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Insider: Lakers could follow in Knicks’ banner footsteps

Originally posted on Knicks X-Factor
By Geoff Magliocchetti | Last updated Dec 18, 2025 11:57 AM ET

The New York Knicks apparently didn’t need to wait until Fashion Week to start a trend.

Insider Chris Haynes has theorized that the Knicks have started a movement among NBA Cup champions. With reports suggesting that New York will not raise a banner to commemorate their win in the in-season tournament at Madison Square Garden, Haynes believes the Lakers could be swayed to take down the one hanging from Crypto.com Arena’s rafters.

“I think the Lakers might remove that banner now,” Haynes, now of Amazon, said during a recent appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “They didn’t want to do that. They didn’t want to put it up. Now that the Knicks are holding this stance, the Lakers [could] be like ‘listen, we didn’t want to do that. We compromised, and then we got this long, white, whatever color this banner is, hanging up … We don’t want it up there, let’s put it down.'”

"I think the Lakers might remove that banner now."

Chris Haynes suggests LA may take down their 2023 NBA Cup banner following the Knicks' decision to not raise theirs

(via @SiriusXMNBA)pic.twitter.com/mW9M94LV5x
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 18, 2025

The Lakers were the original winners of the NBA Cup in 2023. They raised a banner in a muted ceremony to recognize the victory in their first regular season game back from the knockout tournament in Las Vegas (which, ironically, was a loss to the Knicks). The Milwaukee Bucks, the second in-season champs, followed suit the year after.

Los Angeles’ banner currently resides near the 17 postseason championship banners earned between Minneapolis and SoCal. The NBA Cup banner looks considerably different: whereas the Finals commemorations are yellow and horizontal, the Cup version is black and vertical. The Lakers notably do not raise banners for Pacific Division or Western Conference triumphs.

Former Knicks nemesis Reggie Miller would likely be among those glad to see the Laker banner fall. During an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” this week, Miller postulated that the team was strongarmed into raising it by NBA commissioner Adam Silver, a longtime champion on an in-season tournament.

“I think it came down from the top,” Miller, now an “NBA on NBC” commentator, theorized. “Yes. I think Commissioner Silver talked to the Buss family and said, ‘Hang this banner, because everyone else will fall in line.’ Milwaukee has done it. They won last year.”

While the Knicks have no plans to raise a Cup banner, reports indicate that they will recognize their victory in some way, shape, or form before their next home game, which comes against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.

This article first appeared on Knicks X-Factor and was syndicated with permission.

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