Three Octobers apart, under two franchise names, this club has lost every game played on this date. The current roster, rebuilt around Brandon Ingram and still missing him, opens its season five days from now against the Kings.
This date has only ever brought losses, under two franchise names.
On October 16, 1971, the Buffalo Braves lost 89-93 to Cleveland. Two years later, on October 16, 1973, the Braves lost 91-117 to the Knicks. The team moved to San Diego and became the Clippers in 1978, and on October 16, 1979, it lost again, 81-88 at Portland. Three rosters, three decades apart, the same date, the same outcome.
The franchise has reinvented itself before, and is doing it again this fall.
The Braves became the Clippers when owner John Y. Brown Jr. swapped franchises with Irv Levin in 1978, moving from Buffalo to San Diego. The team moved again to Los Angeles in 1984, then to Inglewood's Intuit Dome for the 2024-25 season. The newest reinvention landed September 14, 2026, when the Clippers sent Kawhi Leonard to Toronto for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and five draft picks, handing Tyronn Lue a roster built around Ingram, Darius Garland and Rui Hachimura.
Ownership turmoil shadowed the franchise before, and a version of it has returned.
Donald Sterling's ownership drew a $10,000 league fine, unpaid bills and a league push to strip his control before he moved the team to Los Angeles without approval in 1984. This time the trouble sits with the league's own ruling: the NBA fined the club $30 million and stripped its first-round picks from 2029 through 2033 over the Leonard dealings, suspending owner Steve Ballmer for a year along with executives Gillian Zucker and Lawrence Frank. John Gibson and Trent Redden run basketball operations on an interim basis, with no permanent hire reported.
The current roster carries its own unresolved questions into the opener.
Ingram has not played since a partially torn Achilles was diagnosed September 28, and Max Strus and Bradley Beal are both out as well, with no clearer timeline for either. Payroll runs to $193.7M, over the cap and short of the $200.4M luxury tax line, led by Garland's $42.2M and Ingram's $40.0M. The Clippers closed the preseason October 14 with a 122-110 win over Denver and open the regular season October 21 against the Kings.
Has this franchise ever played on October 16 before?
Yes, three times: losses to Cleveland in 1971 and New York in 1973 as the Buffalo Braves, and to Portland in 1979 as the San Diego Clippers.
What did the Clippers get for Kawhi Leonard?
The Clippers sent Leonard to Toronto on September 14, 2026, for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and five draft picks.
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From the archives · Sat, Oct 10A Preseason Game in Toronto Closes the Leonard Trade Loop
From the archives · Wed, Oct 7From Buffalo to Inglewood, the Ship Still Rebuilds Itself