The Los Angeles Lakers will make their annual appearance in San Diego Wednesday night, facing the Golden State Warriors in a preseason game at Valley View Casino Center.
Last year's game between the two teams was stopped by the referees in the third quarter due to moisture on the floor from the hockey ice surface under the court, which arena spokesman Rick Schloss said was the result of high humidity.
"They told us they 100 percent fixed it," Laker first-year coach Luke Walton said.
Full refunds were given for tickets to last year's game.
The game is a homecoming for Walton, a University of San Diego High School graduate.
"I got a lot of family and friends coming and it's always special to go home, but I've been going there for years," Walton said. "It's great to see them, but it's much more of a business trip than anything else.”
Walton says his mother Susie handles his ticket requests.
"Anyone who texts me I tell them to text her and she gets it all together and then we'll figure it out," Walton said.
Walton was Golden State's interim coach when they faced the Lakers last year in San Diego when Steve Kerr was unable to coach because of back problems.
Two other coaches in Wednesday's game also have ties to San Diego.
Laker assistant coach Jud Buechler was raised in Poway, and helped lead Poway High School to three consecutive San Diego Section championships in the mid-1980s.
Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown is a University of San Diego graduate. The former Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers coach was hired in July to replace Walton.
The Lakers are 2-4 in preseason play and Golden State 4-1. The Warriors defeated the Lakers, 112-107, Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The Lakers have annually scheduled a preseason game in San Diego each year since 1999, except in 2013 when their two preseason games in China left them unable to play in the city, according to John Black, the team's vice president of public relations.
