Dominique Wilkins recently revealed a hilarious story about his short stint with the LA Clippers.
Former LA Clippers star Dominique Wilkins was recently a guest on NBA Inside Stuff 90’s Reunion when he revealed a hilarious story about a case of mistaken identity during his short time with the team.
Wilkins was traded to the Clippers from the Atlanta Hawks (along with a 1994 first-round draft pick) in exchange for Danny Manning on February 24, 1994. The former league scoring champion was not too happy about his new landing spot, and must not have done a lot of research on his new teammates before making the trip to Los Angeles.
We’ll let his words tell the story.
"“When I first got traded to the Clippers, I’m p****d off because I got traded,” Wilkins said. “I go in the locker room, I see this kid wearing a pair of Clippers shorts and a long t-shirt. And, again, I’m p****d off. I sit down and say, ‘Hey, ball boy. Go get me some socks.’ He said, ‘I ain’t no damn ball boy. I play on this team.’ I didn’t know.”"
In his anger, Wilkins had mistaken second-year point guard Randy Woods for one of the team’s ball boys.
In ‘Nique’s defense, Woods was not exactly a major presence on the floor for the Clippers. The five-foot-ten inch guard appeared in 40 games total that season, averaging a mere 8.8 minutes per contest.
“I never saw the kid play” Wilkins admitted.
We can only imagine the embarrassment Woods must have felt at being misidentified by his new teammate, who also happened to be one of the most exciting players in the NBA. Wilkins could have played it off as hazing a young player as the team’s new superstar if only he hadn’t addressed him as “ball boy.” We’re glad Woods was able to stand up for himself and not actually go and get Wilkins some socks.
Wilkins never cheered up about his trade to Los Angeles. He played the rest of the 1993-94 season with the Clippers, averaging 29.1 points per night in his 25 games with the team, before leaving to sign with the Boston Celtics.
Hopefully, he didn’t have any similar mishaps with any of the Celtics young players at the time.