Staples Center has been at the center of basketball history for decades now. As one of the most notorious arenas in the game, Los Angeles basketball fans have grown a special attachment to the place.
While the building itself is the same, the iconic Staples Center name is now a thing of the past, as Crypto.com bought the naming rights weeks ago. Today actually marks the first game the Lakers will play in their newly branded home.
For fans around the globe, the name change is a big deal and many are still upset that it happened.
On Twitter, Stan Van Gundy was the latest to voice his feelings on the Crypto.com Arena, challenging all the emotions that many are feeling about the ordeal.
“This nostalgic emotion about the demise of the Staples Center is crazy,” said Van Gundy on the Lakers’ new home arena name. “First, it is a building. Second, they aren’t blowing it up. They are just changing its corporate sponsor. What exactly are people nostalgic about — an office supply store’s sponsorship of a building?”
https://twitter.com/realStanVG/status/1474721107991273478
It’s a sensible take from Van Gundy, but many of the great memories Lakers fans remember happened with the Staples Center name.
Paul George explained it best in a previous chat with the media.
“It’ll be weird. I grew up with this being Staples and Staples being the place to play and the place to be,” said George. “It’ll definitely be weird. It’s the same location but it’s kind of like stripping the history here by calling something else and from there going forward it’s like I guess a new history to be written but it’ll be weird, for sure. Good thing we [Clippers] won’t be here too long. We’ll be at our own place so it is what it is I guess.”
There is no doubt that the Crypto.com Arena will be a big change for fans and it will take a while before people really get used to it.
When something;’s been a certain way for over 20 years, that’s just the way that it goes.
In the end what really matters is the memories the Lakers will create going forward, regardless of the name of the building they are in.
