Lakers To Close Out The Staples Center Era Thursday Night

Paige Austin
·3 min read

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Lakers final game at "Staples Center" against the Spurs Thursday night marks the end of an era. After 22 years, the Downtown stadium will be renamed Crypto.com Arena, and fans will get a send-off to commemorate two decades worth of championships and the highs and lows at Staples Center.

Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m., and plan a number of sendoff festivities for their finale under the Staples banner.

They include:

  • a special opening video to be played prior to tip-off;

  • fans in attendance receiving a commemorative ticket, as well as a T- shirt that's a replica of the first T-shirt given away at Staples Center in June 2000, when the Lakers won the NBA's Western Conference;

  • several Lakers legends appearing for a halftime celebration featuring past NBA championship trophies;

  • a banner marking 22 years of Lakers history at Staples Center being featured along the top of arena's City View Terrace.

When the Lakers played at The Great Western Forum, everyone just called it 'The Forum.' And when they moved to Staples Center, locals called it simply 'Staples,' or when feeling wordy, 'The House That Kobe Built.' What do you think it will be known as during the Crypto.com Arena era? Tell us in the comments.


The Lakers are scheduled to host the Brooklyn Nets on Christmas Day in the first game played at Crypto.com Arena, but that game is in danger of being postponed, as the Nets' roster has been devastated by the coronavirus surge.

Brooklyn's scheduled game Thursday evening in Portland was postponed by the NBA on Wednesday, with the Nets not having the league-minimum of eight players available. It was the third straight Nets game that was postponed.

The Nets have signed several "hardship replacements," and as of Wednesday, the Christmas Day game was still a go.

The Lakers' next scheduled home game after that is on New Year's Eve against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Clippers, who also call the arena home, are scheduled to host the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.

The NHL's Los Angeles Kings, another tenant of the arena, are scheduled to host the Las Vegas Golden Knights at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday.

Crypto.com, which bills itself as the fastest-growing cryptocurrency platform, is beginning a 20-year naming rights agreement with AEG, the arena's owner.

A new logo and other branding assets, including internal arena signage, will be introduced on Christmas Day if the game is played as planned. All of the venue's external signage will be replaced by June.

The agreement, announced Nov. 17, includes official designations across Crypto.com Arena, L.A. LIVE, Microsoft Theater, The Novo, the Lakers and the Kings.

The agreement also makes Crypto.com an official cryptocurrency platform partner of the Lakers and Kings.

Terms of the agreement were not announced, though the Los Angeles Times reported Crypto.com paid more than $700 million for the naming rights, according to sources familiar with the terms. That would make it one of the biggest naming deals in sports history.

Crypto.com claims to have more than 10 million customers. Its headquarters are in Singapore, and it employs more than 2,600 people in offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

The company was founded in 2016. It recently began a global campaign featuring actor Matt Damon to formally introduce the platform.

Crypto.com also has sponsorships with the UFC, the Formula One auto racing circuit, Italian soccer's Serie A, the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and NHL's Montreal Canadiens.

City News Service and Patch Staffer contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on the Los Angeles Patch