Sports Talk

[Robo Jock]

The Clippers Curse continues.  This has been going on for decades since they left Buffalo in the 1970s.  I asked AI to give a summary:

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The "Clipper Curse" is one of the most famous superstitions in American sports, summarizing decades of severe draft busts, horrific injuries to star players, executive dysfunction, and historic playoff collapses.

While the franchise originally started as the Buffalo Braves in 1970, the curse is widely tracked back to 1978 when the team relocated to San Diego and renamed themselves the Clippers. Misfortune struck almost immediately: marquee signing Bill Walton suffered devastating, recurring foot fractures, setting off a 30-year downward spiral of bad luck. Infamous owner Donald Sterling then bought the team in 1981, ran it with notorious cheapness, and controversially moved the team to Los Angeles in 1984 without league approval, anchoring the team as a permanent second-fiddle to the Lakers.

The "Lob City" Meltdown

For decades, the curse manifested in horrific knee injuries to top draft picks like Danny Manning and Blake Griffin. However, its most heartbreaking modern chapter occurred during the high-flying "Lob City" era.

In the 2015 NBA Playoffs, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, and the Clippers seemed poised to finally shatter the curse. They advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals and built a dominant 3-1 series lead over the Houston Rockets. What followed was an epic collapse. In Game 6, the Clippers famously blew a 19-point second-half lead at home to a Rockets team whose superstar, James Harden, was benched. The Clippers went on to lose Game 7, becoming a premier symbol of postseason choking. Subsequent playoff runs for Griffin and Paul were routinely derailed by perfectly timed, season-ending injuries.

The Nuclear Sanctions of 2026

Just when fans thought Steve Ballmer's multi-billion dollar investment and a brand new arena would permanently bury the past, the curse struck back with an unprecedented front-office disaster.
On September 2, 2026, the NBA concluded a massive, year-long salary cap circumvention investigation regarding how the team originally signed Kawhi Leonard. The league dropped what experts are calling a "modern death sentence" on the franchise:

• 5 Lost First-Round Picks: The Clippers must completely forfeit their first-round draft selections for five consecutive years—every single draft from 2029 through 2033.
  
• Executive Suspensions: Owner Steve Ballmer is suspended for one year, President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker is suspended for one year, and President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank is suspended for six months.
  
• Massive Fines: The franchise was slapped with a $30 million fine, while Kawhi Leonard himself was fined $700,000.
  

Losing a decade's worth of draft autonomy ensures the shadow of the Clipper Curse will linger over the franchise for years to come.