The Stars, and the Forgotten

Drafted 104th overall as a local courtesy, retired as the franchise's all-time leader in points and games. All-Star Game MVP in 1978. Once held the NBA's consecutive games played record. If this site had a patron saint, it would be Randy Smith: overlooked, relentless, and better than anyone gave him credit for.

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Three straight scoring titles, the 1975 MVP, and a Hall of Fame jumper that big men were not supposed to have. His trade to New York broke Buffalo's heart and started a franchise tradition of watching greatness finish elsewhere. Still the highest peak any player has reached in this uniform.

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Averaged nearly 30 a game across two San Diego seasons with a rainbow jumper and a legally changed name that said everything. The most entertaining player of the era, on a team almost nobody watched. A cult legend's cult legend.

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The 19th pick in 1987 became one of the most dependable Clippers of the early Los Angeles years. Norman could score inside and out, rebound in traffic and play either forward spot. His peak came in 1988-89, when he averaged 18.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists across 80 games. Six seasons made him a genuine Sports Arena mainstay.

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The 1988 number one pick tore his ACL 26 games into his career and still made two All-Star teams as a Clipper. The knee took his ceiling, never his skill or his class. Every Clippers fan's what-if list starts with a healthy Danny Manning.

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Grant arrived as a first round point guard and stayed seven seasons, long enough to help carry the Clippers from the bottom of the standings into back-to-back playoff trips. Quick hands, steady playmaking and years of hard minutes made him one of the most familiar faces of the early Los Angeles era.

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John “Hot Plate” Williams brought an unusual combination of size, passing and touch to two Clippers seasons. He joined during the brief Larry Brown playoff window and gave the Sports Arena a forward who could run offense, rebound and make the unexpected pass.

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A first round pick who announced himself by taking off near the free throw line and winning the 1996 Slam Dunk Contest in his rookie season. Barry could shoot, pass and run the floor before that mix became normal for wings. The Clippers traded him before his best years, but the white jersey and that dunk remain one of the cleanest snapshots of the Sports Arena era.

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Undrafted out of Central Connecticut State, where he set the NCAA career blocks-per-game record, Closs arrived at the Sports Arena as the tallest Clipper anyone had ever seen and swatted everything within reach. Three seasons, endless stories, and a cult following that never left. His road after basketball was rough and he has been open about it, which makes fans love him more, not less. A true Sports Arena original.

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Twenty and ten every single year, on teams that gave him almost nothing back. Carried the 2006 squad within a game of the conference finals. Also one of the four players who quietly paid for coach Kim Hughes' cancer surgery, which tells you who he was off the floor. The most respected Clipper of his generation.

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The fourth pick in 2004 was a six-foot-seven point guard with a game that seemed to come from the future. Then came the devastating knee injury in 2007. His Clippers story ended before it was supposed to, but Livingston rebuilt his career one contract at a time and became a champion. Every stop after LA made the comeback more remarkable.

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Mobley gave the 2006 playoff team exactly what it needed: a reliable wing scorer, a tough defender and a grown-up presence beside Sam Cassell and Elton Brand. He started every postseason game on the franchise's deepest run since Buffalo. A trade in 2008 led doctors to discover a heart condition and ended his career, making his final full seasons Clippers seasons.

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The Los Angeles native and UCLA star came home as a marquee free agent, carrying the swagger of the “We Believe” Warriors. Injuries and losing seasons kept the dream from matching the announcement, but Baron helped bridge the franchise to Blake Griffin and made the first young Lob City flashes possible.

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Before Lob City, Gordon looked like the guard who might lead the Clippers out of the wilderness himself. Strong, fearless and already a twenty-point scorer by his third season, he fit perfectly beside a young Blake Griffin. Then the biggest trade in franchise history sent him to New Orleans for Chris Paul. The future changed overnight, and Gordon was the price.

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The 55th pick came to the Clippers in a draft-night trade and played 51 games as a rookie. Taylor's speed made ordinary rebuilding minutes feel unpredictable, and his brief run remains exactly the kind of one-season story a player archive should keep alive.

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A Compton native and Pepperdine guard, Acker returned home in a midseason trade and appeared in 18 games. The stay was short, but a local player wearing a Clippers uniform belongs in the record, especially when a fan saved the photograph.

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Six-foot-seven on the roster sheet and much bigger everywhere else, Smith earned the nickname Rhino by lowering a shoulder and turning bench minutes into collisions. He scored efficiently, rebounded in traffic and gave two rebuilding Clippers teams a dependable professional in the frontcourt. Not every fan favorite needs a banner. Some just need a nickname that fits perfectly.

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A long wing with a dependable three-point shot, Butler started throughout the season Blake Griffin was supposed to debut and stayed to help steady Blake's actual rookie year. Teammates trusted him, coaches trusted him and fans knew exactly what they would get. Butler and his wife, singer Leah LaBelle, died in 2018. He remains warmly remembered across every team he represented.

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Missed his entire first season, then turned the Clippers into appointment viewing one dunk at a time. Rookie of the Year, five-time All-Star as a Clipper, and the guy who made kids in LA pick the other team on purpose. His trade in 2018 stung precisely because he was the first star who felt like ours from day one.

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The franchise's assists and steals leader, author of the greatest shot in team history, and the player who made the Clippers matter. Left in 2017 with business unfinished, came home in 2025 at age 40 to close the loop. No player changed what this franchise was more than CP3.

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A Finals MVP landed in Los Angeles just as Lob City began and immediately made a young contender feel legitimate. Billups brought late-game nerve, leadership and the Mr. Big Shot reputation until an Achilles injury cut short his first Clippers season. The stay was brief, but his voice helped set the expectations for the winning years that followed.

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A 35th pick who became the finisher of the Lob City era: two rebounding titles, five straight years leading the league in field goal percentage, All-NBA First Team in 2016, and the target of a thousand CP3 lobs. Played through an era where he almost never missed a game, and one famous July where the whole league camped in his living room. The catch at the end of the alley-oop deserved a statue.

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Two of his three Sixth Man of the Year awards came in a Clippers uniform, which sounds right, because no bench in basketball had a cheat code like prime Jamal. The behind-the-back crossover, the four-point plays, the shot that left his hand looking wrong and went in anyway. Lob City's closer off the pine and one of the most beloved teammates the franchise has ever had.

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Redick never stopped moving, and Lob City's half court offense moved with him. He sprinted around screens, bent defenses before touching the ball and punished every defender who lost focus for half a second. Four seasons as the starting shooting guard made him the spacing engine beside Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

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A two-time Finals MVP who chose the Clippers, something no player of his caliber had ever done. When healthy, one of the best two-way players ever. His era brought the first conference finals and a thousand injury report refreshes, and it closed in July 2026 when the Clippers traded him back to Toronto for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and picks. The quiet bet ended the way it started: with the whole league arguing about it.

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The 2023 trade brought one of the greatest offensive creators of his generation home to Los Angeles. Harden reshaped his game around playmaking, then returned to All-Star form in the Intuit Dome's first season and drove a 50-win offense when the roster needed him most. The beard, the step-back and the passing vision all became part of the building's first real basketball identity.

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Eric Piatkowski, the Polish Rifle. Bo Kimble shooting lefty free throws for Hank Gathers. Loy Vaught's quiet double-doubles. Sam Cassell's strut. Terance Mann's 39. This section grows every time fans vote for the next spotlight. Nominate somebody.

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