1987–88 Los Angeles Clippers season

The 1987–88 Los Angeles Clippers season was the 18th season for the Los Angeles Clippers in the National Basketball Association, and their fourth season in Los Angeles, California.^[1] After finishing with a dreadful 12–70 record the previous season, the Clippers received the fourth overall pick in the 1987 NBA draft, and selected small forward Reggie Williams out of Georgetown University; the team also selected center Joe Wolf from the University of North Carolina with the 13th overall pick, and selected small forward Ken Norman from the University of Illinois with the 19th overall pick.^[2][3][4] During the off-season, the team hired Gene Shue as their new head coach.

Under Shue, and with the addition of Williams, Wolf and Norman, the Clippers got off to an 8–12 start to the regular season, but then posted an 11-game losing streak between December and January afterwards, and later on held a 10–32 record at the All-Star break.^[5] In February, the team signed free agent Greg Kite, who was previously released by the Boston Celtics, and later on signed undrafted rookie small forward Eric White in March. The team posted two seven-game losing streaks between January and February, then posted a 10-game losing streak in March, and lost their final seven games of the season. The Clippers finished in last place in the Pacific Division with a league-worst 17–65 record.^[6]

Mike Woodson averaged 18.0 points, 3.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game, while Michael Cage averaged 14.5 points, 13.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, and Quintin Dailey contributed 13.4 points per game. In addition, Benoit Benjamin provided the team with 13.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game, while White provided with 10.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in 17 games, Williams contributed 10.4 points per game, but only played just 35 games due to injury, and Larry Drew averaged 10.3 points and 5.2 assists per game. Meanwhile, Norman averaged 8.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game, Wolf provided with 7.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, but only appeared in just 42 games due to injury, Darnell Valentine contributed 7.1 points, 4.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game, Kite averaged 5.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game in 40 games, and Earl Cureton provided with 4.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.^[7]

The Clippers finished 22nd in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 345,589 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena during the regular season, which was the second-lowest in the league.^[7][8] Following the season, Woodson signed as a free agent with the Houston Rockets,^[9][10][11] while Cage was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics,^[12][13][14] and Drew left to play overseas in Italy.^[15] Meanwhile, Valentine was left unprotected in the 1988 NBA expansion draft, where he was selected by the Miami Heat expansion team, who then traded him to the Cleveland Cavaliers,^[16][17][18] Cureton signed with the Charlotte Hornets expansion team, and White was released to free agency.

For the season, the Clippers changed their uniforms, wearing red road jerseys for the first time in franchise history; the team would wear red road uniforms until 2017.