The South Bay Lakers were the NBA G League affiliate of the Los Angeles Lakers from 2017 until 2026, when the franchise relocated and rebranded as the Coachella Valley Lakers. The team was originally founded in 2006 as the Los Angeles D-Fenders, and the South Bay Lakers identity was introduced in April 2017 alongside a move to the UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo, California. The franchise’s visual identity was built around a direct connection to the parent Lakers brand while incorporating regional elements tied to the South Bay coastal community.
Design and History
On January 22, 2017, the Lakers announced that the D-Fenders would be renamed the South Bay Lakers at the conclusion of the 2016-17 season. Team president and CEO Joey Buss said in a statement, “I am excited to announce the South Bay Lakers rebrand.” The name change coincided with the team’s relocation to the UCLA Health Training Center, a new Lakers practice facility in El Segundo that both organizations would share. The franchise unveiled its primary and secondary logos on April 8, 2017, after the D-Fenders were eliminated from the D-League playoffs. [1] [2]
According to the franchise’s official brand description, the primary emblem was “inspired by the classic logo of the team’s parent club” and was “reimagined to incorporate the oceanfront views of the region while ‘South Bay’ is adorned across the top.” The secondary logo featured a silhouette of a palm tree in the foreground with the historic Manhattan Beach Pier visible in the distance, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. [3]
The franchise operated under the South Bay Lakers name from 2017 through the 2025-26 season. In April 2026, the Lakers announced that the team would relocate to Acrisure Arena in the Coachella Valley and be renamed the Coachella Valley Lakers starting with the 2026-27 season, retiring the South Bay Lakers identity. [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The South Bay Lakers identity was designed to strengthen the connection between the G League franchise and its NBA parent club. The official brand description stated that the identity was “inspired by the prestigious brand of the team’s parent club, the Los Angeles Lakers, while honoring a community that has served as a headquarters to the D-League affiliate since 2006.” [3]
The color palette combined the Lakers’ traditional purple and gold with a third color, “South Bay Blue,” which the team said paid homage to the South Bay’s ocean views. A team official described the blue as “a light shade of blue that will act as a differentiator from the Lakers identity, honoring the ocean views that are so prominent in the South Bay region.” [5] The official brand language noted that the use of Lakers purple and gold “alludes to the world-wide influence of the team’s parent brand,” while South Bay Blue “differentiates between the Lakers entities while honoring the ocean views that are so prominent in the South Bay community.” [3]
A federal trademark registration for the South Bay Lakers word mark, filed by The Los Angeles Lakers, Inc., described the mark as “a basketball image over the words ‘SOUTH BAY LAKERS’ and lines representing water underneath.” [6]
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