Russell Westbrook Mistakes New Staples Center Name As “Crip Arena”

Many are still reeling from the news that the Staples Center will be renamed the Crypto.com Arena. The cryptocurrency exchange paid a pretty penny for the naming right to the arena as they will now be tied for a couple of decades at a price of $700 million. This is a massive deal for the city of Los Angeles, as pretty well every single Lakers fan is used to calling the place the Staples Center. Even with the name change going down next month, it’s likely that people will continue to call it Staples.

Over the past couple of days, players throughout the league, especially those in L.A., have been asked about the change. When Russell Westbrook of the Lakers was asked about this new move, he ended up offering a pretty humorous take on it all, albeit through a misunderstanding.

Russell Westbrook

Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images

As you can see in the clip below, Russ thought the reporter said the new arena would be called “Crip Arena,” which is definitely a funny slip-up. Over the past couple of days, some fans have joked about renaming the arena this, although we’re sure Crypto.com will not approve. Either way, it’s clear that people aren’t all that enthused about the new name.

Let us know your thoughts on this historic name change, in the comments section down below.