PLAYA VISTA, CA — Los Angeles will remain the place to be for NBA players during the summer moving forward.
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) unveiled a 24/7 Performance Center for the league’s players that will be made available during the season and offseason.
The NBPA stated that nearly 200 players spend part of their offseason in the area and the hub will help some of them come together during the practice and prepare for the upcoming season.
PLYRS UNTD, the commercial and fan-facing brand of the NBPA, will also attempt to coordinate runs twice a week during the offseason.
The player’s association has similar facilities like the one located at its New York headquarters and The Sanctuary, which serves as an offseason performance retreat for NBA players in Spain.
The new hub is the latest facility in one of the league’s biggest markets but is the only one strictly made available for NBA players.
Players such as Chet Holmgren, Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving and NBPA president Fred VanVleet all provided feedback that helped bring the renovated space together.
“I’m excited to be a part of shaping the PLYRS UNTD Performance Center to meet the unique demands of the brotherhood,” said Holmgren, a forward/center for the Oklahoma City Thunder. “As professional athletes, there is so much work and preparation that goes on behind the scenes to perform at our best. Our new LA facility is equipped with the wellness, recovery, and training resources we need in the offseason and beyond.”
Holmgren has already made multiple visits to the facility and seen the benefits.
“It’s literally an NBA practice facility,” Holmgren said. “It has all the bells and whistles that pretty much any other NBA practice facility has. When I walk in here, I don’t see anything in here that we don’t have at OKC.”
PLYRS UNTD courts at the National Basketball Players Association Performance Center in Los Angeles.
Holmgren emphasized how he had to go to several different places across Los Angeles previously to get all that he needed to get done prior to the NBPA putting the new space together.
Michael Porter Jr. and Mo Bamba also were seen in the facility going through their offseason process. NBA players have even brought in some of their famous friends, including actor Timothée Chalamet and rapper 2 Chainz for workouts.
NBPA Los Angeles facility features
The center features two full-sized basketball courts built to official league specifications, along with a fully equipped athletic training room for treatment and rehabilitation. The facility also includes a weight room, recovery amenities and turf space for both indoor and outdoor training.
“The one thing that I added was a turf space and they added an indoor outdoor turf space to be able to do some more kind of dynamic workouts that aren’t quite weightlifting,” Holmgren said. “There’s that, and then, just small equipment things to make sure we have this recovery tool and make sure we have this in the weight room.”
While family takes priority for many NBA players during the offseason, the facility offers a family room and a conference room for family members to be while their loved one continues their training.
PLYRS UNTD weight room at the National Basketball Players Association Performance Center in Los Angeles.
Can NBPA facility be used during NBA season?
The training facility also provides a space for visiting NBA teams during the season to practice when they are in town for multiple days to take on the Los Angeles Lakers and L.A Clippers.
“Similar to our New York facility during the season, we have two teams in New York, so any teams that come through, they come through for practices,” said David Kelly, the NBPA Executive Director and PLYRS UNTD CEO. “Guys can get shots up, have the same thing experience. Obviously, out here, you got two teams inside of the market, so you got a lot of ability for this to be used year round.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NBPA shows its support for NBA players with new L.A. based facility
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