It seemed as if Luka just stepped things up even more when it was a Cup game and his performance did not go unnoticed.

The NBA announced the All-Tournament Team for the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup and Doncic was named to it alongside Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns of the New York Knicks, De’Aaron Fox of the Spurs and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The All-Tournament Team for the @emirates NBA Cup:

Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
Luka Dončić, Los Angeles Lakers
De’Aaron Fox, San Antonio Spurs
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks pic.twitter.com/J9WZ4Ag4AY

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 18, 2025

In five Cup games, Doncic averaged 36.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 10.0 assists while shooting 48.7% from the field and 44.2% from 3-point range. The Lakers superstar scored at least 35 points in four of those five contests, with two of those being 40-point games, and reached double-digit assists in three. Overall, Doncic ranked second in the Emirates NBA Cup in scoring and tied for fourth in assists.

The All-Tournament Team makes a ton of sense with Brunson, the Emirates NBA Cup MVP, and Towns leading the Knicks to the NBA Cup Championship. Fox was also huge for the Spurs in making the championship game, especially in the absence of Victor Wembanyama, who missed a couple of contests in the tournament, including their quarterfinal victory over the Lakers. And of course, Gilgeous-Alexander put on his normal consistently great performances in the Thunder’s run to the semi-finals.

Doncic finds himself in great company on this All-Tournament team, but now it is time to turn the page as he looks to continue to lead the Lakers to success throughout the remainder of the season.

Knicks won’t hang Emirates NBA Cup Championship banner

It was the Knicks who ultimately outlasted everyone to take home the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup Championship by defeating the Spurs in the best Cup championship game to date. They now join the Lakers and Bucks as the teams to win the tournament, but unlike the previous two winners, the Knicks won’t be hanging a banner to commemorate their achievement.

Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!

It is completely different from what represents the Lakers’ 17 NBA championships and as opposed to hanging multiple banners should they win the tournament again in subsequent years, the Lakers would instead just add on to the current one. Last year, the Milwaukee Bucks also hung a banner upon winning the second NBA Cup Championship, but the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup Champion New York Knicks apparently won’t be following suit.

It is being reported that the Knicks do not plan to hang a banner inside Madison Square Garden to commemorate the Cup Championship, though there will be a celebration of sorts prior to the team’s next home game. And according to NBA insider Chris Haynes, this decision could potentially lead to the Lakers taking down their own banner, via Sirius XM NBA Radio:

“I think the Lakers might remove that banner now. I think they might remove that NBA Cup banner, it just hit me. They didn’t want to do that, they didn’t wanna put it up. Now that the Knicks are holding this stance, the Lakers will be like ‘Listen, we didn’t wanna do that. We compromised. And then we got this long, white, whatever color this banner is hanging up there that we don’t want up there. You know, let’s put it down.’”

As Haynes noted, the Lakers weren’t inclined to raise an NBA Cup Championship banner, but were asked by the league to do so. The Lakers are the most prestigious franchise in the league and only celebrate NBA championships, which explains their hesitance to formally acknowledge the Cup championship.

And that also makes sense why the league wanted them to hang the banner because the Lakers acknowledging it as a real achievement helped to establish the Emirates NBA Cup.

The Knicks refusing to hang a banner would certainly send the opposite message. Should the NBA allow them to make such a decision, the Lakers have extremely high standards for the accomplishments and players they celebrate, and could be motivated to make a change in their stance with an NBA Cup banner.

Luka Doncic named to Emirates NBA Cup All-Tournament Team

Even though the Lakers came up short in their quest to win a second Emirates NBA Cup Championship, superstar guard Luka Doncic was honored for his performance in the select games.

Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!

The Los Angeles Lakers were the winners of the inaugural NBA Cup, with the Milwaukee Bucks taking home the hardware last season. This year, it was the New York Knicks who finished on top in Las Vegas, defeating the San Antonio Spurs in an excellent championship game.

When the Lakers won the first cup, the franchise raised a banner in celebration of the achievement. Albeit with reported pressure from the league to do so.

The banner is completely different from the ones honoring the Lakers’ 17 NBA championships, but is still in the rafters and would be added upon in any subsequent years the franchise wins the cup again. The Bucks also raised an NBA Cup champions banner.

According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Knicks will not be following suit at Madison Square Garden for their Emirates NBA Cup championship, though they will have a celebration prior to their home game Friday night:

The New York Knicks will not raise an NBA Cup championship banner at Madison Square Garden, sources tell ESPN. The Lakers and Bucks raised banners for NBA Cup titles over the last two years. Knicks will celebrate with home fans Friday.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 17, 2025

It is an interesting choice by the Knicks, who haven’t won an NBA title since 1973 when they defeated a Lakers team led by Jerry West, Gail Goodrich and Wilt Chamberlain in five games. Perhaps the organization prefers to hold out and ensure that the next banner raised is one for the traditional championship.

New York seemingly believes acknowledging their cup championship by celebrating with fans is sufficient.

This season is arguably the Knicks’ best chance in quite a while to possibly take home the Larry O’Brien Trophy. They currently own the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and are among the favorites to reach the NBA Finals.

Lakers looking for young 3-and-D players on trade market

The Lakers would love to be on the other side if the Knicks are able to make the NBA Finals, but the roster still could use some help, especially on the perimeter. The front office reportedly is targeting young 3-and-D players in the trade market who could help the team make a leap.

Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!

The Lakers entered the primetime matchup with the upper hand as they held homecourt and the Spurs were without Victor Wembanyama who isn’t quite ready to return from a calf injury. A win for Los Angeles would have meant a trip to Las Vegas to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the semifinals, but instead San Antonio is the one that punched its ticket.

On the other side of the bracket, the New York Knicks will take on the Orlando Magic after they beat the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat, respectively.

The Lakers lost to the Spurs 132-119, though the final score wasn’t indicative of how poorly the team played. Los Angeles looked a step slow in the first quarter as they failed to defend the 3-point line, but from that point forward San Antonio simply generated any shot it wanted.

Despite a fourth quarter rally where the Lakers got within single digits, the defense failed to stop the Spurs and they wound up getting eliminated from the tournament.

Lakers traveling to Suns on Sunday

With Los Angeles out of the Emirates NBA Cup, they’ll head on the road to take on the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 5:00 p.m. PT. Interestingly enough, this means the Lakers will have played the Suns five times once the 2025-26 season concludes as they were already scheduled to play four times since they’re in the same division.

It’s disappointing to see Los Angeles out of the NBA Cup, but at least they’re afforded a couple extra days of rest. Several players on the team, including LeBron James, have been banged up so any additional breaks the players can get is definitely welcomed.

A healthy Lakers squad will be required to beat a Suns squad that ran them out of the gym in their last matchup. Phoenix punched first and never let up, continually coming at L.A. on both ends of the floor.

The purple and gold have been exposed the past couple of weeks, but a win against the Suns would help right the ship.

JJ Redick believes ‘Monstars’ took over Lakers’ brains in recent loss to Suns

The Lakers looked completely out of sort in the recent loss to the Suns, with some attributing it to fatigue. Head coach JJ Redick was able to somehow find some humor in the defeat as he joked that perhaps his team was taken over by the ‘Monstars’ from Space Jam.

Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!

The winner would advance to the semifinals in Las Vegas this weekend, where they would play the Oklahoma City Thunder, who knocked off the Phoenix Suns in their quarterfinal matchup. Victor Wembanyama was still out of the lineup, but that didn’t matter as the Spurs outplayed the Lakers to come away with a 132-119 victory.

LeBron James kicked off the scoring and then found Deandre Ayton for a midrange shot to take an early lead. De’Aaron Fox responded with five straight points for the Spurs, although Luka Doncic then matched him with a layup and three-point play.

Doncic is leading the league in first quarter scoring and that continued in this one with 11 points. The Lakers were struggling on the defensive glass, however, with Keldon Johnson getting hot as a result to give the Spurs a 39-30 lead at the end of the first.

San Antonio’s hot 3-point shooting continued into the second quarter as they ripped off eight straight points, forcing a Lakers timeout.

Frustration was mounting for the Lakers as Doncic and JJ Redick both got technical fouls in the first half for arguing calls.

Doncic tried to channel that frustration to get his team back in the game, and after going down by as many as 18, they closed the half strong to get their deficit to 70-58 going into the halftime locker room. James got the crowd going at the end of the quarter with a monster poster dunk on Luke Kornet.

The Lakers were not able to carry that momentum into the second half as the Spurs ripped off a quick 10-2 run to begin the third quarter.

Marcus Smart tried to get his team back in it with back-to-back triples. He went for a third one and missed though, and that resulted in a three-point play for the Spurs in transition. The Lakers’ defense continued to struggle at the 3-point line and on the glass, resulting in a 104-87 deficit going into the fourth.

The Spurs kept pouring it on to start the fourth as the Lakers couldn’t get any stops. Smart got hot from deep to try to bring his team back and the deficit got all the way down to eight in the final minutes. That was as closed as they got though as San Antonio closed out the win, dropping L.A. to 17-7 on the season.

What’s next for the Lakers…

With this loss, the Lakers will not advance to the semifinals of the Emirates NBA Cup. Instead, they will have one more regular season game added to their schedule against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday at 5 p.m. PT.

Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!