Los Angeles D-Fenders

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Los Angeles D-Fenders
Founded	2006
History	Los Angeles D-Fenders (2006-Present)
Arena	Staples Center
City	Los Angeles, California
Team Colors	Purple, Gold
Head Coach	Dan Panaggio
Owner	Los Angeles Lakers
Championships	0
Division Titles	None
Affiliations	Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles D-Fenders is a team in the NBA Development League. The team is owned by the Los Angeles Lakers, making them the first NBA team to own a D-League team. Like the parent club, they will play their home games at the Staples Center until the Citizens Business Bank Arena in nearby Ontario, California is completed in 2008. The arena will be operated by AEG Worldwide, which also operates the Staples Center.

[edit] History

The name was chosen was the Lakers held a "name the team" contest with an unusual format. As with the NCAA tournament bracket, the site featured 64 possible team names. By the first week of June 2006, only the D-Fenders and Breakers remained as finalists. On June 5, 2006, balloting closed. Three days later, the team was supposed to announce its new name, but did not do so. The name "Breakers" had won the poll, but the Lakers learned that a local dwarf basketball team has the same name and therefore they fell back on the "losing" nickname in the contest. The official announcement, and logo unveiling, came on July 26, 2006.

D-Fenders home games typically start at 3:30 p.m. on weekdays, leading up to the 7:30 p.m. tipoff of the Lakers game. Tickets to Lakers' games include admissions to D-Fenders games. Lakers management has admitted that the D-Fenders will likely lose several million dollars per year, but claims the potential to develop future NBA talent is worth the investment.

All games are broadcast in streaming audio from the team's official website (see below).

[edit] Year-by-year record

NBA D-League

[edit] Current Roster

Los Angeles D-Fenders Current Roster
Head Coach: Dan Panaggio
Pos.	#	Players	Height	Weight	From
F	18	Banks, Sean	6' 8"	210lbs.	Memphis
G	11	Brown, Cecil	6' 4"	190lbs.	UCSB
G	4	Cooper, Darren	6' 4"	190lbs.	St. Vincent
G	14	Craven, Errick	6' 1"	195lbs.	USC
G	22	Karl, Coby (NBA)	6' 5"	216lbs.	Boise State
C	00	McCoy, Jelani	6'10"	245lbs.	UCLA
G	12	Morrison, Brian	6' 2"	192lbs.	UCLA
C	34	N'Diaye, Abdoulaye	6'11"	220lbs.	Miami (Ohio)
F	19	Wallace, Brandon	6' 9"	205lbs.	South Carolina
C	23	Whaley, Robert	6'10"	265lbs.	Walsh University
G	24	White, Wendell	6' 6"	215lbs.	UNLV
(FA) - Free Agent
(NBA) - Assigned from NBA team				Updated on May 7th, 2008[1]

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Both Jordan Farmar and Coby Karl has played twice for both the D-Fenders and the Lakers on the same day.^[1][2]

• Actress, model, and former cheerleader Bonnie-Jill Laflin is currently the D-Fenders' assistant general manager and a scout for the Los Angeles Lakers.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Official Website