Lob City

On December 8, 2011, the NBA vetoed a trade sending Chris Paul to the Lakers, citing basketball reasons. Six days later he became a Clipper instead. Read that again. The single luckiest bounce in franchise history came from the Lakers getting told no. Lob City was born out of the rivalry itself, and for six seasons the Clippers were the best show in basketball.

The show

Chris Paul was the best point guard alive. Blake Griffin was the most famous dunker on earth, fresh off jumping a Kia at All-Star weekend. DeAndre Jordan was the lob threat who turned every half court set into a threat of violence against the rim. Blake himself coined the name after the trade: "It's Lob City." The nickname stuck before the trio had played a single game.

The results were unlike anything the franchise had done. The 2012-13 team won the first division title in franchise history. Doc Rivers arrived in 2013, and the team rattled off five straight seasons of 50 or more wins. J.J. Redick sprinted off screens, Jamal Crawford broke ankles off the bench and won two Sixth Man awards, and Staples Center's other tenant regularly out-drew the glamour team upstairs in noise if not in banners.

The week everything changed

In April 2014, during a playoff series against Golden State, recordings surfaced of Donald Sterling making racist remarks. The players, led by Chris Paul and coached by Doc Rivers, protested by dumping their warmups at center court and wearing their shooting shirts inside out. Within days, new commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling for life. By August, Steve Ballmer had bought the team for two billion dollars, and the cheapest franchise in sports became one of the most ambitious overnight.

This week matters way beyond basketball. The players' stand and the league's response became a turning point for player power in the NBA. The ugliest chapter in franchise history ended with the Clippers, of all teams, leading the league somewhere better. We wrote about the culture shift in detail because it deserves the detail.

The highest high, the lowest low, eight days apart

May 2, 2015. Game 7 against the defending champion Spurs. Chris Paul, playing on a torn hamstring, banks in the series winner over Tim Duncan with a second left. It is, by nearly unanimous fan vote, the greatest moment in franchise history.

Eight days later the Clippers led Houston 3-1 with a 19-point second half lead in Game 6 at home. What followed was a collapse so complete that Josh Smith and Corey Brewer are still spoken of in hushed tones around here. The Rockets won the series in seven. Lob City never got closer to a conference finals than that night.

The emoji summer and the slow goodbye

In July 2015 DeAndre Jordan verbally agreed to join Dallas, then wavered. What followed was the single funniest day in NBA transaction history: teammates tweeting emojis of cars and planes racing to Houston, a reported banana boat offer, and a literal overnight stay at DJ's house until he could officially re-sign. He stayed. The internet has never fully recovered.

But the core had a ceiling and everyone could feel it. Injuries kept hitting at the worst times, including Paul and Griffin going down in the same playoff game in 2016. After another early exit in 2017, Chris Paul asked out and was traded to Houston. Blake was dealt to Detroit months later. Lob City ended the way it lived: dramatically, and just short.

What it meant

Lob City never made a conference finals, and it is still the era that saved the franchise. It proved the Clippers could matter in Los Angeles, filled the building with a new generation of fans, and forced out the owner who had held the team underwater for 33 years. Every good thing that has happened since runs through these six seasons.