The Los Angeles Clippers have been around since 1970, and have largely been an irrelevant NBA franchise. They moved from Buffalo to San Diego to LA, and have only made the western conference finals once in their entire history. A laughing stock, a punching bag and perpetually known as the little brother to the Lakers, the Clippers never had much to celebrate, and instead had only controversy surrounding them for a good long while.
But things have been on the upswing ever since former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer bought the team. They added some MVPs in James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard, and now the team is getting a new stadium next season. In anticipation of the move to Intuit Dome and making it their new home, away from the Crypto.com Arena where the Lakers play, it seemed like the perfect time for the team to introduce a new logo, color scheme, court design and jersey for all of the dozens of Clipper fans out there. Here's what they went with.
The facts
Earlier this morning, ESPN's Zach Lowe published a full breakdown on the team's long-running plans to re-do their brand and image. While they didn't want to change the name, they did lean into a Clipper being an old ship, and went full-on high sea navigator with the theme.
Exclusive at ESPN: The Clippers full-scale rebranding is finally here -- new logos, uniforms, everything but the name (and they thought about that, too): https://t.co/4SlV7H93zA
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) February 26, 2024
Finally! @LAClippers lose that terrible logo and get themselves some regular season good looking unis https://t.co/0nT733UOgX
— Paul Scheer (@paulscheer) February 26, 2024
Does It Work?
I quite like this new direction. The navy blue, the naval academy feel and the coordinates on the court makes much more sense than the previous logo, which was just a big "C" inside of a basketball. With this, you at least know that a Clipper is a boat. I also appreciate the "C" being a compass, and the red jerseys look quite fetching. There are little nautical flags on the sides of the jerseys, it's a very clever redesign all told.
What Everyone Else Thinks
The hardcore fans seem to love it (like actor and comedian Paul Scheer), but there is always the derision and mocking that's associated with league's black sheep. Some people just took this as an opportunity to clown on the new logo and jersey, which is their right as trolls.
“Let’s be the Wizards but throw a boat on it” https://t.co/QWdUVB7or8
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) February 26, 2024
the new clippers logo looks like someone is aiming a rifle scope at a boat, which feels like the wrong energy when the boat is your team
— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) February 26, 2024
This is really clever design. They worked in a clipper ship, the “C” for Clippers and a basketball into the logo, and it’s still ass https://t.co/bjkoVDtckz
— Two-piece Advocate (@frazierapproves) February 26, 2024
De’Aaron Fox beat down the Clippers so bad that LA needed new uniforms 😤
— Greg (@gwiss) February 26, 2024
Say what you want about the Clippers logo but they make a great breakfast sandwich https://t.co/FpT9Djg23c pic.twitter.com/IYiPnohzaP
— Chris OIIey (@chrisoIIey) February 26, 2024
Clippers again miss the opportunity to rebrand with this elite logo https://t.co/EJkEsW2WG0 pic.twitter.com/v9xLahiDBF
— Chris Hassel (@Hassel_Chris) February 26, 2024
The Clippers should’ve just used @nba_paint’s logos tbh pic.twitter.com/lC6U5BJp9M
— Cameron Tabatabaie (@CTabatabaie) February 26, 2024
90s babies and older will understand..
— Mo Mooncey (@TheHoopGenius) February 26, 2024
this should be the Clippers logo, esp as they’re owned by the CEO of Microsoft pic.twitter.com/CXQdzDHiiD
[Image: KTLA 5/YouTube]
