The best Clipper to wear no. 30

There have been editions of this series where no individual player has stood out head and shoulders above the rest, and we’ve made a judgement call. But I don’t think any number has been so uniquely blah in Clippers history as no. 30.

Fifteen players have donned this number for the franchise, none longer than two seasons. Five them are players whose NBA careers didn’t last more than 82 games. Six of them are players who landed on the Clippers as the last stop in their NBA career, and if they had been any good, it wouldn’t have been the last stop. The final four are all fairly unremarkable as well, a list including Bo Kimble, Harold Ellis, Reggie Evans (he just keeps coming up), and Mike Scott.

I couldn’t reasonably find a way to distinguish between these players, so I turned to a website called “Random Thing Picker”. As a result, Mike Scott is my best Clipper to wear no. 30, but feel free to select your own!

Any discussion of Scott’s tenure on the Clippers has to start with his unfiltered presence at media day in 2018, when he famously said the players on this team “wasn’t no b**ches”. His smile and head nod at the end are incredible, as is the fact this question followed up Scott shouting out Danilo Gallinari for letting him go off against the Clippers as a member of the Wizards the year before.

Scott was a fashion icon with the Clippers with his custom hockey jerseys, a style choice he made because it was easier than learning how to dress. Between Scott and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s departures, the Clippers fits have taken a turn for the worse this season.

At the end of last season, I was partial to Scott’s Los Angeles Kings attire, but new research has revealed a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey that really does the trick.

Scott had a middling 52-game stint with the Clippers, playing 14.4 minutes per game while shooting 39.1% from 3-point range. In theory, he could have been a small-ball five, but the Clippers didn’t have enough forwards to push him up a slot, especially not with three centers already on the roster in Marcin Gortat, Montrezl Harrell, and Boban Marjanovic.

My favorite on-court moment for Scott was when Doc Rivers used a three-big lineup with Scott, Trezz, and Boban against the Hawks. It was such a strange choice that was effective for one game and then never used again.

Scott will probably be best remembered among Clippers fans for being part of the trade that brought Landry Shamet and indirectly Ivica Zubac to Los Angeles, a strong legacy for such a player who didn’t even last a full season. He was also a hilarious locker room presence who constantly taunted Tobias Harris about his sartorial choices, and also how his alma mater Tennessee would have no chance against Virginia in the NCAA Tournament — Scott was prophetic in that regard.

Mike Scott made a lot of jokes in his time with this team, but he always took being a Clipper seriously. That makes him a worthy choice for the best Clipper to wear no. 30.