The National Basketball Association and their traveling schedule require constant cohesion to remain fluid for all 32 teams. However, some cases require the players to take matters into their own hands, as was the case with the Los Angeles Lakers this weekend.
With the constant flights and hotel stays for each road opponent, teams have scheduled stops at certain places, which may be partnered with the NBA. When the Lakers arrived for their road game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, they were scheduled to stay at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel.
However, many NBA players have told stories about how that hotel is truly haunted, keeping many players frightened and up at night.
Many players have reportedly seen ghosts lurking around the hotel, along with the sound of a baby crying constantly throughout the night. The story stems back to the opening days of the hotel, as the owner impregnated one of the housekeepers.
When she became pregnant, she was locked inside a hotel room, where she reportedly killed herself and her baby, haunting the hotel ever since.
Lakers guard Lou Williams heard many tales from other players about the baby crying, which resulted in him and Larry Nance Jr. staying in another hotel, separate from the team. Now while people may say that it could have been any baby crying in the hotel, NBA players generally are given hotels away from the public for their peace of mind.
Williams talked about the scenario and how he doesn’t want to be involved in any supposed ghost sighting that is out of his control, via Mark Medina of the O.C. Register:
“I’m not going to play with that. I’d rather pay for my peace of mind,” said Williams, who also refuses to stay at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee for the same reason. “If they say it’s haunted, that’s enough for me. I’m not going to roll the dice.”
Another example correlates with when Nick Young was with the Los Angeles Clippers. He got a case of the bed bugs and broke out in hives. After being deemed unable to see his infant son, Young become paranoid with the hotel and took control of the situation. Young slept with a thick sweatshirt while laying towels all over the bed to avoid any further problems.
Williams and Nance went to the nearby Colcord hotel and were soon joined by another teammate. Rookie center Ivica Zubac was skeptical of the ghosts, but after arriving at the hotel with an immediate sensation of the chills, he opted to join his two teammates.
Forward Metta World Peace, who in his own sense is considered a different type of human being, took a humorous approach when it came to his interaction with the ghosts, via Medina:
“The ghosts were all over me. I just accepted it,” Lakers forward Metta World Peace said. “They touched me all over the place. I’m taking one of the ghosts to court for touching me in the wrong places.”
World Peace reiterated that he was being serious, but didn’t relocate because he was tired and watching a good movie.
Head coach Luke Walton stated that he didn’t have any issues with the hotel during his stay, not even during his 10-year NBA career.
Although there surely will be some joking between players on whether or not ghosts do truly exist, the atmosphere provided another bonding experience between the up and coming roster.