Los Angeles Clippers: 15 best draft picks of all-time
By John Buhler
In college for the Kansas Jayhawks, power forward Danny Manning willed the Kansas Jayhawks to a 1988 NCAA Championship over the Big Eight rival Oklahoma Sooners. Manning would win every major award in that 1988 NCAA season before the Clippers took him No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft later that summer.
Manning would have a lengthy, albeit injury-riddled NBA career over 15 seasons. He would be part of one of the strangest trades in NBA history where the Eastern Conference leading Atlanta Hawks would trade Dominique Wilkins and a first-round pick for Manning before the trade deadline. Before that 1994 deal, Manning had his best seasons as the star player for the Clippers.
Manning would make both of his trips to the All-Star Game in his final two seasons with the Clippers in 1992-93 and 1993-94. In six years with the Clippers, Manning averaged 19.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in 34.0 minutes per contest. Manning would go on to be NBA Sixth Man of the Year as a member of the 1997-98 Phoenix Suns.
He would retire after the 2002-03 NBA season as a member of the Detroit Pistons. Manning would play for seven NBA teams in his 15-year NBA career. After retiring, he immediately got into coaching. He would serve as an assistant for his alma mater Kansas in the 2000s before getting the Tulsa Golden Hurricane job in 2012. Manning is currently the head basketball coach for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the ACC.