The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). [1] The Clippers joined the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team. The team has had three names since its inception: the Buffalo Braves (1970–1978), the San Diego Clippers (1978–1984), and the Los Angeles Clippers (1984–present). The Clippers are the oldest franchise in the NBA to have never reached the league finals. [2] The team has played its home games at the Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) since 1999. [3] The Clippers are owned by Steve Ballmer, and Dave Wohl is their general manager.
There have been 25 head coaches for the Clippers. The franchise's first head coach was Dolph Schayes, who coached for 83 games in two seasons. Mike Dunleavy is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season games coached (541). Doc Rivers is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season games won (307), playoff games coached (46), and playoff games won (22). Jack Ramsay, Larry Brown, Bill Fitch, Mike Dunleavy, Vinny Del Negro, Doc Rivers, and Tyronn Lue, are the only coaches to have reached the playoffs with the Clippers. Ramsay and Fitch were also named as two of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History in 1996. [4] Ramsay, Brown and Fitch are the only Clippers coaches to have been elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. [5] [6] [7] The current head coach of the Clippers is Tyronn Lue.
GC | Games coached |
W | Wins |
L | Losses |
Win% | Winning percentage |
# | Number of coaches |
* | Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Braves/Clippers |
† | Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach |
Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2022–23 season.
# | Name | Term | GC | W | L | Win% | GC | W | L | Win% | Achievements | Reference | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||
Buffalo Braves | |||||||||||||||
1 | Dolph Schayes | 1970–1971 | 83 | 22 | 61 | .265 | — | — | — | — | [8] | ||||
2 | Johnny McCarthy * | 1971–1972 | 81 | 22 | 59 | .272 | — | — | — | — | [9] | ||||
3 | Jack Ramsay † | 1972–1976 | 328 | 158 | 170 | .482 | 22 | 9 | 13 | .409 | One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history (1996) [4] | [5] | |||
4 | Tates Locke * | 1976–1977 | 46 | 16 | 30 | .348 | — | — | — | — | [10] | ||||
5 | Bob MacKinnon | 1977 | 7 | 3 | 4 | .429 | — | — | — | — | [11] | ||||
6 | Joe Mullaney | 1977 | 29 | 11 | 18 | .379 | — | — | — | — | [12] | ||||
7 | Cotton Fitzsimmons | 1977–1978 | 82 | 27 | 55 | .329 | — | — | — | — | [13] | ||||
San Diego Clippers | |||||||||||||||
8 | Gene Shue | 1978–1980 | 164 | 78 | 86 | .476 | — | — | — | — | [14] | ||||
9 | Paul Silas | 1980–1983 | 246 | 78 | 168 | .317 | — | — | — | — | [15] | ||||
10 | Jim Lynam | 1983–1984 | 82 | 30 | 52 | .366 | — | — | — | — | [16] | ||||
Los Angeles Clippers | |||||||||||||||
— | Jim Lynam | 1984–1985 | 61 | 22 | 39 | .361 | — | — | — | — | [16] | ||||
11 | Don Chaney | 1985–1987 | 185 | 53 | 132 | .286 | — | — | — | — | [17] | ||||
— | Gene Shue | 1987–1989 | 120 | 27 | 93 | .225 | — | — | — | — | [14] | ||||
12 | Don Casey | 1989–1990 | 126 | 41 | 85 | .325 | — | — | — | — | [18] | ||||
13 | Mike Schuler | 1990–1992 | 127 | 52 | 75 | .409 | — | — | — | — | [19] | ||||
14 | Mack Calvin * | 1992 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | — | — | — | — | [20] | ||||
15 | Larry Brown † | 1992–1993 | 117 | 64 | 53 | .547 | 10 | 4 | 6 | .400 | One of the 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History (2021) | [6] | |||
16 | Bob Weiss | 1993–1994 | 82 | 27 | 55 | .329 | — | — | — | — | [21] | ||||
17 | Bill Fitch † | 1994–1998 | 328 | 99 | 229 | .302 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history (1996) [4] | [22] | |||
18 | Chris Ford | 1998–2000 | 95 | 20 | 75 | .211 | — | — | — | — | [23] | ||||
19 | Jim Todd * | 2000 | 37 | 4 | 33 | .108 | — | — | — | — | [24] | ||||
20 | Alvin Gentry | 2000–2003 | 222 | 89 | 133 | .401 | — | — | — | — | [25] | ||||
21 | Dennis Johnson * | 2003 | 24 | 8 | 16 | .333 | — | — | — | — | [26] | ||||
22 | Mike Dunleavy, Sr. | 2003–2010 | 541 | 215 | 326 | .397 | 12 | 7 | 5 | .583 | [27] | ||||
23 | Kim Hughes * | 2010 | 33 | 8 | 25 | .242 | — | — | — | — | [28] | ||||
24 | Vinny Del Negro | 2010–2013 | 230 | 128 | 102 | .557 | 17 | 6 | 11 | .353 | [29] | ||||
25 | Doc Rivers | 2013–2020 | 564 | 356 | 208 | .631 | 59 | 27 | 32 | .458 | [30] | ||||
26 | Tyronn Lue | 2020–present | 236 | 133 | 103 | .564 | 24 | 11 | 13 | .458 | [31] |
The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The Clippers play their home games at Crypto.com Arena, which they share with NBA team Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Clippers plan to move into their own arena, the Intuit Dome in nearby Inglewood, by 2024.
Tyronn Jamar Lue is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lue formerly served as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, helping them win their first NBA title in franchise history.
Vincent Joseph Del Negro is an American former professional basketball player. He was the head coach of the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls from 2008 to 2010, and the Los Angeles Clippers from 2010 to 2013. Del Negro is currently an analyst with NBA TV.
Larry Donnell Drew is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Armond G. Hill is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is Director of Basketball Administration for Indiana University men's basketball.
The 1970 NBA expansion draft was the fifth expansion draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 11, 1970, so that the newly founded Buffalo Braves, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Portland Trail Blazers could acquire players for the 1970–71 season. Buffalo, Cleveland, and Portland were awarded the expansion teams on February 6, 1970. Houston was also awarded a franchise, but the group backing the team was unable to come up with the US$750,000 down payment on the US$3.7 million entrance fee that was required before the 1970 NBA draft. The Braves later underwent two relocations, moving to San Diego in 1978 and changing their name from the Braves to the Clippers, and then relocating to Los Angeles in 1984. They are currently known as the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Portland Trail Blazers are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise entered the NBA in 1970, and is one of two major league franchise in Oregon. The Trail Blazers sold out 814 consecutive home games from 1977 through 1995, the second longest such streak for American professional sports teams which was broken July 9, 2011, by the Dayton Dragons. The team has played their home games at the Moda Center, since the 1995–96 NBA season. The Trail Blazers are owned by the Paul G. Allen Trust chaired by Jody Allen, since the passing of owner Paul Allen in 2018. Since the team joined the NBA in 1970, it has won one NBA championship, three conference championships, six division championships, and has appeared in the NBA playoffs 34 times.
The Lakers–Clippers rivalry is a National Basketball Association (NBA) rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers. The two Pacific Division teams both play their home games in the Greater Los Angeles area, thus inspiring their matchups to sometimes be called the "Battle of L.A." The Lakers originally relocated from Minneapolis in 1960, while the Clippers moved from San Diego in 1984 after previously moving to San Diego from Buffalo, New York while going away from the original Buffalo Braves name in 1978. While Los Angeles fans have historically favored the Lakers, the Clippers have sold out or filled capacity for every home game at Staples Center since Feb. 2011 and entered the 2016–17 season with the sixth-longest active sellout streak in the NBA, which continued up until the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lakers have won 12 of their 17 NBA championships since moving to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Clippers have made the playoffs only eleven times since 1984 and remain arguably the least successful professional sports franchise in North America, and had never advanced past the second round of the playoffs until 2021. Some contended that the term rivalry was inaccurate due to the Lakers historical success and the Clippers historical lack of success. In 2012–13, the Clippers won the first of six straight season series against the Lakers.
The 2020–21 Los Angeles Clippers season was the 51st season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA), their 43rd season in Southern California, and their 37th season in Los Angeles.