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Most of the Los Angeles Lakers organization moved themselves and their shockingly huge collections of Slava Medvedenko jerseys into the team’s new facility last week, but players only were able to start working out there on Monday. It didn’t take long for them to like what they saw from the UCLA Health Training Center.
"It's really breathtaking. It's got their new car smell where everything is pristine and nice,” said Lakers center Brook Lopez in a video on the Lakers’ Twitter account. “It's really a site to behold. It's a blessing to be a part of it."
That’s no small praise from Lopez, who just came from what was already one of the top practice facilities in the league in Brooklyn.
"It's got the best of everything,” Lopez said of the Lakers’ new headquarters. “It's somewhere where you can get work in and you can chill with the boys and relax, all at the same time.”
When looking at the publicly available info on the center it’s easy to see why.
The website for the 120,000 square-foot center touts amenities like “a top-of-the-line training room as well as multiple whirlpools, dual cryogenics chambers, a barber shop, and an indoor-outdoor lounge fully outfitted for a myriad of digital connections.” features Lakers rookie Josh Hart summed up in simpler terms.
"It's crazy. It's a crazy facility to say the least,” Hart said, saying the least.
Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson — the only returning player on the Lakers featured in the video short, and one of the few players on the team to spend the last several years in the Toyota Sports Center — seems to think the new digs are a real upgrade on the team’s prior location as well.
"It's beautiful man. It's a new home for us,” Clarkson said. “It's a place where we can all build together and come together as a team."
The Lakers released two videos of players entering the facility for the first time, and it’s clear from both that their new home is basically the Twitter upgrade key meme come to life:
First Impressions of @UCLAHealthTC = pic.twitter.com/UNmw7xlwvS
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) August 8, 2017
The fellas got down to business at the @UCLAHealthTC for the first time Monday #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/17jYWov0cw
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) August 8, 2017
The Lakers also gave fans an inside look at the UCLA Health Training Center over the weekend.
All quotes transcribed the Lakers’ Twitter account. Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.