As the Los Angeles Lakers fans still have that trip down memory lane playing inside their heads about the Staples Center upon their home floor’s name transition to Crypto.com Arena, Stan Van Gundy isn’t entirely pleased with the thought process.
And from his viewpoint, the sentimental yearning about the changing of the arena’s corporate sponsor is truly pointless in nature.
On Saturday Christmas day morning, Van Gundy aired his sentiments via Twitter about the name changing, saying that the nostalgic feeling that currently looms around the Lakers fandom is “crazy.”
This nostalgic emotion about the demise of the Staples Center is crazy. First, it is a building. Second, they aren’t blowing it up. They are just changing it’s corporate sponsor. What exactly are people nostalgic about – an office supply store’s sponsorship of a building?
The Staples Center was the heartwarming home of the Lakers and Clippers since 1999. Since then, it hosted tons of indelible moments – the first trophy of purple and gold in the new millennium in 2000, late great Kobe Bryant’s 81-point masterpiece in 2006, and its sweet title-clinching game in 2010 NBA Finals Game 7 for the franchise’s 16th championship, to name a few. After 22 years, it was announced that Crypto.com will take over on the name of one of the most prominent arenas in the world.
While the long-time basketball expert has a point in his argument, still we cannot take away the Laker fandom’s lovable rewinding upon thinking of the Staples Center, from the legendary performances of Bryant alone. At the end of the day, what makes people bond with each other are the sweet and treasured memories from the past, and we should not strip their rights to do it.
