LA Clippers: The best centers in franchise history
We count down the five best centers in the history of the LA Clippers franchise.
We conclude our series that counts down the best players at each position in LA Clippers history with a look at the greatest big men to ever lace up their sneakers for the franchise.
If you haven’t already read our previous lists, you can check out our top five point guards, shooting guards, small forwards, and power forwards now.
With apologies to Hall-of-Famer Bill Walton, who spent four injury-plagued seasons with the franchise we begin our countdown of the best centers in LA Clippers history here:
LA Clippers best centers in franchise history: 5) Chris Kaman
Chris Kaman gets the nod for the number five spot over Walton for his ability to be productive and relatively heathy over the course of his career with the team.
He was no slouch on the floor either, despite the fact that he was nicknamed The Caveman. The sixth overall pick in the 2003 draft enjoyed a statistically productive eight seasons with the Clippers, even earning and All-Star game nod for the 2009-10 season, in which he averaged 18.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
For his Clippers career, Kaman put up 11.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game over 493 total games. He ranks seventh all-time in rebounds for the franchise and fourth in blocks. He’s seventh all-time in both games played and minutes for the Clippers franchise.
Kaman was traded by the Clippers to the New Orleans Hornets as part of the package (along with Al-Farouq Aminu, Eric Gordon and a 2012 first round draft pick) to land the team superstar Chris Paul on December 14, 2011.
He would play one season in the Big Easy before spending single seasons with the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers. He would play the final two seasons of his 13-year NBA career with the Portland Trailblazers.