Clippers Seek Practice Site to Call Their Own

In another sign that they are trying to make themselves more competitive, the Clippers have spoken with Anschutz Entertainment Group about developing a basketball practice facility at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

Owner Donald Sterling’s team, which in recent months hired a high-profile coach in Mike Dunleavy and signed key players Elton Brand and Corey Maggette to long-term contracts, also has talked with officials at other potential sites and hopes to have a deal finalized before the end of the upcoming season.

“Though no new development is imminent, we have had several conversations on multiple fronts,” Clipper executive vice president Andy Roeser said Thursday in a statement released by the team. “We think our current situation is certainly sufficient for now, but going forward it is our intent to ultimately upgrade our practice-facility arrangement.”

The Clippers, who open training camp Saturday at L.A. Southwest College, are among a handful of NBA teams without their own practice facility.

They have practiced at Southwest since 2000, when the Lakers vacated the campus gym and moved to HealthSouth Training Center in El Segundo, which was built by AEG at a cost of $24 million and also houses the Kings’ facilities.

Before that, the Clippers practiced at the Veteran Sports Complex in Carson, an arrangement similar to what other NBA teams had in place at the time.

But as the wooing of free agents has grown more competitive in recent years, so has the demand for self-contained practice headquarters, the better to impress potential new employees. The only other NBA teams that do not have their own practice sites are the Philadelphia 76ers, Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Hornets, though the Hornets hope to break ground soon.

“This has been an ongoing exploration,” AEG spokesman Michael Roth said of discussions between the Clippers and AEG, which owns the Kings, Galaxy and Staples Center and opened the $150-million Home Depot Center this year.

The 125-acre Home Depot development on the campus of Cal State Dominguez Hills includes a 27,000-seat soccer stadium and a 13,000-seat tennis stadium. Designated an official U.S Olympic training site, it will add the nation’s only indoor velodrome next summer.

Any further development would have to be approved by the college, Roth said. National basketball and volleyball teams might also use the proposed facility that would be leased to the Clippers, the AEG spokesman added.

The Clippers’ lease at Southwest expires after the 2004-05 season. They have built their own locker room at the school and augmented the weight room.