Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, competing in the NBA's Western Conference. Founded in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves, the franchise faced numerous challenges, including poor performance and ownership issues, leading to its relocation to San Diego in 1978 and then to Los Angeles in 1984. Historically overshadowed by the more successful Los Angeles Lakers, the Clippers struggled for many years but began a resurgence in the mid-2010s, making consistent playoff appearances and earning a reputation as a competitive team. The franchise gained significant attention during this period, particularly with the arrival of star players like Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan, who helped form the "Lob City" era. In 2014, the team faced a major controversy when former owner Donald Sterling was banned for life due to racist remarks, leading to the sale of the team to Steve Ballmer. The Clippers continue to evolve and are considered strong contenders in the league today, aiming for their first NBA championship. The team's colors are blue, red, black, silver, and white, and they share their home arena, the Staples Center, with the Lakers.
Los Angeles Clippers
Team information
- Inaugural season: 1970
- Home arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
- Owner: Steve Balmer
- Team colors: Blue, red, black, silver, and white
Overview
The Los Angeles Clippers is a professional basketball team that plays in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Western Conference. The Clippers are one of two teams that play in Los Angeles, and have often taken a back seat to the more high-profile Lakers. The franchise roots go back to Buffalo, New York, in the early 1970s, when the team was known as the Braves. Buffalo lost the Braves in 1978 in a strange franchise swap that saw the team head west to San Diego, California. Now called the Clippers, the team relocated six years later to Los Angeles. After some early success in Buffalo, the franchise was one of the NBA’s least successful teams for the vast majority of its history. Over a span of thirty-five seasons from 1977 to 2011, the franchise made the playoffs just four times, and was bounced out in the first round in three of those appearances. In the mid-2010s, the Clippers began to turn things around, and built a consistent winner on the court. The team made a string of seven playoff appearances in eight years, and was considered a legitimate threat to take home an NBA championship.
History
From 1966 to 1970, the NBA embarked on a period of expansion that added eight new franchises and saw the league grow from nine teams to seventeen. In 1970, three teams—the Buffalo Braves, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Portland Trail Blazers—joined the NBA. The Buffalo franchise was originally awarded to a New York City investment firm, but when the group experienced money problems, a local businessman named Paul Snyder stepped in and bought the team. The Braves immediately ran into trouble securing home dates at Buffalo’s Memorial Auditorium as the NHL’s Sabres and Canisius College’s men’s basketball team had scheduling priority. As a result, the Braves were forced to play some games in Rochester, Syracuse, and Toronto. The NBA gave Snyder an ultimatum to fix the problem or risk losing revenue-sharing money.
After some initial struggles, Buffalo began to build a contender in 1972 with the selection of Bob McAdoo in the NBA Draft. McAdoo won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1972–1973 and would go on to win the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 1974–1975. The Braves also hired future Hall of Fame head coach Jack Ramsay in 1972. The team broke out in 1973–1974, winning forty-two games and making its first playoff appearance. The Braves won forty-nine and forty-six games over the next two seasons and advanced to the postseason both times. Despite Buffalo’s promising trajectory, Snyder was struggling to meet the NBA’s requirements and claimed the team was losing money. Feeling pressure to sell from the NBA, Snyder began looking for buyers.
In the midst of this uncertainty, Ramsay left Buffalo for Portland, where he won the 1977 NBA championship. After a deal that would have moved the team to Florida fell through, Snyder sold the Braves to businessman John Brown Jr. in 1976. Brown began jettisoning the team’s talent, trading McAdoo in December 1976 and shipping off young star Adrian Dantley after he won the 1976–1977 Rookie of the Year Award. In 1978, Boston Celtics owner Irv Levin—who had bought the team in 1972—was looking to move the franchise out west. Levin knew the NBA would not allow one of the league’s most storied franchises to leave Boston, so he arranged to swap franchises with Brown. Levin then moved the Braves to San Diego and Brown became owner of the Celtics.
The team began play in San Diego for the 1978–1979 season. In a nod to the city’s maritime history, the franchise was renamed Clippers after the nineteenth-century clipper ships that once sailed in San Diego Bay. While the Clippers posted a winning record in their first year in their new home, it would be another thirteen years before the team finished above .500. In 1981, the Clippers were sold to real estate developer Donald Sterling, who moved them to Los Angeles in 1984. The move came during a period in which the city’s other team, the Lakers, was winning five championships in a span of nine years and dominating headlines. The Clippers, meanwhile, were among the league’s worst teams, losing at least fifty games each season from 1982 to 1991.
In 1992, the Clippers finished with a winning record and made the playoffs, only to lose in the first round. They followed that up with two more playoff appearances in 1993 and 1997, again losing in the opening series. Much of the blame for the franchise’s problems could be attributed to poor personnel moves and bad draft choices. For example, in 1998, the Clippers had the number one selection in the NBA Draft and chose center Michael Olowokandi. Olowokandi struggled mightily in the NBA and was out of the league by 2007. Meanwhile, several players chosen after the Clippers’ selection went on to have All-Star and Hall of Fame careers.
From 1998 to 2011, the Clippers finished below .500 in all but one season. The lone exception being 2005–2006, when the team won a playoff series for the first time in franchise history. The Clippers fortunes truly began to turn around in 2011, when they traded for point guard Chris Paul to team with big men Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. The Clippers, now sporting the nickname “Lob City,” made six straight playoff appearances from 2012 to 2017 and won division titles in 2013 and 2014. After missing the postseason in 2017–2018 and another early playoff exit in 2018–2019, the Clippers revamped their roster in 2019. They signed two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and traded for six-time All-Star Paul George. With this core in place, the Clippers were considered one of the favorites to win the NBA Finals in 2020.
In the midst of the team’s success in the 2010s, the Clippers became embroiled in unwanted controversy in 2014. That April, owner Donald Sterling was recorded making racist statements against African Americans and the recordings were made public. With several Clippers and other NBA players threatening to boycott games in protest, the league stepped in and banned Sterling from the league for life and fined him $2.5 million. The NBA eventually forced Sterling to sell the Clippers to Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft.
In 2015, the franchise underwent a rebrand, changing its logo from the large basketball-centered design it had used since moving to Los Angeles, to a red “LA” nearly encircled by a blue “C.” The design, which was meant to invoke a basketball court, was set in a basketball and placed above the word “Clippers.” Ballmer had indicated that he was willing to explore further rebranding, including changing the franchise name.
Notable players
As of early 2020, the only long-time member of the franchise to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame was Bob McAdoo, who played in Buffalo from 1972 to 1976. McAdoo made three of his five All-Star appearances with the Braves and was third on the franchise scoring list with 9,434 points. After retiring from the NBA in 1986, McAdoo became a member of the Hall of Fame in 2000. Adrian Dantley was a teammate of McAdoo’s for only part of one season, and was dealt away after his rookie year. Dantley went on to score 23,177 points in his fifteen-year career and was named to the Hall of Fame in 2008. The all-time franchise leader in scoring and games played was Randy Smith, who was drafted by Buffalo in 1971 and spent one season in San Diego before being traded in 1979. He briefly returned to the Clippers in 1982. Smith was a two-time All-Star with Buffalo and played in 5,211 games for the franchise, scoring 12,735 points.
The Clippers’ short period of success in the early 1990s was partly fueled by forward Danny Manning, the first overall pick by the team in the 1988 NBA Draft. Recurring injuries kept Manning from reaching his promise as an NBA player, but he did make back-to-back All-Star appearances with the Clippers in 1993 and 1994. Another former top overall draft pick, Elton Brand, was traded to the Clippers in 2001 and played with the team until 2008. Brand made two All-Star games in that time and was the second-leading rebounder in team history with 4,710.
Los Angeles drafted Blake Griffin with the top pick in 2009, but the forward spent his first year in the NBA recovering from an injury, and did not make his debut until 2010. In eight seasons with the Clippers, Griffin made five All-Star teams and scored 10,863 points, second-most all time in franchise history. Center DeAndre Jordan played with the Clippers from 2008 to 2018, and was the team’s all-time leading rebounder with 7,988. Chris Paul was a Clipper from 2011 to 2017, and made five All-Star appearances in those six seasons. Paul was the franchise leader in assists with 4,023, and had 9,607 for his career, sixth most in NBA history as of 2020.
Bibliography
Flynn, Brendan. Los Angeles Clippers All-Time Greats. Press Room Editions, 2020.
“Los Angeles Clippers.” Basketball Reference, 2020, www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAC/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2020.
“Los Angeles Clippers.” Sports E-cyclopedia, 16 Mar. 2020, sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/lac/laclippers.html. Accessed 15 Apr. 2020.
“Los Angeles Clippers Team History.” Sports Team History, 2020, sportsteamhistory.com/los-angeles-clippers. Accessed 15 Apr. 2020.
Minas, Mick. The Curse: The Colorful & Chaotic History of the LA Clippers. CreateSpace, 2016.
Morrell, Alan. “Whatever Happened To ... the Buffalo Braves?” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 7 May 2016, www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2016/05/07/whatever-happened-buffalo-braves/84047660/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2020.
Shelburne, Ramona. “When the Donald Sterling Saga Rocked the NBA—and Changed It Forever.” ESPN, 20 Aug. 2019, www.espn.com/nba/story/‗/id/27414482/when-donald-sterling-saga-rocked-nba-changed-forever. Accessed 15 Apr. 2020.
Treat, Jeremy. “A Mini History of the L.A. Clippers.” Los Angeles Magazine, 16 Apr. 2016, www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/mini-history-clippers/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2020.