Lakers planning to build new training facility in El Segundo

The Lakers are planning to build a more modern training facility that they hope will also attract future free agents, The Times has learned.

They will stay in El Segundo because they like the area and its proximity to LAX, but will no longer share a building with the Kings and a skating rink often open for public use.

The Lakers have been at the place currently known as Toyota Sports Center since 2000, which was built for about $24 million by Anschutz Entertainment Group.

Instead of being a tenant in a facility, the Lakers would own it, paying for its construction but likely securing annual income via naming rights. Their new location will be a five-acre parcel a few blocks east of Toyota Center.

There is only one basketball court at the Lakers’ current facility and the team long ago outgrew its office space. Several Lakers departments, including marketing, ticketing, corporate sponsorships and community relations, are located at a building a block away.

“When we moved into that facility in 2000, it was state of the art, certainly like nothing we’ve ever had, and it ranked right up there at the top with the facilities in the NBA,” Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said Tuesday. “Over the years, we’ve renovated it once or twice but the footprint is what it is given the constraints of the city block. So the new facility will give us an opportunity to expand the footprint and once again have a state-of-the-art facility that we can call our own.”

The newer Clippers’ training facility is only five miles away in Playa Vista and represents everything the Lakers want — two basketball courts, plenty of executive offices and enviable video and weight rooms in 42,500 square feet.

The Clippers opened their $60-million facility in 2008 after years of practicing at an El Segundo health club and L.A. Southwest College. An article in The Times in 2005 said the Clippers’ lack of a facility was partly why the team failed to pry Kobe Bryant from the Lakers as a free agent in 2004.

The Lakers will remain at Toyota Center next season but it is unclear if their new facility will be completed when they plan to target big-name free agents Kevin Love or LaMarcus Aldridge in July 2015 and Kevin Durant a year after that.

The start time for construction depends on a few factors, including approval by the City of El Segundo.

“Just having new and shiny things is nice, whether it’s a new arena, new uniform or new shoes,” said Jordan Farmar, who has played a total of five years with the Lakers. “And that would just be one more thing to add to, in my opinion, the best organization in sports.

“It makes sense. It’s probably about time. They’ve been there for quite a while. And if the Clippers do something new, it’s only right that the Lakers try to do something a little better.”

The team’s minor league affiliate, the L.A. D-Fenders, will also be based at the new facility. The D-Fenders currently play home games at Toyota Center.

The Lakers keep a very low profile at Toyota Center, with no signage announcing their existence on their side of the building. The Kings, on the other hand, have a large sign proclaiming it to be their home.

The Lakers will work with developer CDC Mar Campus and plan to build on the corner of Mariposa Avenue and Douglas Street.

Farmar returning soon

Farmar was cleared to resume practicing and could return next week for the final stretch of the Lakers’ season.

He has missed eight games because of a strained groin. Before that, he missed 20 games because of hamstring injuries.

Farmar is averaging 10.4 points and 4.7 assists after signing a one-year contract last summer.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan