The Los Angeles Lakers are the second-richest NBA franchise according to Forbes, and as such, the team receiving a small business loan is causing raised eyebrows. As reported by ESPN‘s Kevin Arnovitz, the Lakers received $4.6M as part of the Payroll Protection Program, intended to provide financial assistance to small businesses, but have since returned the money as the fund has been completely depleted.
Per Arnovitz’s report, the Lakers provided the following statement to ESPN:
“The Lakers qualified for and received a loan under the Payroll Protection Program… Once we found out the funds from the program had been depleted, we repaid the loan so that financial support would be directed to those most in need. The Lakers remain completely committed to supporting both our employees and our community.”
Among the high-profile companies who received millions in the first round of PPP funding — the Los Angeles Lakers. They returned the money once reports surfaced of large companies crowding out smaller businesses at the trough.https://t.co/MAFQ5tMDEo
— Kevin Arnovitz (@kevinarnovitz) April 27, 2020
The program through which the Lakers received the since-returned loan is part of the U. S. government’s response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The health crisis associated with the coronavirus has caused the NBA season to be indefinitely suspended.
Team operations will continue to be halted until March 8th at the earliest, with teams having to take stay-at-home orders into consideration as they move to reopen team facilities on a limited basis.
