Clippers Owner Steve Ballmer is using the Lakers’ locker room at Staples Center "as an owner’s lounge during the postseason,” according to Arash Markazi of ESPN L.A. The arena “gained permission from the Lakers and Kings to use their locker rooms during the postseason.” The Kings' locker room is being used for Spurs ownership during the current first-round playoff series, while the Sparks' locker room is “being used as a press conference room.” Staples Center President Lee Zeidman said, “We always go to the teams to get permission before we use their locker room.” Markazi noted the locker rooms are “almost unrecognizable when Staples Center uses them for hospitality space, with black carpeting protecting the floor and black drapes covering the walls” (ESPNLA.com, 4/21). ESPN’s Max Kellerman called Ballmer using the Lakers' locker room a “bush league move by a bush league franchise.” But with the Lakers and Kings both missing the playoffs in their sports, ESPN’s Marcellus Wiley said, “When you are the only team that’s keeping the lights on in that damn building, you better be a team that can turn that into anything you want” (“SportsNation,” ESPN2, 4/21). ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser said, "I would never have allowed this to happen. These are the Lakers. Come on!” (“PTI,” ESPN, 4/21).
