Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times reports:
The Lakers’ minor league affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, will take a one-year hiatus and will no longer use Staples Center as its home base, The Times has learned.
Lakers owner Jerry Buss will retain ownership of the D-Fenders, who are expected to reemerge at a different Southern California venue for the 2011-12 season.
Buss bought the team in July 2006 to try to create a legitimate feeder team for the Lakers, but the D-Fenders generated no revenue from ticket sales because the only people allowed to attend their home games were those who bought tickets to Lakers home games.
D-Fenders games at Staples Center typically started four hours before a Lakers game, often in front of crowds of fewer than 100 people, though Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak often was among the spectators.
