The Los Angeles Clippers are still considered one of the worst franchises in NBA history, despite having some of the game's greatest players pass through the organization, including Bob McAdoo, Bill Walton, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard.
Through it all, the franchise has reached the Conference Finals just once. In the Rewritten Rings universe, however, things have been dramatically different.
As always, let's first look at the franchise's history before our timeline begins with the 1983–84 season.
The Clippers began their history as the Buffalo Braves in 1970–71, spending their first eight seasons in Buffalo. During that time, the franchise reached three consecutive Eastern Conference Semifinals from 1974–76, led by legendary coach Jack Ramsay and star Bob McAdoo.
The franchise appeared to be on the rise, but poor decision-making quickly changed its trajectory. Ramsay and McAdoo were gone, and the team headed west to San Diego, where they were renamed the Clippers.
The 1976 playoffs would be their last postseason appearance before our simulation began. In reality, the franchise wouldn't return to the playoffs until 1992, when a young Danny Manning led them back to the postseason, only for them to lose in the first round.
The first year of our simulation changed everything.
The Clippers won just 17 games, seemingly putting themselves in position for the No. 1 overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. But it wasn't their own record that gave them the top selection. The Philadelphia 76ers owned the Clippers' pick and ultimately ended up with the No. 2 selection.
Instead, the Clippers landed No. 1 because they owned the Seattle SuperSonics' pick, and Seattle had finished just ahead of them with 22 wins. Under the lottery system at the time, which was contested between the league's two worst records, the Clippers got lucky.
And they made the most of it.
With the No. 1 overall pick, the Clippers selected Akeem Olajuwon. In real life, their Seattle pick landed at No. 14, where they selected Michael Cage. Already, the Clippers' luck was beginning to change.
In his rookie season, Olajuwon helped the newly relocated Los Angeles Clippers reach the playoffs, where they fell in the first round to the Utah Jazz, who would eventually win the Western Conference.
The following season, the Clippers returned to the playoffs, but once again their run ended in the first round against the Jazz. Olajuwon brought them back for a third consecutive playoff appearance, and this time Los Angeles finally broke through, defeating Ralph Sampson and the Houston Rockets. Their run ended in the Conference Semifinals, however, when Olajuwon couldn't get the Clippers past the Showtime Lakers.
The next two seasons followed a familiar pattern. The Clippers once again made the playoffs, only to lose in the first round to the same opponent, this time Mark Aguirre and the Dallas Mavericks. Then came two consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance.
After his first seven seasons, Olajuwon had won just one playoff series. Was the Clippers curse real?
In reality, Olajuwon's career with Houston had gone much differently. With the Rockets, he had already reached the NBA Finals in just his second season. In Los Angeles, however, even a generational talent like Olajuwon couldn't immediately break through.
That all changed the following year when Dominique Wilkins signed with the Clippers.
The addition of Wilkins immediately changed the team's fortunes. Los Angeles returned to the Conference Semifinals that same season, but waiting for them were Ralph Sampson's Houston Rockets, who had become the defending champions. This time, Sampson and Houston got their revenge and ended the Clippers' run.
The following year, the duo of Olajuwon and Wilkins helped the Clippers finish with the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, and once again they reached the Semifinals. Once again, however, Magic Johnson and the Lakers stood in their way, and Los Angeles couldn't get past its crosstown rival.
The following season, the Lakers captured the West, while the Clippers finished third. After a letdown in the regular season, many fans expected another early playoff exit.
Instead, the Clippers caught a break.
The No. 7 Seattle SuperSonics upset their opponent in the previous round, giving Los Angeles a more favorable matchup in the Semifinals. The Clippers took advantage and finally advanced to the Western Conference Finals, decades before the franchise would accomplish the feat in real life.
Waiting for them were the No. 4 Portland Trail Blazers, while the No. 8 Houston Rockets had stunned the No. 1 Lakers on the other side of the bracket.
With homecourt advantage, the Clippers took care of business against Portland and advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history—something the real-life Clippers still have never accomplished.
For the first time during this postseason run, Los Angeles wouldn't have homecourt advantage. Standing across from them were the No. 1-seeded Washington Bullets, led by John Stockton and Clyde Drexler.
The series went all the way to Game 7.
The Clippers came through, winning on the road to capture the first championship in franchise history.
The curse was finally over.
Behind Akeem Olajuwon and Dominique Wilkins, the Clippers were champions.
The following offseason brought another major change. Wilkins left in free agency, and Los Angeles replaced him with Cliff Robinson. Despite the loss of one of their biggest stars, the Clippers finished fourth in the West and once again proved that they were more than a one-year wonder.
Come playoff time, the seed didn't matter.
The Clippers won their second consecutive championship, completing the back-to-back and establishing themselves as a legitimate NBA powerhouse.
In 1996, Los Angeles returned to the top of the Western Conference as the No. 1 seed, and expectations were sky-high. A three-peat appeared to be within reach.
Instead, Karl Malone and the San Antonio Spurs pulled off the upset in the Conference Semifinals.
The Clippers returned to the playoffs the following season as the No. 4 seed, and once again received some unexpected help when the No. 8 Phoenix Suns pulled off an upset in the first round. This time, however, the Cinderella story continued, as Phoenix eliminated the Clippers in the Semifinals.
The next three seasons marked the beginning of the end of this remarkable Clippers era. Los Angeles suffered two first-round playoff exits, while the franchise eventually made the difficult decision to trade away Olajuwon.
With the simulation now complete through the 2000 season, the Clippers have already accomplished something the real franchise has never done: they have won an NBA championship.
In fact, they've done it twice, reached the Finals, won back-to-back titles, and turned Olajuwon's career into something completely different from what we know in real NBA history.
The franchise that was once cursed in San Diego became a champion in Los Angeles.
Check back for future updates as we continue to rewrite the history of the Clippers and discover what comes next in this alternate basketball universe.
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