When it comes to housemates, there are pluses and minuses—you always have someone to hang out with, but you have to share space.
This past Sunday, the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers, Kings, and Sparks celebrated a major milestone as housemates: The 250th two-event day in their time sharing the Crypto.com arena (and Staples Center, when the arena bore that name).
The process of converting a court from one team to another takes a staff of 50 and either 90 or 120 minutes when shifting between basketball courts or from hockey to basketball, respectively.
Over the years, the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings have extended their hospitality to guests at the Crypto.com area as well, with the Harlem Globetrotters and Don Henley taking turns performing on the same day.
With the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings in the NBA or NHL playoffs, Los Angeles sports fans should be hoping, and even expecting, that doubleheader number 251 comes pretty soon. In a similar scenario, in May 2012, with all three times in the playoffs, the then-Staples Center staff prepared the arena for a staggering six games in four days.
Still, there are drawbacks to these doubleheaders. During the 2012 six-game, four-day, marathon, Staples Center staff advised fans to arrive early to the May 18 Kings and Clippers’ games to account for the crush. They did offer free donuts and coffee to early-arriving fans from the Kings game at noon. But even with free breakfast, 9:00 am is early to arrive at a ballgame.
Though the Clippers bowed out of the playoffs with a loss to the San Antonio Spurs on that double-header Sunday, the Kings won their game against the Phoenix Coyotes, advancing to the next round in their title-winning campaign. Perhaps a good sign for an L.A. team is to win during a Crypto.com area double-header.
None of the Los Angeles playoff teams are favorites to make it out of their conferences this year, but if any manage to advance into May, there could be a rare winter/summer doubleheader with the Sparks season opener against the Phoenix Mercury taking place on May 19.
For the most part, this is just a fun piece of trivia, but when it comes to May double-headers, it means good things for L.A.
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