11 November 2023 , 14:04
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LeBron James shared his honest opinion on the financial gain for whoever wins the NBA In-Season tournament.
Each player that wins the inaugural event will be rewarded with just over £400,000 ($500,000) and the winning team will be awarded the first ever NBA Cup. James - who has won it all in his basketball career - has his eyes on picking up some extra cash, which he alluded to in his on-court interview after the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns in their first game of the event.
“It feels great because it’s an In-Season Tournament win, we’ll take that for sure. There's $500,000 on the line, so we're going for that,” the 19-time All-Star chuckled.
When asked if he would share the prize money, James added with a smile: “Maybe, we’ll see.”
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The four-time NBA champion had another impressive performance, dropping 32 points, 11 rebounds and six assists to lead the Lakers to a 122-119 win. James went head-to-head with Suns forward Kevin Durant and the pair have had legendary battles over the years.
The four-time scoring champion finished with 38 points, nine of which came in a span of 71 seconds in the third quarter. Ahead of the final quarter, the Suns were leading 96-89, but the Lakers opened the fourth quarter with an 11-0 run to take the lead and ultimately held on for the win.
Lakers fans were worried when James injured his shin in the first quarter. He looked in pain as he jogged back with a slight limp to the visitor's locker room at Footprint Center. However, it did not prevent him from returning to the action and leading his team, but the former league MVP was in some discomfort after the game and said his shin was feeling sore.
James scored 32 points, 11 rebounds and six assists as the Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns (Getty Images)"It never loosened up," James said. "[It] pretty much locked up right then and there. So I tried to keep my composure, make sure I was OK, and try to keep it stretched out and as loose as possible and play the game and be effective.
"Pretty sore right now. Obviously, because the adrenaline is calming down and iced it, now it's pretty sore." The Lakers’ three-point shooting and second-chance efforts gave them the edge over the Suns on Friday night.
They made 12 of their 27 shots from behind the three-point line and grabbed three offensive rebounds before James found Cam Reddish who drained a three from the corner to push them up five with a minute remaining. It was the Lakers first win in a four-gam road trip that saw them beaten in Orlando, Miami and Houston.
"I think it's the first time that we finally got over the hump as far as this road trip," James added.
“We finally were able to make one of those momentum shots and once that momentum shot opened, I felt like the floodgates started [early in the fourth] and then guys really started knocking them down.
"We've been playing from behind in a lot of our games and haven't been able to take the lead in some of the later games that we've lost. So that was a good feeling."
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