LA Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers began life far from Hollywood. Founded as the Buffalo Braves in 1970, they played in upstate New York before moving to San Diego in 1978. There, the franchise rebranded as the Clippers, named after the fast, elegant clipper ships that once sailed into San Diego Bay during the 19th century. These ships were the pride of maritime engineering — tall-masted vessels designed for speed, carrying goods and people across oceans at record pace.

Tall ships like these cut through San Diego’s waters during the California Gold Rush (1848–1855) and the Pacific trade boom that followed. Clippers ferried prospectors, settlers, and supplies up the coast toward San Francisco, using San Diego’s deep natural harbour as a safe anchorage. They also carried luxury goods — tea, coffee, spices, silks — from Asia, and returned eastward with California grain, lumber, and hides. To the world, clippers were symbols of speed, ambition, and global connection. For San Diego, they represented the moment the city became tied into an international trading network. Naming the team after them in 1978 tied modern basketball to that proud maritime legacy.

San Diego’s maritime ties made the name resonate even more. The city’s harbour had long been a naval stronghold, with Naval Base San Diego growing into the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s principal homeport. The sight of warships anchored in the bay, alongside memories of the tall clippers that once glided across its waters, gave the franchise a distinct naval and nautical identity.

But in 1984, controversy struck. Owner Donald Sterling orchestrated a sudden and unauthorised move up the coast to Los Angeles, a relocation later deemed illegal by the NBA. Though the league eventually allowed the move, many San Diegans felt betrayed, stripped of a team whose name and logo had been designed for their bay. In LA, the Clippers struggled for decades to find an identity in the shadow of the Lakers, sharing the Forum and later Staples Center, but never matching their success.

The Clippers’ badge still carries a clear link to their maritime roots: On the hull of the ship you can see the seams of a basketball. A compass rose frames the design. Above it rises the ship’s tower, shaped to echo both the sleek prow of a modern yacht and the three stacked sails of an old clipper ship, a nod to San Diego Bay, where vessels like this once littered the horizon.

On the court, the Clippers endured decades of struggle, their move to LA defined by losing seasons and poor management. But in the 2010s, they reinvented themselves. With Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan, the “Lob City” era electrified fans with dunks and swagger, proving the Clippers could finally compete. Though titles eluded them, they changed the franchise’s reputation.

The modern Clippers, led by Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, are focused on rewriting history. Their upcoming move into their own home — the Intuit Dome in Inglewood (2024) — marks a symbolic break from the Lakers’ shadow. For the first time, the Clippers will have a stage that is theirs alone, a new harbour for a franchise long adrift.