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The Warriors have missed the NBA playoffs for the past 12 seasons, the longest such streak in the league.

But there is a team that could be considered even less lucky.

The Los Angeles Clippers.

Four minutes into Monday night's game against Charlotte, the Los Angeles Clippers lost point guard Shaun Livingston to an incredibly severe knee injury.

Shaun Livingston suffered tears of three of the four ligaments -- anterior cruciate, posterior cruciate and medial collateral -- and the lateral meniscus in his left knee and will be out the rest of this season and part of next season.

Shaun Livingston was seen as the future of the Los Angeles Clippers, the guy who would take over at point guard -- perhaps next season -- for aging Sam Cassell. The Los Angeles Clippers had so much faith in Livingston that they would not include him in a would-be trade that could have brought Allen Iverson to Los Angeles.

Instead, Shaun Livingston joins a long list of Los Angeles Clippers who have suffered catastrophic injuries.

The misfortune began with Michael Brooks, a first-round pick in 1980 who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament during the 1983-84 season.

Derek Smith suffered a torn ligament and cartilage in his left knee in 1985-86. That was one season after he emerged as a rising star in the NBA.

Norm Nixon's problems didn't start on the basketball court. In the summer of 1986, he was playing softball in Central Park with his wife, actress Debbie Allen, and her fellow cast members from the Broadway play ``Sweet Charity.'' He stepped in a hole in the outfield and suffered a ruptured quadriceps tendon just above his left knee. He missed the 1986-87 season.

Nixon's injury wasn't the only disaster for the Los Angeles Clippers in 1986-87. Marques Johnson suffered a ruptured disk in his neck when he banged into teammate Benoit Benjamin's stomach only 10 games into the season.

The 1987-88 season wasn't any better. During practice just before the season began, Nixon suffered a ruptured right Achilles tendon and missed the season.

Danny Manning, the No. 1 pick in the 1988 draft, lasted 26 games into his rookie season before suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He still became a two-time All-Star but never was the superstar he was expected to be.

Ron Harper, who was a high-flying Michael Jordan-type during his early years in the league, suffered a torn right ACL in 1989-90, his first season after being traded from Cleveland. He came back to play 11 more seasons but spent them at a much lower altitude.

And now, the latest victim in this series of woe is Shaun Livingston. In the previous instances, the injuries turned out to be career-altering. None of Shaun Livingston's predecessors was ever the same after the injuries.

The one advantage Shaun Livingston has is his youth -- he's only 21. Maybe that will give him a chance to still have a productive NBA career.

 

See more at www.mercurynews.com