The Boston Clippers and Los Angeles Celtics (from a Lakers fan Blog)

[JSD]

"Technically, the Braves' franchise is playing home games in the Boston Garden while the Celtics' franchise is on the West Coast. You want proof?  Clippers' owner Donald Sterling was still writing out checks to fulfill the contract of John Havlicek during the mid-1980's."

                                       -- Boston Globe's commentary from 1992

 This is the story, somehow lost and forgotten through the annals of NBA history.

Once upon time, before most of you “Celtic Fans” were born, during the 1977-78 season while the Braves were struggling on the court,  Celtics owner Irv Levin wanted to move his franchise to California. However, the NBA would not allow him to take the cornerstone franchise out of Boston. NBA lawyer David Stern offered a compromise in which Levin and Brown would swap franchises, so that Levin could take over the Braves and move them to San Diego.

As Paul Westphal, a former member of the Celtics remembers it, the franchise swap was not widely reported, and fans of either club were not really privy to what was happening behind the scenes. Westphal remembers that the move was somewhat masked by a trade between the teams that sent Nate Archibald, Marvin Barnes, Billy Knight and future draft choices from San Diego to Boston in exchange for Kermit Washington, Kevin Kunnert, Sidney Wicks and the draft rights to Freeman Williams.

Westphal said when he signed a contract with the Celtics, he had money deferred to him for the first 10 years after he retired from basketball.

Since the owners traded franchises, that deferred money became the responsibility of the Clippers, and being Levin's debt, it eventually became Sterling's debt http://assets.espn.go.com/nba/columns/hughe
s/1164180.html.

If the Celtics are really the Clippers and vice versa, what are the ramifications of the 1985 trade in which Cornbread Maxwell went from Boston to Los Angeles for Bill Walton?

Did the Boston Celtics really win any NBA titles after 1976?

Was Bird really a Clipper?

Because in June of 1978, the owner of the Buffalo Braves, John Y. Brown, and the owner of the Boston Celtics, Irving H. Levin, swapped franchises http://lexnihilnovi.blogspot.com/2008/07/do-c
eltics-play-in-boston-or-la.html

http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/ajhidel7/2009/01/31/The_Boston_Clippers_and_Los_Angeles_Celtics



I found this article interesting. Thank god Irving wasn't allowed to move our beloved Celtics.

[CelticsWhat35]

I read an article like this after the Celtics won it last year.  It's not enough that L.A. has to steal 5 titles away from Minneapolis.  Since they still come up short, they need to find other ways to come out on top.  Sorry Fakers, it doesn't work that way.

[BballTim]

  I wouldn't call that owners swapping franchises. I'd call that franchises swapping owners.

[Kwhit10]

It's not like one team has had one owner for its existence.  So why would the owners changing teams make any believe that the Celtics = Clippers and Clippers = Celtics?  The Celtics stayed in Boston so they are the Boston Celtics.  What the big deal with owners changing what teams they own, that doesn't change any of the history of that team.

[Roy Hobbs]

If anything, this is similar to the case of John Henry / Jeff Luria:

Henry entered Major League Baseball with his purchase of a small interest in the New York Yankees in 1991. Henry became the sole owner of the Florida Marlins in 1999, purchasing the Major League club for a reported $158,000,000, which he ironically bought from Huizenga. In January of 2002 Henry sold the Marlins in a multi-franchise deal to Jeffrey Loria then owner of the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals). Simultaneously, Henry led a purchase of the Boston Red Sox with partners Tom Werner and the New York Times Company from the Yawkey Trust headed by John Harrington.

So, Henry sold the Marlins, and bought the Red Sox at the same time.  Luria sold the Expos, and bought the Marlins at the same time.

That does not suggest that the Marlins play in Boston, or that the Expos (Nationals?) play in Miami.

[JSD]

If anything, this is similar to the case of John Henry / Jeff Luria:

Henry entered Major League Baseball with his purchase of a small interest in the New York Yankees in 1991. Henry became the sole owner of the Florida Marlins in 1999, purchasing the Major League club for a reported $158,000,000, which he ironically bought from Huizenga. In January of 2002 Henry sold the Marlins in a multi-franchise deal to Jeffrey Loria then owner of the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals). Simultaneously, Henry led a purchase of the Boston Red Sox with partners Tom Werner and the New York Times Company from the Yawkey Trust headed by John Harrington.

So, Henry sold the Marlins, and bought the Red Sox at the same time.  Luria sold the Expos, and bought the Marlins at the same time.

That does not suggest that the Marlins play in Boston, or that the Expos (Nationals?) play in Miami.

Wow, that's is pretty good Roy. Did this thread make you think back to this or did you research it?