The joke, publicly and privately, among the Lakers leading up to and during the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament was the amazement at how badly a room of rich people could want to win the $500,000 prize waiting for each winning player in Las Vegas.

“The bag,” they said was an amazing motivator, the kind that could turn pre-Christmas, regular-season basketball into something that rivaled postseason energy and intensity.

But there was one other driving factor, the biggest competitors on earth all pushing to be the first.

Tuesday night in the quarterfinals, a game that would end or extend the Lakers’ time in the tournament, Austin Reaves’ three-pointer with 15 seconds left pushed them to a 106-103 win over the Phoenix Suns at Crypto.com Arena. The Lakers will play the New Orleans Pelicans in Las Vegas on Thursday at 6 p.m. PST, two wins away from the grand prize. The Milwaukee Bucks face the Indiana Pacers in an earlier semifinal.

The tone for this entire event has been set by LeBron James, the biggest star in the league who approached the games with added urgency.

“He really wants to be the first,” one Lakers staffer admitted pregame.

Tuesday, he played like it.

The beat to Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode” boomed as the fans rose to their feet and waited for James to write the script for whatever was coming next.

He bounded into the paint with the speed and strength that has been unmatched at age 38 in basketball history. He contorted and scored from the left side, the Suns calling a timeout and James delivering his 31^st point of the game.

He finished with those 31 to go with eight rebounds and 11 assists. He also had five steals, playing with the kind of defensive effort that’s usually not there on a nightly basis for the league’s all-time leading scorer.

The Suns had a late chance, nearly forcing a Reaves turnover in the backcourt, but the Lakers were awarded a timeout. Anthony Davis split on a pair of free throws, but Kevin Durant’s long shot at the buzzer wasn’t close.

In their first two meetings this season, the script was nearly identical.

The Suns, the team with the better shot-making, would race to the big early lead before the Lakers would find something leading to a second-half run and a stolen win.

This time, the plot was the same — the characters just swapped parts.

It began with a gift, a sloppy turnover to begin the second half for a team that did almost nothing but commit them for the previous 24 minutes.

The mistake triggered a run that would erase all the good will the Lakers had built in the first half.

Unlike their first two meetings, the Lakers were the team that set the tone from the tip, dictating the flow of the game with force and intensity. The Suns seemed to be caught off guard, committing 10 of their 20 turnovers in the first quarter.

The Lakers led by as many 15, James’ playmaking and Davis’ dominance inside putting them in great position to advance with just two quarters to play.

Then, the gift.

James began the second half with a turnover leading to an easy uncontested layup for the Suns that gassed them up for a quick, lighting-strike run to reset the game.

The Suns scored 14 straight points beginning with that bucket, enough to grab the lead for the first time since the score was 9-7.

The Lakers, knocked back on their heels, turned to Reaves who reinjected life into the team after a horrific 113 seconds erased its double-digit lead. He responded with a snippet of the play that made him one of Team USA’s best this summer at the FIBA World Cup, hitting threes, drawing fouls and even scoring on a putback.

But the big shot in the fourth, an arcing triple with 15.1 seconds left that ended with Reaves flexing and howling, was his biggest moment.

Now, the Lakers get a chance at making more of them.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed that the team met with Shohei Ohtani “a couple days ago,” but that comment alone may have an impact on landing the highly sought after free agent superstar. 

Ohtani owns MLB free agency talk, especially at the league’s Winter Meetings in Nashville this week. But the courting of Ohtani by teams that want his once-in-a-lifetime abilities on the mound and in the batter’s box has been mum from prospective clubs. 

That is until Roberts dropped what’s become a bomb in free agent rumors despite it being a simple confirmation that a meeting occurred.

Why? Well, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported earlier this week if Ohtani’s camp caught wind of a meeting with a team going public, he “will hold it against the interested club.”

Now, this wasn’t just a rumor from a reporter. The Dodgers’ manager was outright in saying it happened, and added, “I think it went well.”

Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes was asked about the meeting due to Roberts’ comments, which he acknowledged, saying, “Dave made a comment.” He was reportedly surprised that occurred, but when asked if Roberts’ comments would hurt the team’s pursuit, Gomes was succinct. 

FROM OUTKICK: GIANTS STAR PLAYER GOT SHOT DOWN ON INSTAGRAM BY SHOHEI OHTANI

“I have no idea,” he responded.

Roberts explained why he believed his comments about the meeting weren’t a big deal. 

“I don’t feel like lying is something I do,” he told the LA Times. “I was asked a question. And yeah, I think to be forthright in this situation, we kept it quiet. But it’s gonna come out at some point that we met. … So I don’t think myself or anyone else in our organization would want to lie about it.”

Gomes would not make any comments about the Ohtani meeting. 

The Dodgers are one of the frontrunners to land Ohtani, who is looking for a record-setting contract in free agency after winning his second AL MVP with the Los Angeles Angels after belting 44 homers and slashing .304/.412/.654 with a 1.066 OPS, while also pitching to a 3.14 ERA with 167 strikeouts over 132 innings. 

Shohei Ohtani sits on the bench in the fourth inning during a game against the Detroit Tigers at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on September 16, 2023 in Anaheim, California. (John McCoy/Getty Images)

Ohtani underwent Tommy John surgery in September, though, which should keep him off the mound until 2025. However, Ohtani is expected to be free of any restrictions hitting for the 2024 season. 

Other teams in the running for Ohtani are the Toronto Blue Jays, who reportedly met with him at their spring training facility in Florida on Monday. Blue Jays manager John Schneider was coy when asked about the situation, though. 

WHERE SHOHEI OHTANI, JUAN SOTO AND YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO RUMORS STAND AS WINTER MEETINGS BEGIN

“It’s exciting that we’re in the mix for it,” he told TSN. “There’s a lot of different ways to make our team better, but he’s obviously a great player.”

The San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs were also mentioned as potential aggressors in the Ohtani sweepstakes. 

With the Winter Meetings in full swing, we’ll see if a record-breaking deal that Ohtani approves of comes this week. But, as we saw with players like Aaron Judge last season, free agency decisions, especially from those at the top of the game, may need some more time to figure out before the new year begins. 

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts watches from the dugout before Game 2 of a baseball NL Division Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in Los Angeles.  (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

And Roberts will hope his comments don’t affect Ohtani’s decision when that time comes. 

Rams cornerback Derion Kendrick, facing two misdemeanor gun charges, on Tuesday was granted judicial diversion, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office said.

Kendrick, 23, was arrested in October in Hollywood and charged with carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a loaded firearm.

Kendrick appeared in court Tuesday, and Judge Maria Lucy Armendariz granted his motion requesting judicial diversion, a court clerk said.

In the next 12 months, Kendrick must perform 20 hours of community service and enroll and complete the John Hopkins Gun Safety Class. He cannot own, use or possess any dangerous or deadly weapons, use or threaten to use force or violence against any person, and must obey all laws and orders of the court.

If Kendrick completes the obligations, the case will be dismissed. His next court date is March 13.

Kendrick, a sixth-round draft pick in 2022, has started 10 games this season. He intercepted a pass in last month’s victory over the Seattle Seahawks and also intercepted a two-point conversion pass against the Arizona Cardinals.

The Rams (6-6) play the Ravens (9-3) on Sunday in Baltimore.