The LA Clippers' All-Time Non-Prime Team
The LA Clippers don't have a glorious history. With just 11 playoff appearances since the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1984, it's fair to say that there hasn't been a lot of star power on these rosters — at least, not while those stars were in their prime.
LA has had a surprising number of All-Stars and Hall of Famers suit up in Clippers gear, but more often than not, it was well before or well after that player enjoyed their best years in the NBA. Guys like Bill Walton come to mind, who was supposed to be in his prime when the Clippers acquired him in 1979 but ended up missing a significant amount of time due to injuries.
To create this list, we dug through a list of every player that's ever appeared in a game for the franchise — including the Buffalo Bills and San Diego Clippers — and picked out five names that will either make you scratch your head or bring back bad memories.
This is the LA Clippers' All-Time Non-Prime Team.
Guard: Chauncey Billups
Career Accolades: 5x All-Star, 3x All-NBA, 2x All-Defensive, 2004 NBA Champion and Finals MVP
Mr. Big Shot has all the makings of a Hall of Fame career: A great nickname, plenty of honors to his name, and a championship ring on his finger. He's a beloved figure by fans of the Detroit Pistons, the franchise he played six seasons for and won a title with. Billups returned to the Pistons for the 2013-2014 campaign at age 37, but before that, he was a member of the LA Clippers for two seasons.
Billups played for the Clippers from 2011-2013 alongside Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. His first season got off to a great start, as he averaged 15.0 points per game and shot 38.4% from three-point range in his first 20 games.
Unfortunately, those would be the only 20 games Billups would play that year, as he tore his Achilles and was forced to sit out for the remainder of the season.
He returned to Los Angeles on a one-year deal the following season, but he struggled to find consistent time on the court due to various other injuries. He appeared in 22 regular-season games and all six of LA's playoff games against the Memphis Grizzlies, averaging 8.4 points and 2.2 assists per game.
Billups received the first-ever Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award after the season and never played another game for the Clippers, though he does serve as the team's primary color analyst in television broadcasts.
Guard: Grant Hill
Career Accolades: Hall of Fame (Inducted 2018), 7x All-Star, 5x All-NBA, 1995 Rookie of the Year
Like Billups, Hill arrived in Los Angeles well after his prime. He was named an All-Star in six of his first seven seasons from 1994-2001, but didn't end up in an LA Clippers uniform until the 2012-2013 season. By then, Hill was already 40 years old and on a steady decline.
He was the third wing on the team behind Matt Barnes and Caron Butler, which severely limited his playing time. In addition to playing the 3, Hill was also used at the 2 and 4.
Hill suffered a bone bruise in the preseason that kept him out for an extended period during the regular season, delaying his debut to mid-January. He appeared in just 29 games throughout the season, averaging 3.2 points and 1.7 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game.
Hill would go on to retire that summer.
Forward: Paul Pierce
Career Accolades: 10x All-Star, 4x All-NBA, 2008 NBA Champion and Finals MVP
Pierce's tenure with the LA Clippers was forgettable, and one that plagued Doc Rivers' term as president of basketball operations.
Pierce is known best for his time in Boston, where he spent his first 15 seasons playing for the Celtics. He won a title there under Rivers in 2008 and was named Finals MVP after averaging 21.8 points, 6.3 assists and 4.5 rebounds against the Los Angeles Lakers.
He was traded by the Celtics to the Brooklyn Nets after the 2013 season, and after a year there, he signed with the Washington Wizards in free agency. He was relatively successful there, and even hit a now-famous game-winning shot in a playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks.
Pierce joined the Clippers before the 2015-2016 season, and though he was reunited with his old coach, he barely resembled the player he was with the Celtics.
In two seasons with LA, Pierce averaged a combined 5.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game. Of course, he was almost 40 by the time the second season ended, so he wasn't expected to be a game-changer.
Pierce announced his retirement before the 2016-2017 season and typically received a warm reception from fans on the road. His final game in Boston was particularly emotional.
Forward: Dominique Wilkins
Career Accolades: Hall of Fame (Inducted 2006), 9x All-Star, 7x All-NBA, 1986 Scoring Champion, 1983 All-Rookie
It might come as a surprise to some that Wilkins, who is known almost exclusively for his time as a member of the Atlanta Hawks, suited up for the LA Clippers during his NBA career.
He was traded from Atlanta to Los Angeles during the 1993-1994 season in exchange for Danny Manning, who was in the midst of his sixth season with the Clippers.
Wilkins, now 34, still had some good years left in him, and that showed on the court. In 25 games for the Clippers, he averaged 29.1 points and 7.0 rebounds in 37.9 minutes per game. That said, Wilkins' play was about the only thing the team had going for it at the time, as the Clippers went 9-16 during his tenure.
Neither Wilkins nor Manning would re-sign with the teams they were traded to after the season came to an end.
Wilkins wouldn't retire for another five years, but he spent two of those years overseas playing in other professional leagues.
Center: Moses Malone
Career Accolades: Hall of Fame (Inducted 2001), 13x All-Star, 8x All-NBA, 6x Rebounding Leader, 3x MVP, 2x All-Defensive, 1983 NBA Champion and Finals MVP
Malone is the rare case in which the franchise had a player before his prime.
After spending two years in the American Basketball Association with the Utah Stars, Malone was selected with the fifth pick in the 1976 ABA Dispersal Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. Soon after, he was traded to the Buffalo Braves.
Malone would go on to appear in just two games for the Braves before being traded to the Houston Rockets, where his career took off.
During his six seasons with the Rockets, Malone averaged 24.0 points and 15.0 rebounds per game, leading the league in total rebounds three times. He was named an All-Star in each of the next 12 seasons, winning an NBA title with the Philadelphia 76ers along the way.
Malone retired after the 1995 season and still ranks near the top of some of the NBA's all-time leaderboards. He ranks fifth in total rebounds with 16,212, ninth in scoring with 27,409 and first in offensive rebounds with 6,731 — over 2,000 more than Robert Parish, who ranks second with 4,598.
Had Malone not been traded, he could have become one of the most prolific players in franchise history.
