The owners of the Staples Center, the building the Los Angeles Lakers have called home for more than 20 years, made a major announcement Tuesday.
After being called Staples Center since the building was opened, the stadium announced a new naming rights deal — worth $700 million — with the company Crypto.com. The venue will be called Crypto.com Arena starting Christmas Day.
READ: NBA Twitter blasts how Lakers’ Staples Center changing name to Crypto.com Arena
Lakers star Russell Westbrook gave his thoughts on the switch.
“Honestly, the business side of basketball and how deals go down, obviously as players, we don’t know exactly what happens, how it goes down,” the star guard said after Wednesday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. “We kind of just see it like everybody else, like we saw it (Wednesday).”
Westbrook continued about how the moments from the building will still stay.
“But Staples Center got so many great memories, just for me as a kid growing up in L.A., so many great things have happened in that building, regardless of the name,” Westbrook said. “The building itself is still the building. And that’s what’s most important. That’s all you can think about.”
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