1998–99 Los Angeles Clippers season

Arrowhead Pond Fox Sports West 2 (Ralph Lawler, Bill Walton) (Rory Markas)

The 1998–99 Los Angeles Clippers season was the 29th season for the Los Angeles Clippers in the National Basketball Association, and their 15th season in Los Angeles, California. Due to a lockout, the regular season began on February 5, 1999, and was cut from 82 games to 50.

This was also the final season where the team played at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, and played occasional home games at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California. The Clippers won the NBA draft lottery, and selected center Michael Olowokandi out of Pacific University with the first overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft, and signed free agents Sherman Douglas, and undrafted rookie small forward Tyrone Nesby in the off-season.

However, the Clippers still struggled under new head coach Chris Ford, losing their first 17 games of the regular season, tying the 1988–89 Miami Heat for the then-worst start in NBA history (later on broken by the 2009–10 New Jersey Nets, who lost their first 18 games of the regular season). During the mid-season period, the team signed second-year guard Troy Hudson in March. The Clippers lost 30 of their first 33 games of the season, then lost their final six games, finishing in last place in the Pacific Division with an awful 9–41 record; they tied the 1972–73 Philadelphia 76ers for the fourth-lowest win total for a season behind the 1998–99 Vancouver Grizzlies, the 2011–12 Charlotte Bobcats, and the 1947–48 Providence Steamrollers.

Second-year forward Maurice Taylor showed improvement becoming the team's starting power forward, averaging 16.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, and also finishing in seventh place in Most Improved Player voting, while Lamond Murray played a sixth man role off the bench, averaging 12.2 points per game. In addition, three-point specialist Eric Piatkowski contributed 10.5 points per game, and led the Clippers with 65 three-point field goals, while Nesby provided the team with 10.1 points and 1.5 steals per game, and Olowokandi averaged 8.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. Meanwhile, Douglas contributed 8.2 points and 4.1 assists per game, while Darrick Martin contributed 8.0 points and 3.9 assists per game, Rodney Rogers provided with 7.4 points per game off the bench, and Lorenzen Wright averaged 6.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

For the sixth consecutive year, the Clippers finished last in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 256,568 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena during the regular season, which was 29th in the league. Following the season, Murray was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, while Rogers signed as a free agent with the Phoenix Suns, Wright was dealt to the Atlanta Hawks, Douglas re-signed with the New Jersey Nets, Martin signed with the Sacramento Kings, and Pooh Richardson was released to free agency.