Since their inception as the Buffalo Braves in 1970, the Los Angeles Clippers have been defined by their dysfunction and futility. They’ve never made an NBA FInals but they have had an owner removed for being a racist.
LA’s other basketball team has mastered the art of racking up L’s both on and off the court. If there’s a way to lose a game, they’ll find it. If there’s a terrible trade to make, they’re all in. If there’s an overpriced free agent on the market, sign them up. The Clippers are so snakebitten that even when they’re successful, such as during the Lob City years, they still manage to break fans’ hearts.
The 2025-26 Clippers are no exception. Despite starting the season with a deep roster and playoff aspirations, they’re near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. But where does the disappointment rank in Clippers history? After all, some seasons are more humiliating than others. These are the Ten Most Depressing Season in Los Angeles Clippers History.
10.2006-07: The Shaun Livingston Injury
The Clippers entered the 2006-07 season with high hopes after securing their first playoff berth in nine seasons and winning a playoff series for the first time since 1975. But the optimism proved fleeting. The Clippers reverted to form the following season. Despite finishing with a respectable record (40-42, ninth place in the Western Conference), the 2006-07 campaign was an unmitigated disaster.
On February 26, 2007, Shaun Livingston, the Clippers’ promising 21-year-old point guard suffered a catastrophic knee injury during a game against the Charlotte Bobcats, tearing his ACL, PCL, MCL, both menisci, dislocating his kneecap, and injuring his tibia/femur. The damage was so severe that doctors considered amputation because of artery damage. Livingston would never play another game for the Clippers but would later win three NBA Championships with the Golden State Warriors.
9.1985-86: Sam Dunk
There were plenty of changes for the Clippers entering the 1985-86 campaign, their second season in Los Angeles after new owner Donald Sterling relocated the team from San Diego. They traded Bill Walton, their oft-injured starting center, to the Boston Celtics for Cedric Maxwell, and replaced Big Red with rookie center Benoit Benjamin. (True to form, the Clippers passed on future Hall of Famers Chris Mullin and Karl Malone to select Benjamin third overall.)
The team also had a new mascot, Sam Dunk, a creepy character in red, white, and blue Clippers gear who looked like Statler from the Muppets on HGH. Throughout the season, one thing remained the same though: the Clippers stayed losing. Despite the presence of 1986 All-Star (and future White Men Can’t Jump co-star) Marques Johnson and former Lakers great Norm Nixon, the Clippers posted a 32-50 record, a one game improvement from the previous season, setting a tone for decades of failure in LA.
8.2015-16: A Playoff Collapse
For the first time since arriving in Los Angeles, the Clippers had surpassed big brother. While the Lakers looked backwards (their entire 2015-16 season was centered around Kobe Bryant’s retirement tour), the Clippers focused on the present, turning LA into “Lob City.” Featuring an exciting core—Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan—and a head coach, Doc Rivers, with championship pedigree, the Clippers finished 53-29, good for the 4 seed. But their championship dreams quickly came to a screeching half against the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round. After racing out to a 2-0 series lead, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin suffered back-to-back season-ending injuries in Games 4 and 5, leading to an abrupt four-game collapse.
7.2025-26: Salary Cap Scandals and Failed Farewells
After signing injury-prone Bradley Beal, 37-year-old Brook Lopez, and trading for John Collins in the offseason, the Clippers were once again regarded as a top contender in the Western Conference. But before the season commenced, team owner Steve Ballmer was accused of salary cap circumvention through an endorsement deal with a now-bankrupt company named Aspiration. In April 2022, Leonard, through his company KL2 Aspire LLC, inked a four-year, $28 million deal with Aspiration, a financial services start-up that was also a Clippers team sponsor and in which Ballmer had invested $50 million.
Facing serious allegations, the oldest team in the league looked their collective age from the start, stumbling out of the gate with a 6-21 record. Beal would only play six games before suffering a season-ending left hip fracture. Even Chris Paul’s return to the Clippers for his final farewell deteriorated as the Clippers botched their reunion with the Point God. Twenty one games into Paul’s farewell tour, the Clippers released the best player in franchise history in the dead of night. So far, the Clippers haven’t faced any karmic payback for humiliating Paul. They’ve won seven of eight games heading into their current three-game road trip. But the most depressing aspect of this season lies ahead. The Oklahoma City Thunder own the Clippers' unprotected 2026 first round pick as a result of the Paul George trade.
6.2020-21: Playoff P Falls Short
In the spring of 2021, the Clippers advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history. The resilient Clips became the first team in NBA history to battle back from an 0-2 deficit twice in the postseason after comeback wins against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round and in the Western Conference semifinals against the Utah Jazz. For a moment there, they looked like a team of destiny even though Kawhi Leonard suffered a partially torn ACL against the Jazz that would end his season (and his 2021-22 campaign). But these are the Clippers, forever destined to fall short. Despite inspired performances from Paul George and Reggie Jackson, the Clippers lost in six games to the Phoenix Suns.
5.1998-99: The Kandi Man Kan't
With the NBA lockout pushing the season’s start date to early February, the Clippers didn’t resume their losing ways until a little later than usual. But once the season started on February 5—with a home loss against the Phoenix Suns—the Clippers could not stop losing. In fact, the Clippers started the lockout shortened NBA season, their final season at the rundown LA Memorial Sports Arena, with 17 consecutive defeats. They finally snapped the streak on March 11 at home against the Kings in front of 7,884, about half capacity. By that point, it was apparent that the Clippers had blown another draft.
A few months earlier, they’d bypassed future Hall of Famers Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, and Dirk Nowitzki (not to mention future All-Stars Antawn Jamison and Rashard Lewis) to select Michael Olowokandi with the first overall pick. A 7 '2 center from the University of Pacific, the Kandi Man proved that the Clippers’ scouting department was just as bad as its ownership. Olowokandi would be out of the league by 2007 due to chronic knee problems.
4.2019-2020: A Playoff Collapse, Pt. II
The Clippers entered the 2019-20 season with their highest expectations in franchise history. Kawhi Leonard, the prized free agent on the market, had just spurned the Lakers to sign with the Clippers. Los Angeles then traded a slew of first-round picks and some up-and-comer named Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Oklahoma City star Paul George. Considered instant title favorites, the Clippers finished the COVID-shortened regular season as the Western Conference's second seed. Then their bubble popped.
Once the season resumed inside the NBA Bubble in Disney World, the Clippers dispatched the Dallas Mavericks in the first round and took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals. Then, in one of the greatest playoff collapses in modern NBA history, the Clippers lost three straight games, blowing double-digit leads in all three potential closeout games. The collapse led to significant fallout: Head Coach Doc Rivers was fired and Paul George a.k.a. Playoff P was rechristened Pandemic P. It wasn’t the first time the Clippers squandered a 3-1 series lead.
3.1986-87: The Worst Team in Clippers History
The Clippers are familiar with the role of basement dwellers, but the 1986-87 season was a low point. With Don Chaney at the helm, the team finished an embarrassing 12–70, the worst winning percentage in team history (.146) and, at the time, the third worst winning percentage of all time. Veteran guard Norm Nixon missed the entire year with a ruptured tendon and star forward Marques Johnson suffered a career-threatening neck injury ten games into the season.
Of course, the Clippers were not rewarded for their futility. Despite possessing the league’s worst record, they dropped to fourth on lottery night and watched the Spurs earn the right to draft David Robinson with the first overall pick. The Clippers could’ve still selected a future Hall of Famer but bypassed Scottie Pippen for journeyman forward Reggie Williams.
2.2014-15: A Playoff Collapse, Pt. III
In the first full season under new owner Steve Ballmer, the “Lob City” Clippers didn’t disappoint—at first. As the three seed, the Clippers defeated the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in seven games following a clutch game-winner by Chris Paul. Then, in the next round, they were up 3-games-to-2 on the Rockets, and holding a 19-point lead late in the third quarter on their home floor. The Clippers seemed poised to exorcise their demons. But these are the Clippers we’re talking about.
With star James Harden on the bench, the Rockets outscored the Clippers 40-15 in the fourth quarter for an improbable 119-107 win. Naturally, after losing Game 6 in the most Clippers way possible, the Clippers went on to lose Game 7, 113-100.
1.2013-14: The Sterling Tapes
Donald Sterling was always considered one of the worst owners in NBA history. He was cheap and made bad decisions. But it was always an open secret that he was also a deplorable human being. Looking back, the Clippers' 2013-2014 season may have been their best shot at a championship. Under new head coach Doc Rivers, their "Lob City" core all in their prime, the Clippers posted a franchise-record 57-25 record. But during the first round of the playoffs against the Golden State Warriors, audio recordings of Sterling making racist remarks were leaked to the public. In the audio, Sterling chastised V. Stiviano, his alleged mistress, for publicly associating with Black people. He specifically told her "not to bring them to my games" and criticized her for posting an Instagram photo with Magic Johnson. “Don't bring him to my games," Sterling said before asking, "Why are you taking pictures with minorities? Why?”
As expected, Sterling’s racist commentary, confirmed years of racist allegations levied at him by players, team executives, and business associates alike, led to widespread condemnation and player protests; the Clippers wore their warm-up gear to conceal the team logo. Eventually, Sterling received a lifetime ban and a $2.5 million fine from the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and was forced to sell the team to Microsoft co-founder Steve Ballmer. Playing under the dark cloud of controversy, the Clippers fell in the Western Conference Semifinals to the Oklahoma City Thunder in six games.