As the Clippers arrived in Los Angeles, they would make a major trade sending up and coming players Terry Cummings, Rickey Pierce, and Craig Hodges to the Milwaukee Bucks for Marques Johnson, Junior Bridgeman, Harvey Catchings, and cash, who were all past their prime. After splitting the first two games on the road the Clippers played their first game at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, which had been discarded by the Lakers as outdated in 1967, and since been used by USC on November 1st beating the New York Knicks by two points.

Through the first six weeks the Clippers played . 500 basketball.

However, their season began to sink with a 6-game losing streak in December. By early March the Clippers were out of the playoff race with a record of 22-39 when Coach Jim Lyman was fired and replaced by Don Chaney.

Under Chaney the Clippers would not do much better finishing in 5th place with a dreadful 31-51 record.