The Los Angeles Lakers will move their NBA G League affiliate from El Segundo’s South Bay to California’s Coachella Valley, the organization announced. Beginning with the 2026-27 campaign, the club will be rebranded as the Coachella Valley Lakers and will stage all home games at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert.
“I have enjoyed a long-time relationship with Jerry and Jeanie Buss, Lon Rosen and Linda Rambis, and I am beyond thrilled to have the Coachella Valley Lakers call OVG’s Acrisure Arena their home. Go Lakers,” Oak View Group senior partner Irving Azoff said in a statement.
Lakers president of business operations Lon Rosen highlighted the franchise’s history in the region, noting that the Showtime-era teams held training camp there in the 1980s and more recent squads have played preseason contests in the desert. “Acrisure Arena is the perfect modern venue that provides an incredible fan-first experience, while ensuring players have the premium facilities and space they need on game day,” Rosen said.
Oak View Group chief business officer Amy Latimer called the addition of a G League franchise “another layer of excitement” for the 11,000-seat arena, which opened in December 2022. Acrisure Arena senior vice president John Page thanked Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez and Visit Greater Palm Springs for helping secure the relocation.
The Lakers were the first NBA team to own and operate their G League affiliate, originally launched as the Los Angeles D-Fenders in 2006 and renamed the South Bay Lakers in 2017. The club finished the 2023-24 regular season 26-10, earning the Western Conference’s top seed, and Lakers two-way center Drew Timme landed on the All-G League Second Team.
Source: Lakers Nation
