10 Best Players In Los Angeles Clippers History

The Los Angeles Clippers (1984-present), formerly the Buffalo Braves 1970-1978 and San Diego Clippers 1978-1984, are the second longest-tenured NBA team since their founding without a championship (the longest are the Phoenix Suns, 1968-present).

In their long history of 52 seasons, the co-inhabitants of the Staples Center in Los Angeles along with their rivals Lakers, have achieved a record of 1761 wins and 2459 losses, with their best campaigns being: the 2013-2014 regular season with a 57-25 record and the 2020-2021 in which they fell in the Conference Finals. Obviously, there are a lot of players who have worn this jersey, some without shame or glory, and others with some level of success. Without further ado, below are the 10 best players in Los Angeles Clippers history.

10 Ron Harper

The number eight pick of the 1986 draft was a very productive shooting guard with a 15-year career between 1986 and 2001, of which he played five of them for the Clippers between 1989 and 1994, leaving averages of 18.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game.

Despite his contributions, while Ron Harper was on the roster the team achieved a negative record of 158-198.

9 Paul George

In just his fourth season with the team (with 3 years left on his contract until 2025) we must already include Paul George as one of the most outstanding players the Clippers have ever had.

His 23.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.5 steals per game cannot go unnoticed; in fact, he complements these figures with a Player Efficiency Rating of 20.2 and a Box Plus/Minus of 4.3, which for an athlete in full maturity and solidity, we can infer that he will increase and surpass several of the team's marks.

8 Kawhi Leonard

Kawhi Leonard, the guy with two championship rings (2014 and 2019) and two MVP Finals awards, has excellent numbers in his first three seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers, foreshadowing memorable moments soon.

So far in the short time he has played he has made his presence felt with averages of 25.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.6 steals per game, complemented with a Box Plus/Minus of 7.9 and a Player Efficiency Rating of 26.1.

7 Danny Manning

The Clippers selected Danny Manning with the first overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft. This guy coming from Kansas University has been one of the most consistent players in the team's history. 373 games (335 as a starter) for totals of 7,120 points, 2399 rebounds, 548 steals, and 406 blocks speak of his good performance.

He also attended 2 All-Star games in the 5 and a half seasons he was with the California team. With his collaboration and contribution, the team played for a 180-271 record.

6 Randy Smith

Born in Bellport, New York, on December 12, 1948, this 6'3", 180-pound shooting guard had 12 career seasons in which he served 7 with the Buffalo Braves and 2 with the San Diego Clippers, being the all-time franchise leader in points scored (12735, 17.8 per game) and steals (1072, 1.9 per game), he is also second in assists (3498, 4.9 per game) and ninth in rebounds (2985, 4.2 per game).

5 DeAndre Jordan

The most consistent of the players who have played for the Los Angeles Clippers is undoubtedly center DeAndre Jordan.

Without being one of those so-called "determining" players, he has earned his place on this list thanks to his games played -750-, and his good averages of 10.7 rebounds, 9.4 points, and 1.7 blocks, complemented with 76.3 Win Shares and a 17.2 Value Over Replacement Player (fourth in franchise history). Jordan is the player with the most rebounds (7988) and most blocks (1277) in Clippers history.

4 Blake Griffin

The Rookie of the Year of the 2010-2011 season and also the first overall pick of the 2010 Draft, the sensational Blake Griffin, lived the best 8 of his first 15 seasons in the NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers.

He made a terrific duo with Chris Paul, they managed to give another face to the ailing Clippers. 10,863 total points (second in franchise history) for 21.6 per game, 4,686 total rebounds for 9.3, and 2,133 assists for 4.1 per game attest to how effective he was in his time with the team.

3 Elton Brand

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Elton Brand was the first overall pick of the 1999 NBA Draft. He was selected by the Chicago Bulls, spent a couple of years with them, and joined the Clippers in 2001 at the age of 22.

He played seven seasons with the squad, recording a 23.4 Player Efficiency Rating, a 27.9 Value Over Replacement Player (second in franchise history), and per-game averages of 20.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.0 steal, and 2.3 blocks. Brand was a fantastic player, without a doubt.

2 Bob McAdoo

Bob McAdoo was a dominant center who played for the Buffalo Braves from 1972-1977, he even earned Rookie of the Year honors in 1973, complementing that award with MVP of the 1974-1975 campaign to show what he was made of.

6'9" and 210 pounds, with an athletic ability that gave him the opportunity to post 28.2 points, 12.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.8 blocks per game, with a Player Efficiency Rating of 22.8.

1 Chris Paul

The best player in the Los Angeles Clippers history is undoubtedly Chis Paul. Throughout six seasons, he recorded 18.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists, and 2.2 steals per game.

He is the franchise all-time leader in assists (4,023), VORP (36.8), Box Plus/Minus (8.5), Player Efficiency Rating (26.3), and Win Shares (78.2). He was also the MVP of the 2012-2013 season and the team under his leadership had a 313-163 record.