The Clippers Basketball Team Are (Sort of) Returning to San Diego
There will soon be a new version of the San Diego Clippers, with the basketball team planning on bringing a new team to the region’s North County.
Although the Clippers are currently based in Los Angeles, they actually originated in San Diego. In fact, the team played six seasons in America’s Finest City before moving to L.A. in 1984.
Now, the Clippers are planning to bring its G League team to Oceanside, California in North San Diego County, according to NBC News. That marks a big move for San Diego basketball.
The team will play at Frontwave Arena, which is a 7,500-seat facility that is slated to be the home of the San Diego Sockers — a professional indoor soccer franchise. The Sockers broke ground on the arena in 2021, and the facility is slated to open later this year.
The G League is the minor league development arm of the NBA. In fact, prior to 2017, it was actually known as the NBA Development League (or D-League).
For their part, the Clippers formed their G League team in 2017 as the Agua Caliente Clippers playing out of Ontario. Since then, the team has been playing at Toyota Arena, east of Los Angeles.
Now, the Clippers are moving the G League team to Oceanside in San Diego County. The new logo for the team even calls back to the team’s original logo, with an image of a ship forming the basis of the decal. (The Clippers are named after the sailing ships synonymous with San Diego Bay.)
The newly minted San Diego Clippers would be far from the only sports team being established in the area. Other teams starting up in the region include the San Diego FC Major League Soccer team and the San Diego Mojo, a professional women’s volleyball team.
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