1989–90 Los Angeles Clippers season

The 1989–90 Los Angeles Clippers season was the 20th season for the Los Angeles Clippers in the National Basketball Association, and their sixth season in Los Angeles, California.^[1] The Clippers received the second overall pick in the 1989 NBA draft, and selected power forward Danny Ferry out of Duke University.^[2][3][4] However, Ferry refused to play for the Clippers, and left to play overseas in Italy;^[5][6] this would force General Manager Elgin Baylor into trading Ferry, along with Reggie Williams to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Ron Harper in November.^[7][8][9] During the off-season, the team signed free agent David Rivers.

After a 12–18 start to the regular season, the Clippers won six of their next seven games, and were approaching .500 in winning percentage with an 18–19 record as of January 20, 1990. However, the team continued to struggle and held a 21–26 record at the All-Star break.^[10] At mid-season, the team acquired Winston Garland in a trade with the Golden State Warriors.^[11][12][13] The Clippers posted a seven-game losing streak in February, and lost their final five games of the season, finishing in sixth place in the Pacific Division with a 30–52 record;^[14] the team missed the NBA playoffs for the 14th consecutive year.^[1]

Harper averaged 23.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game, but only played just 28 games after the trade due to a knee injury, while second-year star Charles D. Smith averaged 21.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game, and second-year star and last season's top draft pick, Danny Manning, provided the team with 16.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. In addition, Ken Norman contributed 16.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, while Benoit Benjamin provided with 13.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game, and second-year guard Gary Grant contributed 13.1 points, 10.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game. Meanwhile, Garland averaged 10.9 points and 5.2 assists per game in 28 games, second-year guard Tom Garrick provided with 7.0 points, 4.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game, rookie shooting guard and second-round draft pick, Jeff Martin, contributed 6.3 points per game, Joe Wolf averaged 4.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, and Rivers provided with 4.2 points and 3.0 assists per game.^[15]

The Clippers finished 23rd in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 486,621 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena during the regular season, which was the fifth-lowest in the league.^[15][16] Following the season, Wolf signed as a free agent with the Denver Nuggets, while Rivers was released to free agency, and Don Casey was fired as head coach.

For the season, the Clippers slightly redesigned their home and road uniforms, changing the side panels, outlines and waistband above their shorts, and replacing the city name "Los Angeles" with the team name "Clippers" on the front of their road jerseys; these uniforms would remain in use until 2000.^[17][18]