The Lakers celebrate their last game at Staples Center.
It is curious to see what can become beloved once enough time has passed.
The foundations of Staples Center are not going anywhere — not the concrete, not the bleachers, not the hardwood floor. The actual red letters, “S-T-A-P-LE-S C-E-N-T-E-R” plastered for two decades atop the home arena of the Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Sparks were removed and hauled off weeks ago. But there’s something to be said, apparently, for the only name this building has ever known.
On Thursday night — the last night of the “Staples Center” name — sentimentality for a corporate sponsorship was enough to bring together a crew of big names from the best teams of the last 22 years of Lakers basketball: Gary Payton, Byron Scott, Metta Sandiford-Artest and Robert Horry. They posed alongside the spoils that the Lakers secured during the last two decades at midcourt, a moment to look back on a home court that won’t actually change all that much.
The Lakers also welcomed back Luke Walton, a role player from the 2009-2010 teams who was honored for the first time as a Laker since being fired as head coach in 2019. On the way off of the court, Lakers team owner Jeanie Buss stopped Walton for a hug.
The passing of time makes everything a little smoother around the edges, names included.
While team officials recognized that little will “change” about the home arena aside from its forthcoming Crypto.com Arena name (which becomes official on Christmas Day), they wished to give fans a sense of closure for the Staples Center brand, which gained support with the memories it housed over 22 years.
When the name sponsorship was unveiled more than two decades ago — a $120 million deal — a Lakers official distinctly remembered it being mocked. The home of one of the winningest franchises in NBA history would be associated with an office supply store? The Staples brand of printers, copiers and plain white paper didn’t exactly register with “Showtime”
and the legendary after-hours exploits of the Forum Club.
But within a few short years, Staples Center was synonymous with winning — and the Lakers had a lot to do with that.
They were the first tenant to win a championship in the building, taking out the Sacramento Kings and the Phoenix Suns before tussling with the Portland Trail Blazers for seven games. The clinching basket of that final game, an alley-oop from Kobe Bryant to Shaquille O’Neal, announced the arrival of a dynasty — even before they cleared out the Indiana Pacers in six games in the NBA Finals. Both of those seriesclinchers took place at Staples Center, quickly granted status as the Versailles of ascending basketball royalty.
Over the next decade, the Lakers would total five championships, with many memorable nights along the way. Some standouts include Horry’s Game 4 winner over the Kings in the 2002 Western Conference Finals, or Bryant leaping up on the scorer’s table after they eliminated the Boston Celtics in seven games in 2010, completing a back-to-back run out of Shaq’s shadow.
The Staples Center era is also indelibly intertwined with the career of Bryant, who played 17 of his 20 seasons in the building. After working out his awkward teenage years at the Great Western Forum, Bryant came into his own when the Lakers moved downtown, ascending into the 18-time All-Star. During his 2007-08 league MVP season, he concocted an unforgettable Staples Center memory by scoring 81 points in a Sunday night victory over the Toronto Raptors, the second-highest mark in NBA history.
Bryant provided the game’s ultimate curtain call in his final game in 2016, scoring 60 points in a sendoff against the Utah Jazz when teammates kept feeding him the ball. Speaking to the arena crowd after the win, he left the court for the last time as a player with a sign-off, “Mamba out.” Just four too-short years later when he died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, he and his daughter Gianna Bryant were celebrated with a starstudded, emotional tribute within those same walls.