LA Clippers

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Lore & Background

The franchise was founded as the Buffalo Braves in 1970 as an expansion team. Led by Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo, the Braves reached the NBA playoffs three times during their eight seasons in Buffalo. Conflicts with the Canisius Golden Griffins over Buffalo Memorial Auditorium and the sale of the franchise led to their relocation from Buffalo to San Diego, California, in 1978 and subsequent rebranding as the San Diego Clippers, in reference to the sailing ships seen in San Diego Bay. The team saw little success on the court and missed the playoffs during all six of their years in San Diego. In 1984, owner Donald Sterling controversially relocated the franchise to Los Angeles without NBA approval, which was permitted following legal action between the league and Sterling. Over the course of their first 27 seasons in Los Angeles, the Clippers qualified for the postseason only four times and won a single playoff round. As a result, they have been frequently described as a perennial loser in American professional sports, drawing unfavorable comparisons to the historically successful Lakers. The Clippers' reputation improved during the 2010s, which saw them transform into consistent postseason contenders. Aided by the Lob City lineup of Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and Chris Paul, the team qualified for the playoffs in six consecutive seasons from 2012 to 2017 and won two consecutive division titles in 2013 and 2014, both firsts for the franchise. Despite this success, the Clippers struggled in the postseason and were frequently eliminated in the Conference Semifinals; the team reached the conference finals for the first time in 2021. To date, they are the oldest franchise in North American professional sports to have never played in a championship game.

In Their Own Story

In 1978, the Braves became the San Diego Clippers, named for the sailing ships of San Diego Bay. The first season featured World B. Free, who averaged 28.9 points per game, finishing second in the league behind George Gervin's 29.6. Despite a 43–39 record and eight consecutive wins to close the season, they missed the playoffs by two games. The arrival of Bill Walton in 1979 brought hope, but injuries limited him to just 10 games that year as the team fell to 35–47. In 1982, Donald Sterling purchased the franchise for $12.5 million, a move marred by mismanagement; he was fined $10,000 for guaranteeing losses to secure a draft pick and once stranded players at an airport over unpaid bus fares.

Reader's Guide

The franchise began in Western New York as the Buffalo Braves, one of three NBA expansion franchises that began play in the 1970–71 season, along with the Portland Trail Blazers and Cleveland Cavaliers. They played their home games at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, along with another Buffalo team that would begin play that year, the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres. After two bad seasons, the Braves' fortunes started to change under coach Jack Ramsay and star center Bob McAdoo. McAdoo led the NBA in scoring for three consecutive seasons and was named the league's MVP in the 1974–75 season. The Braves qualified for the playoffs three times in a row, losing twice to the eventual Eastern Conference champions (the Boston Celtics in 1974 and 1976, and the Washington Bullets in 1975). Despite the team's modest success in Buffalo, Braves owner Paul Snyder and the league found it impossible to schedule home games at the auditorium because of the Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball team, which had a pre-existing lease on the arena and priority on game dates over the Braves, with the next best dates in turn taken by the more successful Sabres. At a time when the NBA was nearing a nadir and the league did not have its current prestige, the Griffins saw the Braves as a threat to their own success, and purposely scheduled better dates at the arena to prevent the Braves from succeeding. As a result, after a failed attempt to sell the team to an owner who intended to move it to South Florida, Snyder sold the team to Kentucky Colonels owner John Y. Brown, Jr., who decimated the team's roster, traded away all of its stars, and drove attendance down to the point where they could break their own lease on the arena. Eventually, Brown met with Celtics owner Irv Levin in 1978 so they could trade franchise ownerships. Southern California resident Levin then decided to move the Braves to San Diego, something the league would have never allowed him to do with the Celtics. Asked about the move, Levin nominated a shorter commute for himself as a key reason. In 1978, San Diego welcomed the Braves franchise to the city. The city's previous NBA franchise, the San Diego Rockets, had relocated to Houston seven years earlier in 1971. In between, the city hosted an ABA franchise, the San Diego Conquistadors, though that team folded partway through its fourth season after they

Did You Know?

• The Clippers are the oldest franchise in North American professional sports to have never played in a championship game.
• The team was originally named the Buffalo Braves when founded in 1970.
• The Clippers' first home in California was the San Diego Sports Arena.
• The franchise has been referred to by fans as 'the Clips' or 'LAC'.