With the Los Angeles Lakers finalizing deals and inking contracts now that summer is coming to a close, the attention has drastically started to shift towards training camp for the 2016-17 NBA season.
The Lakers had previously announced that this upcoming training camp would be held at their practice facility at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, but it turns out that may no longer be the case.
According to a report from Mark Medina and Bill Oram in the Orange County Register, the Lakers are trying to move their training camp from El Segundo to Santa Barbara:
“After returning to Honolulu, Hawaii, last September, the Lakers are in process of relocating Luke Walton’s first training camp to Santa Barbara.”
While the move is yet to be finalized, it has been confirmed to be “in the works” by team spokesman John Black in the article.
Last year the organization held training camp in Hawaii which seemed to have influenced the front office to make a change for this season’s camp as they’re getting set to usher in a new era without Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles.
While it is unclear what is prompting the move, Medina and Oram believe seclusion is playing a vital factor to build some early-on team chemistry:
“It’s unclear what promoted the move, but coaches often like to seclude players early in the season to help build chemistry.”
With the team bringing in a new rookie head coach in Luke Walton that’ll be working with such a young roster, the transition to Santa Barbara makes a lot of sense as players will have a chance to bond with one another during the entire camp, which also includes the entire new coaching staff.
The Lakers are coming off a franchise worst season and are not expected to much better this season, so trying to find anything that’ll one-up them against their competition is definitely worth a shot.
Media day is scheduled to be on Sept. 26, which will officially kick off training camp for the 2016-17 season.