The Dan Panaggio era (2006–2009) The team's name was chosen in a "name the team" contest with a format similar to a March Madness
NCAA tournament bracket with 64 candidates. Voting took place from April to June 5, 2006, when "Breakers" emerged as the winner and "D-Fenders" the runner-up. After the Lakers organization learned that a local coed dwarf basketball team already used the winning name, they announced the team as the D-Fenders and unveiled its logo on July 26, 2006. In their debut season (2006–07) the D-Fenders competed in the Western Division and finished with a 23–27 record. Despite a sub-500 record the D-Fenders almost qualified for the playoffs. Dan Panaggio, formerly the assistant head coach of the
Portland Trail Blazers, served as
head coach.
Post-Panaggio era (2009–2011) For the 2009–10 season, the D-Fenders brought in former assistant head coach
Chucky Brown to be head coach. Coach Brown's contract was not renewed and Assistant General Manager
Bonnie Jill Laflin was released. For the season, the Lakers affiliated with the
Bakersfield Jam, an affiliate of the
Los Angeles Clippers. On June 9, 2011, the D-Fenders announced they would return for the 2011–2012 season and would play home games at the
Toyota Sports Center in
El Segundo. The headquarters for the Los Angeles Lakers and D-Fenders organizations, the TSC has just 365 seats are available for public sale and no seat is further than six rows from the court. This news was tempered by the looming
NBA lockout and a desire by the Lakers organization to cut overhead. One early casualty was D-Fender General Manager
Ronnie Lester. Lester, who had a 24-year association with the Lakers, could not come to terms with the Lakers, and his expiring contract was not renewed, along with some other 20 Lakers staffers.
Breakout season (2011–2012) Glenn Carraro, the remaining D-Fender assistant general manager, was promoted to general manager. On August 18, 2011, the D-Fenders announced
Eric Musselman as their new head coach. Among Musselman's body of work was previous service as head coach for the NBA's
Sacramento Kings and
Golden State Warriors. The NBA lockout began and the Los Angeles
Laker Girls, who had been practicing all summer for their upcoming Lakers game performances, now had no audience. The Lakers organization decided the Laker Girls would perform at the D-Fender home games for the season. With a new general manager, a new head coach, and the excitement of the Laker Girls, the D-Fenders had a breakout season, posting a regular season record of 38–12, which at the time was the best regular season record ever posted in the D-League. In a season of great individual success, two D-Fenders players placed in the top five for season scoring averages:
Brandon Costner (20.3 ppg) and
Elijah Millsap (19.4 ppg).
Malcolm Thomas was named to the All NBA D-League First Team and the Rookie First Team after ranking second in the NBADL for blocks (2.3) and third in rebounds (9.1) and field goal percentage (.619). Both
Courtney Fortson and Millsap were named to the All D-League Second Team. Costner was named All D-League Third Team, and Zach Andrews received an Honorable Mention honor. A team record four D-Fenders were selected for the All Star Game: Andrews, Costner, Millsap and
Gerald Green. Green was also named the MVP of the All-Star Game. Concluding regular season play, the D-Fenders breezed through the first and second rounds of the playoffs undefeated, easily winning the Western Conference Title. In the finals, the D-fenders took game 1 but dropped the next two games to fall to the
Austin Toros. To cap off this historic season, Musselman was named D-League Coach of the Year and the front office earned the first-ever NBA Development League Championship Award, an annual recognition award given to the team that best embodies the NBA D-League's goal of developing NBA basketball talent via call-ups and/or assignments.
Playoff upsets (2012–2015) For the 2012–13 campaign, the D-Fenders had a new head coach, former NBA Sacramento Kings Head Coach
Reggie Theus. The D-Fenders played a 50-game regular season of which 25 games were scheduled as home games. The Laker Girls decided to stay on and once again performed at all home games. In a year characterized by L.A.'s shuffling of players, the team would finish with a 21–29 record in Theus's only season at the helm. The one constant throughout the year for the D-Fenders was Fortson, who finished the year as the D-League's leader in assists (7.1) and was second in steals (2.0) while also tying a franchise record 15 assists in a single game. He would go on to be named to the NBA D-League All-Star squad, his first career selection to the event. In May 2013, the D-Fenders named former NBA player
Mark Madsen as head coach, but he subsequently accepted a position as a player development coach for the Lakers on July 19, leaving the D-Fenders with a head coaching vacancy. As a result,
Bob MacKinnon stepped in as the team's coach, eventually leading the D-Fenders franchise to a 31–21 record and its second West Division title in franchise history. In his first season with the team, in-season acquisition
Manny Harris posted 49 points against the
Idaho Stampede on January 10, 2014, to set a then Los Angeles D-Fenders franchise record. Harris would go on to become the first player ever called up to the Lakers from the D-Fenders franchise. Three weeks later, on January 31, 2014,
Terrence Williams scored 50 points to set a new D-Fenders franchise record. On February 5, 2014, the D-Fenders set an NBA D-League record with 26 three-pointers made along with a franchise record 155 points scored. On February 8, 2014, Harris again set a new franchise scoring record, this time with 56 points. Overall, Williams earned All-NBA D-League third team honors and
James Southerland earned All-NBA D-League Rookie second team honors as the D-Fenders suffered an early exit from the NBA D-League Playoffs. On August 28, 2014, the D-Fenders hired
Phil Hubbard as head coach, the team's sixth coach in as many years. Offensive firepower was never an issue for the team, as
Jabari Brown finished as the league's leading scorer with 24.4 points per outing. Brown joined
Vander Blue and
Roscoe Smith as members of the 2015 All-Star Game. Overall, Los Angeles scored the third-most points per game (116.8), while ranking second in points in the paint (57.4) and on fast-break scoring (21.3). The D-Fenders would finish with a record of 17–33 while missing the playoffs.
Final seasons as D-Fenders (2015–2017) Ahead of the 2015–16 season, the D-Fenders hired
Conner Henry as head coach. However, he left to become an assistant coach for the
Orlando Magic. On August 5,
Casey Owens was named the head coach of the D-Fenders. Los Angeles eventually advanced to the NBA D-League finals for the second time in franchise history, even as the team finished with a 27–23 regular season record. Ultimately, the D-Fenders would fall one game short of a league championship as the
Sioux Falls Skyforce capped off the best season in NBA D-League history. Blue led the league in points scored (1,262) and finished second in scoring average (26.3) en route to a First Team All-NBA D-League selection. Meanwhile,
Jeff Ayres (first team) and
Ryan Gomes (third team) were also awarded with All-NBA D-League honors. Gomes, an NBA veteran, provided a large boost to the D-Fenders lineup and was named as the NBA D-League's Impact Player of the Year after averaging 18.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists. Point guard
Josh Magette led the league in assists (9.2) and steals (2.4), while two D-Fenders earned GATORADE Call-Ups: Ayres (L.A. Clippers) and
Justin Harper (Detroit Pistons). On September 12, 2016, the D-Fenders announced the addition of
Coby Karl as the team's head coach prior to the 2016–17 season. Karl, the son of NBA coaching legend
George Karl, was a former player for the Lakers and D-Fenders. The second person to ever play in an NBA and NBADL game in the same day, Karl entered his first head coaching position in Los Angeles.
Rebrand as South Bay Lakers (2017–2026) On April 9, 2017, the Los Angeles Lakers announced that the D-Fenders would be re-branded as the South Bay Lakers at the conclusion of the 2016–17 season and the playoffs. They also announced that they were leaving the Toyota Events Center and moving into the new UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo, which would also serve at the Lakers new practice facility. After the D-Fenders were eliminated from the D-League playoffs on April 11, 2017, the team began the re-branding process. The newly re-branded club unveiled its primary and secondary marks on April 8, 2017. The 2018–19 South Bay Lakers placed fourth in the Pacific Division and had a record of 21–29, missing the playoffs. The 2019–20 season was curtailed due to the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic while the Lakers were outside of a playoff position, and then the team opted out of the single-site 2021 season. In July 2021, head coach Karl was announced as not returning to the organization and was replaced by Los Angeles Lakers' assistant coach
Miles Simon.
Rebrand as Coachella Valley Lakers (2026–present) On April 30, 2026, the Los Angeles Lakers announced that the team would be relocated to the
Greater Palm Springs region in California and be re-branded as the Coachella Valley Lakers with a new logo. Starting in the
2026–27 NBA G League season,
Acrisure Arena in
Thousand Palms, California will serve as the venue for the team's home games. ==Current roster==