1988-89

The franchise got lucky during the offseason. On May 21, 1988, the Clippers won the NBA Draft Lottery for the first time, and five weeks later the team used the No. 1 pick in the draft to select Danny Manning, a multitalented 6-10 forward from the University of Kansas. But Manning went down with a knee injury only 26 games into the 1988-89 season and was lost for the rest of the schedule. In Manning's absence the Clippers received strong contributions from rookie forward Charles Smith (16.3 ppg) and second-year forward Ken Norman (18.1 ppg). However, the Clippers continued to struggle. After 38 games Shue was replaced as head coach by Don Casey, who had coached nine seasons at Temple University and had then spent two years as an NBA assistant. With Casey at the helm the team went 11-33 to finish at 21-61 overall.