to the New York Knicks.

"I think it's awesome," James told reporters. "To be able to acknowledge wins throughout the course of a marathon, I think that's pretty cool. That's the first, the inauguration of it. We were able to win it. So, for our fans that didn't get an opportunity to be in Vegas, they got an opportunity to kind of share that celebration with us tonight, share that moment, something that will live on forever for sure here. So, it was a good moment."

The Lakers played a brief video commemorating the inaugural championship and will keep that same banner in the rafters moving forward, with additional years being added to commemorate future championships.

The IST helped turn around a slow-starting Lakers team, who were 7-0 in tournament games and are 9-12 in all other games this season. They have dropped three of their four games since defeating the Indiana Pacers in the IST championship game.

While the new format was a marked shift for the league, there's little doubt it was a success and is here to stay. Ratings for IST games were up 41 percent comparable to standard regular-season games in the same window a year ago.