What, No Cartier Coat Hooks?

The Lakers have come a long way from the days of the 1960-’61 season, when Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and teammates rode trucks with PA systems urging Angelenos to attend games. Now they will spend their pregame hours in a Staples Center locker room outfitted with 18 hand-milled cherrywood lockers, lounging on couches and club chairs near an entertainment console or soaking in one of four whirlpools.

Like the separate locker rooms for the Kings and Clippers, the Lakers will dress in--and even shower in--rooms to match their uniforms. The team’s door is purple, the walls soft gold; even its logo is woven into the carpet. To accommodate the giants, each door is 8 feet high and most are 4 feet wide. “It gives people my size the feeling of being Cinderella,” says Maureen Sullivan, an architectural consultant on the locker rooms.

For the Clippers, it’s red and gray with blue accents, 18 maple lockers, a big-screen TV and, of course, a carpet logo.

The Kings--whose roster is the largest of the three teams--have the largest dressing room, at 946 square feet, compared to 917 and 850 for the Lakers and Clippers, respectively. The Kings’ main room features the team’s colors and 24 gray laminate lockers. A door at the back leads to a lounge with sofas, a TV and kitchenette. Alas, there is no logo in the carpet.

The Staples Center also has two locker rooms for visiting teams: one for basketball and one for hockey. While those digs may not boast Club Med-worthy lounges, they do have big-screen TVs.