Rachel Nichols Subtly Takes a Dig at LA’s Mayor’s Tweet for Finding a Silver Lining Despite Lakers’ First-Round Exit

The Denver Nuggets concluded the Los Angeles Lakers’ season in the first round of the playoffs with a dominant 4-1 series win at Ball Arena. For Lakers fans, this was another disappointing ending to their postseason hopes as the team wasted a terrific season from both Anthony Davis and LeBron James. However, Los Angeles’ Mayor, Karen Bass, found a silver lining in all of this.

She rolled the clock back to December when the team won the league’s inaugural In-Season tournament and congratulated the Lakers on a hard-fought season. She even said she was proud of the team. However, her tweet backfired and even NBA analyst Rachel Nichols took a subtle dig at her generous messaging. While alluding to Bass’ now-deleted Tweet, she wrote, “I’m not sure what to say except that this is a real tweet from LA’s mayor.” 

After winning 17 NBA Championships, most Lakers fans believe in a “ring or bust” mentality going into every season. Thus, for many fans, the In-Season tournament win was only relevant in December. After the Lakers started faltering in the subsequent windows, LeBron James and Co. were in the crosshairs of criticism again. The IST had long been forgotten by then. After the 2023-24 Regular Season ended, a seventh-seed finish was underwhelming and many knew that the squad would fall easily against the Nuggets, who have dominated them for two years.

Thus, the In-Season Tournament championship is merely an afterthought for a ton of NBA fans. As expected, many fans blasted the LA Mayor for her take and wondered if she has ever been an NBA fan. 

NBA fans troll LA Mayor mercilessly

For a fan, the IST trophy means nothing. A first-round exit further extinguished its value. One fan wrote, “Basically congrats on winning a meaningless trophy your season is over”, followed by a laughing emoji.

Considering the Lakers’ stacked NBA championship cabinet, an X handle pointed out the dwindling standards. The user wrote, “How far the Lakers have fallen…“

Additionally, an X user quipped about not voting for Mayor despite not being an LA resident. The commenter wrote, “She just lost my vote, and I don’t even live in LA”

Meanwhile, an X handle didn’t blame Mayor Karen Bass for congratulating her city’s prized team after their season ended. The user argued that other teams would have also celebrated the IST win if they had won it. Then why should Bass be blamed for her comments? The commenter opined, “She shouldn’t be proud of their team? It’s gonna be funny af to watch other teams try to gas up the IST once they win it. Hope you keep that same energy for them.”

Another fan defended the LA Mayor. As per this fan, as a representative of the city, Bass is expected to find such optimism. The X handle called out Nichols for publicly bringing her comments. The user wrote, “There’s nothing to say. A politician wanted to appreciate the local team. Is this really a thing worth bringing up?”

While most comments blasted Bass for bringing up the In-Season Tournament heroics, there were some comments in her support too. However, she succumbed to the critics of her Tweet and deleted it. It seems like she was advised to take the post down considering the lofty expectations generally reserved for the Lakers franchise. The backlash wouldn’t have been the same if a mayor from a small market city had celebrated the In-Season tournament trophy after an early exit.