Add Patrick Beverley to the list of NBA peers who is rooting for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers to win the inaugural in-season tournament. Asked on the PatBev Podcast which team he wants to take home the NBA Cup, the Philadelphia 76ers guard and James' former teammate with the purple-and-gold couldn't help but endorse The King.

“Who you can't root against is LeBron James,” Beverley said. “Imagine if Bron wins an in-season tournament. It's still going to be like ‘It's not enough! It's not enough!'”

Los Angeles punched its ticket to Las Vegas for the in-season tournament semifinals by taking down the Phoenix Suns in a thriller at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night. After the game, James' longtime basketball foil and friend Kevin Durant named Los Angeles as his pick to be the last team standing in Sin City.

“I'm gonna go with the Lakers since they beat us,” he said. “They got the size to compete with anybody, they got the quickest flight out of anybody, most fans out of anybody. So it's set up for them to win. I can't wait to watch.”

James was the best player on the floor Wednesday, tying Durant for a game-high 31 points while stuffing the stat sheet with eight rebounds, 11 assists and five steals, wreaking havoc as a back-line defender from the opening tip. He came up biggest when the Lakers needed him most, too, scoring 15 of their 23 points in the fourth quarter to stymie the Suns' hopes of a double-digit comeback win.

Los Angeles and the New Orleans Pelicans battle for the chance to play for the NBA Cup on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. (PT).