You can feel it across the city when the clock hits late afternoon and the phones light up. Group chats arguing over whether the front office will trade up, fans sliding over to L.A. LIVE right after work, and someone in your section insisting they “called that pick” two weeks ago. Draft night here isn’t quiet or cautious. It’s a neighborhood vibe stretched from El Segundo to Figueroa, with the team’s board set at their headquarters and the fan base setting up at their favorite screens.
The Lakers run their draft out of the same building where they practice and make personnel decisions the other 364 days of the year. That’s the UCLA Health Training Center at 2275 E. Mariposa Ave. in El Segundo, home to the team’s basketball-ops offices. It’s not a TV set; it’s a working gym that houses the decision makers. The building doesn’t offer public tours and uses arena-style security for events, including a bag-size limit of 14" x 14" x 6" and walk-through screening for anyone entering during ticketed gatherings.
If you want to gear up before the picks start rolling, the dedicated Lakers Team Shop sits a short drive away at 729 N Douglas St., El Segundo. It’s open Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., which makes it a handy pre-draft stop if you’re heading downtown afterward. If you’re closer to the arena district, the TEAM LA Store at 1111 S Figueroa St., inside the L.A. LIVE footprint, typically runs Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. and closes earlier on event days, 2½ hours before the start time for games and 3:00 p.m. for concerts.
Unlike some franchises that rent a ballroom or scatter decision makers across multiple sites, the Lakers centralize their draft-night operation at the UCLA Health Training Center. That matters for two reasons. First, pre-draft workouts and interviews happen in the same building, so the coaching and scouting staffs have a consistent setup for measurements, film, and medicals. Second, all the salary-cap models, analytics dashboards, and trade-call logistics are a short walk from the practice courts, not a remote feed away.
The Training Center is built for that kind of night. It’s where the front office lives, and it’s where the coaching staff can quickly loop in if a deal on the phones changes who might be available. The venue keeps a “no re-entry” policy during events and routes every guest through the south-side public entrance facing Mariposa, but on draft night the building isn’t a public party. It’s a closed room of phones, magnets on a board, and tier sheets that represent a year of travel and arguing over who fits in purple and gold.
Fans looking to feel connected to that world can still get a taste of it on non-draft days. The Lakers Team Shop noted above in El Segundo is the one that posts the most consistent hours and stocks team-branded draft caps and new-season looks. And if you happen to attend a ticketed event inside the Training Center (for example, a youth or community event), plan for the same security standards you’d see at an NBA venue, including the 14" x 14" x 6" bag limit and mobile-ticket rules specific to the tenant app.
Call it what you want, but the approach has tells. With Rob Pelinka serving as the team’s President of Basketball Operations and General Manager, and Jesse Buss in the assistant GM/director of scouting role, the Lakers lean on a tiered board and an aggressive phone finger once the draft reaches the range where one of their targets is about to slip. We’ve seen it: when a preferred player sits a few spots ahead of their slot, they search for a move to jump a mini-cliff on their board rather than wait and hope. In recent years the club has also paid cash or tossed in future seconds to “buy” into the second round or slide up a handful of slots.
That tiered approach plays out locally before we ever see a pick. Pre-draft workouts in El Segundo often run with small groups, giving coaches and scouts matchup reps and live decision-making reps. They test shooting volume and fitness on the same floor where the team runs in-season practices. It sounds simple, but it makes for apples-to-apples evaluation when the room is debating two similar wings or guards who screen-and-pop at the same efficiency. That’s the practical edge fans never see on TV.
There’s also a cap-and-roster layer that tends to drive their second-round activity. You’ve probably heard radio callers on 710 AM wonder why L.A. is so active in the 30s and 40s. It’s because a second-rounder can be signed into different slotting than a guaranteed first-round rookie scale, and the Lakers have a track record of finding playable contributors on two-way or team-friendly deals. If a favorite role player is within reach, they’ll often spend the asset to make it happen.
If you want Lakers-centric reaction as the board turns, the club’s regional network offers the most local lens. Spectrum SportsNet produces the team’s shoulder programming and analysis, and its digital product, Spectrum SportsNet+, serves in-market streaming of those Lakers shows and locally produced games to eligible subscribers. When a national broadcaster owns the pick announcements, you can still expect Access SportsNet: Lakers to pop in with local cut-ins and post-pick breakdowns that speak our language rather than the national desk’s.
On radio, you’ll find the English call on 710 AM ESPN LA (KSPN), the station that carries Lakers coverage throughout the season, with Spanish-language coverage on 1330 AM (KWKW). That combination gives you the one-two punch that fits L.A.’s ears: talk radio leading up to the pick, then immediate reaction in both languages long after the commissioner hands out the hats.
Prefer a screen with a crowd? At L.A. LIVE, Tom’s Watch Bar at 1011 S Figueroa St. lists Monday–Thursday 4 p.m.–11 p.m., Friday 11 a.m.–12 a.m., Saturday 9 a.m.–12 a.m., Sunday 9 a.m.–11 p.m. plus a giant “Megatron” screen measuring roughly 13 feet tall by 23 feet wide and 155+ TVs. One block away, the Yard House at 800 W Olympic Blvd. opens daily at 11 a.m. with the kitchen posted to midnight on Sunday–Thursday and to 1 a.m. on Friday–Saturday, and last call noted a half hour after the kitchen closes. If you want merch on your way in, the TEAM LA Store right by the arena runs those 10 a.m.–6 p.m. daytime hours, but remember the early closure rule ahead of games and shows.
Crypto.com Arena also runs one of the tighter bag policies in town, which catches out-of-towners on event nights. Expect a strict line on purses and clutches, with most guests bringing nothing larger than a small wallet. Medical and parental bags up to 14" x 14" x 6" are routed through X-ray screening only at designated points. It’s not a draft-night venue, but if you’re pairing your watch plans with a same-week visit to the Team Store or a show, plan your carry accordingly so you’re not scrambling at the door.
This is where the local footprint really matters. The Lakers still practice and manage the roster out of El Segundo, but their player-development games now play out further east. Starting with the 2026–27 season, the franchise’s G League affiliate rebranded as the Coachella Valley Lakers and scheduled 24 home games at Acrisure Arena in the Palm Desert area. That’s an 11,000-seat house, the same building that hosts the AHL’s Firebirds, which means rookies and two-ways will split time between practices at the Training Center and live minutes in the desert once the season starts.
There’s a rhythm to it. Two-way players cycle through El Segundo in the morning for a film-and-reps block, then bus or drive for a game stint with the affiliate. The advantage is predictable minutes for role definition. The front office likes to know by the All-Star break if a rookie profiles as a rotation shooter, a switchable forward, or a stash candidate. That clarity often traces back to the draft-night decision to pay to move up a few spots for a fit, rather than settling for a name that doesn’t map cleanly to coachable minutes.
Back in the city, the fan-facing piece continues at the shops and on the studio set. The Lakers Team Shop in El Segundo will put draft caps on shelves the week of the event during its 10 a.m.–5 p.m. window, and the TEAM LA Store downtown lines up new-name jerseys during its 10 a.m.–6 p.m. hours when there isn’t an event pinch. Spectrum SportsNet’s downtown studio coverage bridges the gap between national TV hits and the questions people here actually ask, like how the rookie’s shooting base tracks with the team’s development drills on Mariposa Avenue.
When the room thinks there’s a sharp drop after a mini-pocket of players, they’ll spend to move. That might be a future second, a modest cash consideration within the league’s annual limits, or a small swap that doesn’t touch the big future firsts. It matches this front office’s habit of valuing “board tiers” over raw slot value. In practice, it’s produced role players who step into minutes faster because the team targeted a very specific skill set rather than settling for the next guy on a generic mock.
There are nights where five or six names look similar to the analytics and the film. That’s when the Lakers hold their pick, trust their group of evaluators, and focus on fit with the current stars. It’s not passive. It just acknowledges that the trade-up premium isn’t worth it if you can still get a high-character rotation player with modern spacing or defensive flexibility without burning a future chip.
In this market, fans know the drill. The organization has repeatedly used second-round mobility to find prospects they can place on two-ways or friendly multi-year deals. Combine that with the in-house development routine in El Segundo and the minutes available with the G League affiliate, and you get a cleaner path to seeing if a shooter’s release or a big’s footwork holds up. When the board breaks a certain way, this is the move that keeps showing up in Lakers history.
| Spot | Neighborhood | Typical Hours | What to know |
| Tom’s Watch Bar, 1011 S Figueroa St. | Downtown (L.A. LIVE) | Mon–Thu 4 p.m.–11 p.m.; Fri 11 a.m.–12 a.m.; Sat 9 a.m.–12 a.m.; Sun 9 a.m.–11 p.m. | 155+ TVs and a ~13' x 23' “Megatron” screen. Steps from Crypto.com Arena for a post-pick stroll through the plaza. |
| Yard House, 800 W Olympic Blvd. | Downtown (L.A. LIVE) | Daily open at 11 a.m.; kitchen to 12 a.m. Sun–Thu and 1 a.m. Fri–Sat; last call 30 minutes later | Draft-beer heavyweight with game-audio nights; easy meet-up spot if your group arrives at different times. |
| TEAM LA Store, 1111 S Figueroa St. | Downtown (arena concourse) | Mon–Sat 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; closes 2½ hours before arena events, or 3:00 p.m. for concerts | Grab a draft cap or new-name jersey before you head to the screens. Event-day early closure catches people out. |
| Lakers Team Shop, 729 N Douglas St. | El Segundo | Mon–Sat 10 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closest retail to the Training Center. Easy parking and a quick in-and-out for last-minute gear. |
At the UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo, which houses basketball operations and the practice courts. It’s a closed-doors setup, not a public party. The building lists a south-side public entrance for events and enforces a 14" x 14" x 6" bag-size limit when it hosts ticketed gatherings.
The Lakers Team Shop at 729 N Douglas St. in El Segundo is your best bet for consistent access, running Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.. The TEAM LA Store at 1111 S Figueroa St. posts 10 a.m.–6 p.m. on the same days but closes 2½ hours before arena events and at 3:00 p.m. for concerts.
Spectrum SportsNet and Spectrum SportsNet+ handle Lakers-focused analysis around the picks, while radio listeners can tune to 710 AM ESPN LA in English and 1330 AM for Spanish-language coverage. That combo mirrors what you hear all season in Los Angeles.
The Lakers practice and evaluate in El Segundo, then assign games east to the Coachella Valley Lakers, who play 24 home games at Acrisure Arena. That split lets the staff control the day-to-day in the Training Center and still hand out real minutes in a nearby pro environment.
Want the simplest play? Shop El Segundo during the day, pick your L.A. LIVE screen by late afternoon, and keep 710 on in the car so you don’t miss a rumor that turns into the move. The board may change, but that Los Angeles plan holds up every June.
Published: September 9, 2026