LAS VEGAS — The NBA caught a major break last season when the Los Angeles Lakers made the semifinals of the league’s inaugural in-season tournament, then won the title.
Las Vegas is a Lakers town, and the city is a four-hour drive from Los Angeles, so T-Mobile Arena was sold out for what was essentially a home game when LeBron James & Co. cruised past the upstart Indiana Pacers 123-109 in the title matchup.
The first edition of commissioner Adam Silver’s great experiment couldn’t have gone much smoother for the league, which is back with the semifinals of the tournament now known as the NBA Cup. The Lakers won’t be back, though and also missing is what would have been another major draw. Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors came up just short of making the final four after a controversial one-point loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be star power in Saturday’s semifinals. Two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and this season’s second-best bet, Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, will be the featured names.
Whether they drive sellout business when the closest teams are making at least a two-hour flight from their home cities is the question.