ANTHONY DAVIS LEADS LAKERS TO NBA IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT TITLE

In addition to taking home a trophy, Lakers players on standard contracts each made $500,000 and the Pacers received $200,000 apiece. Players on two-way deals take home half those amounts...

As Commissioner Adam Silver prepared to hand LeBron James the MVP trophy of the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament, he cautioned that "it doesn't come with a franchise." James bent over in laughter, but he has been serious about wanting to own an NBA expansion team in Las Vegas.

For now, he'll more than settle for the individual honor and tournament championship after scoring 24 points and adding 11 rebounds Saturday night to help the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers 123109 in the final.

"My enthusiasm about being here post-career, bringing a team here has not changed," James said. "The fans are amazing here. They have everything already: WNBA team, they have a baseball team (Athletics) coming in soon, NFL team, hockey team, F1 (Formula One) was just here. This is a place that loves great attractions, and I think the NBA will be another great addition to this city."

As well as James played Saturday, the star was teammate Anthony Davis, who had 41 points and 20 rebounds numbers that would have been season highs if they counted. This is the only game in the tournament that doesn't figure in the standings or statistics.

Davis also shot 16 of 24, had five assists and blocked four shots.