Clippers G League team to relocate, be rebranded as San Diego

A new version of the San Diego Clippers is coming back to the county.

Forty years after the NBA franchise departed for Los Angeles, the organization will bring its G League team to Oceanside starting later this year.

The Los Angeles Clippers and Frontwave Arena made the announcement in Oceanside Monday afternoon.

The G League is the NBA’s developmental wing, and for most of its history was called the NBA Developmental League or ‘D League’.

Frontwave Arena is the 7,500 seat facility that will serve as the home of the San Diego Sockers. The Sockers broke ground on the arena in May of 2021. It is scheduled to open in August of 2024.  

The Clippers established their G League squad in 2017 as the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario. Toyota Arena has been their home their entire existence.

San Diego was the Clippers’ NBA home for six seasons, from 1978-1984. Their first seasons was their only winning season during that run. Bill Walton played for his hometown team for parts of three seasons. The Clippers’ stint in San Diego also included the likes of World B. Free, Norm Nixon, Terry Cummings, Kermit Washington, Tom Chambers, Lionel Hollins, and Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant – the father of Kobe Bryant.

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When the franchise recently unveiled their new logo it included an image of a ship as a nod to its time in San Diego. The franchise originated in Buffalo, New York in 1970.

The current Clippers roster features two prominent ties to the city of San Diego. Five-time All-Star and two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard started for the Aztecs. The 32-year-old has played three seasons in Los Angeles. Lincoln High graduate Norman Powell won a title with Kawhi in Toronto in 2019, and came over in a trade to the Clips in 2022.

Powel was on hand for the announcement.

The Clippers are one of 31 G League squads. Teams play a 50-game schedule, which begins with a 16-game competition called the Showcase Cup. That lasts until late December and is followed by the primary portion of the league schedule – consisting of 34 games. From there the best six teams in the Eastern and Western conferences advance to the postseason.

According to the NBA, 55 percent of its players by the end of last season had spent time in the lower wing or had at one point been assigned to a G League roster. That list includes three-time All-Star and three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert; two-time All-Star Pascal Siakam; former Warriors guard Jordan Poole; All-Star guard Fred VanVleet, former Laker and three-time NBA champion Danny Green; and former Laker fan favorite Alex Caruso.

Former San Diego State guard Jordan Schakel earned a call-up to the Washington Wizards in March of 2022. Over the course of two seasons Schakel averaged 12.4 points while shooting 37 percent from deep. His work in the G League earned him appearances with the Wizards the last two NBA seasons.

Among the players who suited up in Ontario and played for the Clippers last season are Terance Mann, Amir Coffey, Moses Brown and Mouossa Diabate.

Other franchises in the region are the South Bay Lakers, Santa Cruz Warriors, Stockton Kings and the G League Ignite out of Henderson, Nevada.