Los Angeles D-Fenders will become South Bay Lakers

Across the NBA’s D-League, the teams are starting to adopt identities that are very close to what the parent club looks like. That appears to be the case of the Los Angeles D-Fenders, who have made the decision to rebrand and become the South Bay Lakers.

For starters, the Lakers aren’t moving — instead, the team has chosen to switch its location name in an effort to honor “a community that has served as a headquarters for the D-League affiliate since 2006.” Meanwhile, it’s obvious why they chose the Lakers nickname. What’s interesting is how they chose to go about their logo rebrand.

I’m going to go ahead and say it: I love the application of baby blue here. The Lakers made it clear that the addition of blue here was done with the purpose of adding a modern twist on a “classic Lakers look,” and I think that they did a fantastic job of doing so. In fact, when you consider the team’s history, the baby blue and water motif makes a lot more sense as an alternate color for the Lakers than, say, black.

D-League uniforms are nothing to write home about, so I’m not expecting much from South Bay as far as jerseys are concerned. Still, this is absolutely an eye-catching logo and it gives the Lakers one of the best identities in the D-League. It’s a big jump from the D-Fenders look, that’s for sure.