The San Diego Clippers were a professional basketball team playing with the National Basketball Association from 1978 to 1984. The Clippers are now known as the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers were originally found in 1970. They were then called as the Buffalo Braves and were one of the three teams who were new additions to the NBA. The Braves were relocated to San Diego in 1978 and were named as the San Diego Clippers. The name was chosen from among 14,000 entries in a ‘name the team’ contest and referred to the ‘clipper ships’ that were anchored in the city harbor. The logo of the team was three white sails in a blue circular sky with an orange sun setting over the team name. The team colors were blue, red and white. The team played their home games at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Country United States United States
City San Diego, California
Founded 1978

In 1978, the Clippers finished with a 43 wins and 39 losses record, however, did not qualify for the playoffs. In 1979, the Clippers signed former NBA Champion Bill Walton who was with the Portland Trailblazers. In 1980, Paul Silas was appointed as the new coach. Bill Walton was benched as he had a foot injury and the Clippers finished with 36 wins and 46 losses. The same year the Clippers were bought by Donald Sterling. Sterling was a real estate giant in Beverly Hills. In 1981, the Clippers continued to play in San Diego despite owner Sterling’s requests to the NBA to move the team to Los Angeles. Bill Walton was joined on the bench by Swen Nater who suffered a knee injury and the Clippers continued to struggle. In 1982, the Clippers drafted Terry Cummings who won the Rookie of the Year. The 1983- 1984 season saw the Clippers finish in the last position with a record of 30 wins and 52 losses. The Clippers set sail to Los Angeles that season to become the Los Angeles Clippers.

In a total of 492 games the team played as the San Diego Clippers, they won 186 games and lost 306 games.

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