Citizens Business Bank Arena, under construction and scheduled to open in October, is trying to add a professional basketball team to its tenant mix.

The arena already has a professional hockey team, the Ontario Reign of the ECHL, a Los Angeles Kings farm club that is scheduled to begin play this October.

Now officials with the 11,000-seat arena are trying to lure a professional basketball team: the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the Los Angeles Lakers' lone developmental team.

The D-Fenders, a member of the National Basketball Association Development League, plays its 25 home games at Staples Center before select Lakers home games, Citizens Business Bank Arena General Manager Steve Eckerson said.

No agreements have been reached between the arena and the team, and it's almost certain the D-Fenders won't play their 2008-09 home games at the new arena, Eckerson said.

But both sides have held several discussions regarding a possible move by the team to the Inland Empire, and it's possible the D-Fenders could start playing in Ontario during the fall of 2009, Eckerson said.

"We're going to keep talking," he said. "We've had some positive discussions."

Ontario is developing the arena and will own the facility. The building is expected to generate most of its revenue from concerts.

It will seat 10,000 for basketball, about 500 more than its hockey capacity.

"I don't like to predict but we believe the Lakers are interested in making a move," Eckerson said. The D-Fenders are owned by the Lakers and are the team's only affiliate in the 14-member development league. "No one else has an arena like the one we're going to have, and the team will still be close to Los Angeles."

The development league started play in 2001. It's now finishing its third season using the NBA team-affiliate system. Each team in the "D-league" has 10 to 12 players on its roster and maintains an affiliation with one to three NBA teams.

The NBA teams are allowed to assign players in their first or second year as professionals to their development league team. Most development league teams have at least two affiliates, but the D-Fenders are affiliated with only the Lakers, according to the development league's Web site.

"It's like Triple-A baseball," Eckerson said.

Lakers' General Manager Mitch Kupchak or Jeannie Buss, the team's executive vice president of business operations, will decide whether to move the D-Fenders from Staples Center, D-Fenders' spokesman David Caldes said.

"If arena officials say they've had discussions about a move ... I don't think they would lie about that," Caldes said. "But that decision will be made high-up in the Lakers organization, and I don't know what will happen."

Caldes declined to discuss further details regarding a move.

The Lakers are scheduled to play an exhibition game Friday, Oct. 24 at Citizens Business Bank Arena against the Seattle SuperSonics. Tickets for that game are scheduled to go on sale May 19.

"Unless something falls out of the sky the Lakers game will be our first event," Eckerson said. "Then we'll have the Reign opener on Saturday and a concert on Sunday. We're looking for a big concert draw for that day."

If the D-Fenders move to Ontario, they would join the Reign as the major anchor tenants in the new arena, which is under construction on Concours north of Interstate 10 between Milliken and Haven avenues

The city has sold about 203 acres around the arena site for commercial development, including an 82-acre parcel to Panattoni Development Co. in Sacramento.

Panattoni Development will build the Piemonte project around the arena, an "urban village" of office, retail and residential development and a hotel.

Ontario officials first considered developing an arena during the mid- to late-1990s. In 1999 they thought they had a development deal in place with Barry Kemp, owner of the Long Beach Ice Dogs, a minor league hockey team.

That plan called for Kemp to build the arena on land donated by the city. He also agreed to assume all financial risks associated with the project, according to the agreement. But Kemp backed out, citing a sluggish economy and rising construction costs, and Ontario officials decided to build the arena themselves.