Lakers Smartly Returned Money They Received From PPP Funding Because it's a Bad Look Otherwise

We may be stating the obvious here, but the coronavirus pandemic has taken a financial toll on the world. Perhaps no one has been hurt more than small businesses, and the federal government is trying to help alleviate the burdens they're currently facing.

So, it hurts to see that the Los Angeles Lakers were granted a $4.6 million loan from the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program. As soon as reports surfaced, the Lakers announced on Monday that they have since returned the money.

"The Lakers qualified for and received a loan under the Payroll Protection Program," the Lakers said in a statement to ESPN. "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."

It's definitely not a good look to see a $4 billion professional sports organization get money for a small business loan. But the Lakers were eligible for an application, considering they have 300 employees on the books, as long as they spent 75% of it and didn't fire anyone. The loophole was there, and the Lakers took it.

The program was created to help mom-and-pop shops deal with the financial toll of not having their usual influx of customers. The initial pool of the program was $349 billion and the money has been used up in less than two weeks. To make matters worse, high-profile organizations like Shake Shack ($10 million) and AutoNation ($77 million) received their loans in the first wave ahead of small businesses. Both have since returned their funding, but likely only due to the expected public outcry.

Whatever the case may be, the Lakers dodged a real bullet by returning the money, and they can breathe a sigh of PR relief.