Los Angeles Clippers Trivia
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55 free Los Angeles Clippers trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This Los Angeles Clippers trivia quiz covers the whole strange saga: Bob McAdoo's Buffalo Braves losing their arena dates to a college team, the San Diego years with World B. Free and Bill Walton, Donald Sterling's unauthorised move to Los Angeles, the 12–70 'Clipper Triangle' season, Larry Brown, Elton Brand and Sam Cassell, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and Lob City, the Sterling tape and Steve Ballmer's $2 billion purchase, Kawhi and Paul George, and the move to the Intuit Dome. Expect easy questions on the arena, the nickname and the biggest names, plenty of history for regular fans, and hard ones about the Celtics ownership swap, the Anaheim deal Sterling turned down and the riot-relocated 1992 playoff game. Logos and City uniforms get their turn too. Every answer was checked against primary and encyclopaedic sources before it went in, so when you miss one you can trust the explanation. Play it solo or run it as a round at your next watch party. For the wider league, our NBA trivia page is the natural next stop.
30 of 55 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the name of the Clippers' Inglewood arena, opened for the 2024–25 season?
Intuit Dome
Intuit Dome ended 25 seasons of sharing a downtown arena with other teams; "We gotta have a house," owner Steve Ballmer said while planning it.
Q 02Which Hall of Fame centre led the NBA in scoring three straight seasons and won MVP for Buffalo in 1975?
Bob McAdoo
Bob McAdoo was traded to the Knicks in December 1976 as a new owner broke up the Braves, and later won two NBA titles in Los Angeles.
Q 03In which Canadian city did the Buffalo Braves stage 16 home games between 1971 and 1975?
Toronto
Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens took the games partly because hockey's Sabres and Canisius College had first call on dates at Buffalo's arena.
Q 04In 1978 Braves owner John Y. Brown swapped franchises with which team's owner, Irv Levin?
Boston Celtics
John Y. Brown traded the Braves for Irv Levin's Boston Celtics in 1978; Levin, who lived in Southern California, wanted a franchise nearer home and moved the Braves west.
Q 05Which guard finished second in NBA scoring in 1978–79, the Clippers' first season?
World B. Free
World B. Free, born Lloyd Free, later made his nickname his legal first name; his 28.8 points a game in 1978–79 trailed only George Gervin's 29.6.
Q 06Which San Diego native and former MVP signed with the Clippers in 1979 but was sidelined by foot injuries?
Bill Walton
Bill Walton played 14 games that season and none in the next two, yet recovered to win a second championship and the Sixth Man award in 1986.
Q 07Donald Sterling, who bought the Clippers in 1981, made his fortune in which business?
Real estate
Real estate made Sterling rich: a lawyer by training, he bought up Los Angeles property when it was cheap, then bought the Clippers from Irv Levin.
Q 08Sterling was fined a record $10,000 for saying the Clippers would lose enough to draft which player?
Ralph Sampson
Ralph Sampson stayed in college another year, so the Clippers, picking second in 1982, took Terry Cummings, who won Rookie of the Year; the fine was the NBA's largest yet for an owner.
Q 09Which arena became the Clippers' home after their unapproved 1984 move?
L.A. Sports Arena
The L.A. Sports Arena took them in after Sterling, emboldened by the Raiders' court win over the NFL, moved without a vote and sued the NBA for $100 million when it objected.
Q 10The 1986–87 Clippers went 12–70, the fewest wins in a full NBA season since which team's 9–73?
76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers' 9–73, set in 1972–73, remained the low mark; the Clippers played all season without guard Norm Nixon, who had wrecked his knee that summer.
Q 11Which Hall of Famer served as the Clippers' general manager for 22 years from 1986?
Elgin Baylor
Elgin Baylor was Executive of the Year in 2006, but after leaving in 2008 he sued the Clippers, claiming he was forced out over his age; a jury rejected the suit in 2011.
Q 12Which coach, hired mid-1991-92, gave the Clippers their first winning season in 13 years?
Larry Brown
Larry Brown, fired by San Antonio weeks earlier, went 23–12 to finish 45–37 and take the Clippers to their first playoffs in 16 years.
Q 13Where was Game 4 of the Clippers' 1992 first-round series played because of the Los Angeles riots?
Anaheim Convention Center
Q 21The 2011 first-round pick the Clippers sent to Cleveland with Baron Davis became which No. 1 pick?
Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving came from the pick the Clippers sent away with Baron Davis in February 2011, which went on to win the draft lottery; in return they got Mo Williams and Jamario Moon.
Q 22From which team did the Clippers acquire Chris Paul in December 2011, days after the NBA vetoed another trade for him?
New Orleans Hornets
The New Orleans Hornets were owned by the NBA itself at the time, which is how commissioner David Stern was able to veto a deal with another club days earlier.
Q 23Which Clippers centre verbally agreed to join Dallas in 2015, then re-signed with the Clippers?
DeAndre Jordan
The Anaheim Convention Center stood in, and the Clippers won there 115–107 to level the series before losing the deciding fifth game on the road a day later.
Q 14Which star did the Clippers acquire from Atlanta in February 1994 in a trade for Danny Manning?
Dominique Wilkins
Dominique Wilkins came from the Hawks for Danny Manning in February 1994, averaged 29.1 points in 25 games, and left as a free agent that summer.
Q 15At which Orange County arena did the Clippers play some games from 1994 to 1999?
Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim
The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, home of hockey's Mighty Ducks, hosted a few Clippers games each season while Anaheim courted the team for a full-time move that never came.
Q 16Which centre did the Clippers take first overall in the 1998 draft?
Michael Olowokandi
Michael Olowokandi, a centre from the University of the Pacific, was taken ahead of future Hall of Famers Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce.
Q 17Which power forward did the Clippers acquire from Chicago in 2001 for the rights to Tyson Chandler?
Elton Brand
Elton Brand made two All-Star teams with the Clippers and led them to a playoff series win in 2006, then walked away as a free agent in 2008.
Q 18Which veteran point guard, acquired from Minnesota in 2005, helped the Clippers win a playoff series in 2006?
Sam Cassell
Sam Cassell, who already owned two championship rings, steadied a 47–35 team that ended the franchise's 30-year wait for a playoff series win.
Q 19Which young Clippers guard suffered a devastating knee dislocation in 2007 and missed more than a year?
Shaun Livingston
Shaun Livingston damaged almost every part of his left knee, yet recovered to win three championships with Golden State in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
Q 20Whom did the Clippers select first overall in the 2009 draft?
Blake Griffin
Blake Griffin broke his left kneecap in the final preseason game and missed the whole season, then won Rookie of the Year in 2011.
DeAndre Jordan agreed to a four-year, $80 million deal with Dallas in July 2015, then changed his mind days later and re-signed with the Clippers after teammates camped at his home to talk him round.
Q 24Which team did the Clippers beat 99–98 in a 2012 playoff opener after trailing by 21 points entering the fourth quarter?
Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies were outscored 35–13 in the final quarter, and the Clippers went on to win the series in seven games, taking Game 7 on the road as well.
Q 25What nickname did the Clippers earn in the era when they won a franchise-record 17 straight games in 2012?
Lob City
Lob City took hold after the December 2011 trade for an elite passer; a year later the team won 17 in a row, including a perfect 16–0 December.
Q 26Which coach did the Clippers acquire from Boston in 2013 for a first-round pick?
Doc Rivers
Doc Rivers cost the Clippers an unprotected 2015 first-round pick, a rare trade for a coach, and won 57 games in his first season in charge.
Q 27Which team did the Clippers rout 142–94 in March 2014?
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers were officially the home team that night at the arena the clubs shared, and the 48-point loss was the heaviest in their history to that point.
Q 28Which website first published the April 2014 recording of Donald Sterling's racist remarks?
TMZ
TMZ posted a nine-minute tape of Sterling's remarks to V. Stiviano; before their next playoff game the players wore their warm-up shirts inside out to hide the Clippers logo.
Q 29Which NBA commissioner banned Donald Sterling for life in 2014, three months into the job?
Adam Silver
Adam Silver also fined Sterling $2.5 million, the most the NBA's constitution allowed, and urged the other owners to force a sale of the team.
Q 30For how much did Steve Ballmer buy the Clippers in 2014?
$2 billion
Steve Ballmer's $2 billion was a record price for an NBA team; the Seattle resident promised to keep the Clippers in Los Angeles despite talk that he would move them north.