“Yes, it’s weird. That's the right word. » D'Angelo Russell's statement sums up a situation and an era that has just ended. Indeed, since the 1999/2000 season, the Lakers and the Clippers share the same room. Named Staples Center until the end of 2021, then Crypto.com Arena for two years.
It is now over since the two franchises played their last “cohabitation” derby on Wednesday evening, when LeBron James overthrew the Clippers, before the latter move to Inglewood from next season.
The Lakers were also away. “We go home and when we come back, the room is redecorated. She is different “, continues D’Angelo. “It’s different, that’s clear, when we play at home”insists the “King”. “It doesn’t look like Staples or our Crypto. »
In addition to the floor and the Lakers champion banners (which were hidden from the Doc Rivers years), the room has always been made up differently depending on the team playing at home. The lights and the size of the parquet floor change, for example.
“They must have felt at home, that makes sense”continues LeBron James when talking about the Clippers. “And for us, it’s not the same thing. It feels like we're playing outside. The lighting is different, the parquet floor too, the seats. There are lots of little things. It's an away match but we're not traveling. »
The Lakers will no longer play away in Los Angeles
“The feeling is clearly not the same. I think both franchises do a good job of bringing their own touch to the room”confirms Norman Powell. “When the Lakers are at home, it’s darker and more intimate. The stands are obscured and the light is on the floor. For the Clippers, the environment is brighter. »
When they are the team that “travels” to the derby, D'Angelo Russell and his teammates do not take the tunnel that leads to the field they usually cross (41 times per season), and which is a few not just from their locker room. They pass through the visitors' tunnel, while they are in Los Angeles, at home… “It’s probably the strangest thing. We have to go around”comments the playmaker.
Unless the two teams meet again in play-in or in the playoffs in a few weeks, the Lakers will no longer play away in the Crypto.com Arena. Next season, when they face the Clippers, they will go to Inglewood (their former home, between 1967 and 1999) in a new venue, the Intuit Dome.
