Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers were founded as the Buffalo Braves in 1970, and their early years featured some promising basketball. Bob McAdoo, the explosive scoring forward, won three consecutive scoring titles (1974-76) and the 1975 MVP award, establishing himself as one of the most talented players of his era. But despite McAdoo's brilliance, the Braves never advanced deep in the playoffs.

The franchise relocated to San Diego in 1978, rebranding as the Clippers. The San Diego years were largely forgettable, with the team posting losing records and struggling to compete in a Western Conference dominated by the Lakers. World B. Free and Bill Walton (in a brief stint) provided flashes of talent, but the organization lacked the stability and resources to build a contender.

In 1981, Donald Sterling purchased the team - beginning an ownership era that would become synonymous with dysfunction, cheapness, and organizational incompetence that lasted over three decades.

Donald Sterling moved the Clippers to Los Angeles in 1984 without NBA permission, paying a fine rather than seeking approval. For the next three decades, the Clippers were the laughingstock of professional sports - consistently among the league's worst teams, playing in the Lakers' shadow, and hamstrung by an owner who prioritized profit over competitiveness.

The Sterling era produced a few bright spots: Danny Manning's brief brilliance after being drafted first overall in 1988, Loy Vaught's consistent play in the 1990s, and the emergence of Elton Brand and Corey Maggette in the early 2000s. But the franchise's inability to retain talent, invest in infrastructure, or build a winning culture made it a punchline.

The draft selections of Blake Griffin (first overall in 2009) and the acquisition of Chris Paul (in a 2011 trade) finally gave the Clippers genuine star power and set the stage for the franchise's first sustained period of success. But the Sterling stain would need to be removed before the Clippers could truly transform.

The pairing of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin created "Lob City" - a brand of basketball defined by Paul's pinpoint alley-oop passes and Griffin's thunderous dunks. Combined with DeAndre Jordan's rim-running athleticism, the Clippers became one of the most entertaining and successful teams in the Western Conference, winning 50 or more games in multiple seasons.

Lob City's fatal flaw was its inability to advance in the playoffs. The most devastating moment came in the 2015 Western Conference Semifinals against the Houston Rockets, when the Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead - a collapse that came to define the era. Despite regular-season excellence, the Clippers could never break through to the Conference Finals under coach Doc Rivers.

The era ended with Paul being traded to Houston in 2017 and Griffin being dealt to Detroit in 2018. Lob City had changed the perception of the Clippers from laughingstock to legitimate, but the championship breakthrough remained elusive.