LA Clippers News

Ranking Clippers Jerseys (San Diego edition)

The best color scheme in Clippers history

By BlakeHarris@BlakeHarrisTBLA Mar 26, 2020, 12:00pm PDT

The other day, I kicked off this series of jersey rankings by talking about the Buffalo Braves jerseys. Though there weren’t a whole lot, there were more than the number I’ll be going over today.

After eight years in Buffalo, the franchise moved to San Diego in 1978. Their tenure there was shorter than their time in New York, as they moved to Los Angeles six years later in 1984. With such a short stay in San Diego, we only got to see two uniforms from the team. In the last decade, the Clippers paid tribute to their San Diego days with two different uniforms.

Let’s rank em!

No. 4 — The sleeves

If these didn’t have sleeves, I might have ranked them the best. The NBA went through this phase where teams wore jerseys that had sleeves. I can kind of get what they were going for, as it is more appealing for a fan to wear something like this to a game as opposed to an actual jersey.

However, it was a fail. This fad quickly died out, and the era with the jersey sleeves came to an end.

Anyways, these paid tribute to the team’s time in San Diego with the baby blue. Here’s a snippet from Clipperholics as to the story behind these jerseys.

The “Back in Blue” brought back the light blue one featured on the jerseys of the San Diego Clippers. The jerseys were made as part of Adidas’ NBA Pride Uniform Collection and paid homage to the “Nautical Culture of Southern California.” The shorts of the uniform spelled out LAC in maritime flag signals, a feature that has been added to the team’s newest jerseys. The team wore the jerseys for Sunday home games and the uniform color way quickly became a favorite among fans who hated the short sleeve design.

It’s a shame we never got this edition without sleeves, because they easily would have been up there for my favorite Clippers jersey of all time.

No. 3 — 2018-2019 throwback

The Clippers wore these last season, as they were their “city edition” uniforms. It was the same logo the Clippers wore during the season, with a change in colors.

The baby blue was back, just like the previous one. However, this one was outlined with orange, the secondary color from when the team was in San Diego. This color combo looked so good for the Clippers, and I wish we could have seen it a bit more often. Not sure how big a fan I am of the color combo with the current logo and design, but nonetheless it still looked great.

No. 2 — Original baby blue

Throwing it back to where it originated. These were the away jerseys the Clippers wore during their six years in San Diego. Yes, I know, a rare site of Bill Walton in a Clippers uniform.. ah, what could have been.

These are simple, but oh so great. The baby blue looks so nice, along with the orange and white stipe going along the edge of the jersey. Though it’s simple, I really like the font of the letters and numbers. I wish the Clippers could have had this same design for their throwback instead of using their current logos.

Overall, these colors just work, and I love them. I’ll get to that a little more in the final jersey.

No. 1 — The home whites

Though I’m an absolute sucker for the baby blue jerseys, there simply isn’t anything that can top these. For six years, the Clippers wore these jerseys at home, and they’re perfect. As I mentioned earlier, I love the font for the numbers and letters.

The baby blue with the orange outline looks so clean, and the stripe that outlines the jersey is perfection.

For years, these have been my favorite jerseys the Clippers have worn. I have nostalgia for the jerseys from 2000-2010 because those were from when I grew up, but man would I love to see the Clippers eventually go back to these of some sort.

Years ago when they were going to rebrand, I had hoped they’d go back to these colors. Maybe one day I’ll get my wish. Until that day, I’ll just continue to appreciate these beauties.

What’s your favorite San Diego themed jersey? Comment below!