Less than a quarter of the way into the 2023-24 regular season, the NBA's inaugural In-Season Tournament has come and gone. The Los Angeles, led by Anthony Davis' 40-20 game and Tournament MVP LeBron James, won the first ever NBA Cup in Las Vegas, Nevada in front of thousands of Lakers fans who made the trip to watch their team play. Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers, meanwhile, put on a show nightly and earned the attention of NBA fans on the national level.

The tournament itself had its ups and downs, its positives and negatives, but it was a great event put on by the NBA early in the season.

Here are my five observations from the NBA's inaugural In-Season Tournament:

5. 2PM PST Start Times Are Not It

The In-Season Tournament was clearly an event made for television and to find a sponsor for in the coming years. All tournament long, the league had been pushing the importance of each game, point differential, and what was on the line. That's what made the start times a little surprising.

Tipping off a game of significance at 2PM PST was a really rough thing to watch happen. Sure, the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks were playing, so it was a 4PM CST or 5PM EST tipoff time, but that's still way too early for fans in those markets on a Thursday night and be able to watch the game from the comfort of their homes.

Additionally, the 2PM PST tipoff time in Las Vegas was dreadful from a ticket selling perspective. Again, acknowledging that this tournament was made for television, there were significant portions of T Mobile Arena that were simply empty from start to finish. Not only is Las Vegas and its traffic still recovering from the Formula 1 event a few weeks back, but simply too early of a start time.

The Pacers and Lakers both played Tuesday night, flew to Las Vegas immediately after their wins, and conducted their In-Season Tournament media availabilities some 13 hours later.

All in all, the event was fantastic, but some of the logistics can be cleaned up heading into next year's tournament.

4. Colored Courts Are A Game-Changer

I know it's not super popular among the majority of the crowd, but I loved the colored courts and the the sort of whacky colors displayed during an NBA game. It did exactly what the NBA intended and delivered a great message: “This is not another ordinary game.”

The courts were interesting to see in person and absolutely stuck out on television.

“I'm a big advocate of the colorful courts,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told reporters during his media availability. “Obviously, we want it make sure the players have confidence in them and the type of paint used isn't more slippery. I think we dealt with those issues, incidentally, but want to make sure they are not a distraction.

“I think in the process we went through the first time, they are a bit cookie cutter. I love the court we are using here for the semifinals and final game, but I think there could be some more creativity and set some parameters for the teams.”

One team, for example, who never got to use their court was the Dallas Mavericks. The team cited ‘technical difficulties,' and one can only imagine there was an injury risk of some sort that made both the team and the league elect not to use the alternate hardwood.

A lot of fans complained about the red or yellow that some teams like the Bulls or Lakers displayed, respectively, but I enjoyed seeing the whacky colors telling you this was a game bigger than just another regular season game in December.

3. A Little Too Crammed Together

Whether you're a fan, a celebrity, or a media member, the NBA In-Season Tournament was a fantastic event to attend. It did, however, feel a little too crammed together for my liking. The league had games played around the country on Wednesday — the same day that In-Season Tournament Media Day was — and still had games played on the Friday between the Semifinals and Championship Game.

The event, in total, came out to four days from Wednesday to Saturday, but I'd be curious if the NBA looks to expand the tournament a bit more, possibly making the four quarterfinal matchups also a part of the Las Vegas experience.

As someone who was in Las Vegas from Thursday's first game to Saturday's game for the NBA Cup, it felt like a lot was compressed into such a short period of time. Here's a list of the NBA events that took place in Las Vegas during my time there:

• Both teams' media availability and small portions of practice open
• In-Season Tournament Semifinal and postgame availabilities
• In-Season Tournament Semifinal and postgame availabilities
• Both teams' media availability and small portions of practice open
• NBA Cares – Renovation of Boys & Girls Club
• Celebrity red carpet to promote In-Season Tournament
• In-Season Tournament Championship Game, postgame availabilities, and locker room festivities

It may not seem like it, but there was a lot going on in Las Vegas during the three or four day event. Moving forward, I'd like to see that expanded to possibly five days.

2. In-Season Tournament Star is Born

Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers was an All-Star last season, but certainly became a household name following the In-Season Tournament. Haliburton finished the In-Season Tournament averaging 26.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 13.3 assists per game on 52.4 percent shooting from the field, 42.5 percent from three, and 86.7 percent from the free throw line.

Excluding NBA TV, the Indiana Pacers were given one national TV game for the 2023-24 season: a TNT game on January 30th against the Boston Celtics. Led by Haliburton's special play, the Pacers earned three additional national TV games in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship game of the In-Season Tournament. That allowed everyone in the country, and the world, to see Tyrese Haliburton rise to stardom.

According to the NBA, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton was also the breakout star of the tournament across social media. Over the course of the NBA In-Season Tournament, Haliburton experienced the fastest Instagram follower growth rate of any NBA player at 40 percent. NBA social and digital content featuring Haliburton delivered 122 million video views, which catapulted him to a top ten most-viewed player in the league during that span.

No one benefitted more from the In-Season Tournament than Tyrese Haliburton, and getting a small market team the recognition it deserved is another reason why the NBA's In-Season Tournament was a great idea.

1. Bravo, Adam Silver and the NBA

From top to bottom, everyone who attended the In-Season Tournament came away impressed. The setup in Las Vegas heightened the importance of these games as did the trophies and medals that were made specifically for this event.

There were many skeptics that criticized Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA for their decision to hold a mini-tournament in early stages of the NBA season, but it was a riveting success.

Here are a couple stats the NBA sent ClutchPoints regarding the success of the NBA's inaugural In-Season Tournament:

• The full NBA In-Season Tournament garnered more than 2.2 billion video views, according to the NBA. That's up 80 percent vs. last year’s comparable dates.

• The NBA In-Season Tournament Championship game is the most-engaged NBA League Pass game globally EVER, with viewers watching more than 1.5 hours of the game on average.

• Throughout the NBA In-Season Tournament, NBA League Pass daily average viewership was up 45 percent vs. the comparable time span last season.

• The average audience for NBA In-Season Tournament games through the quarterfinals on regional sports networks and over-the-air stations finished up 24 percent vs. last season’s games during the comparable time period.