Injury to a Key Player Again Lets Air Out of Clipper Sails

The season-ending knee injury to Ron Harper is only the latest setback the Clippers have had with key players. Snakebitten is a word mentioned more than once in the past, and Wednesday’s announcement just as the Clippers were in their best run in years won’t do anything to deter such continued talk.

“I don’t believe in curses or jinxes, but this is the closest thing to it,” said Coach Don Casey, who has spent six years in the organization, some of that time when the team was in San Diego.

Some of the other memorable lowlights:

--TERRY CUMMINGS. En route to being named rookie of the year for the San Diego Clippers, he collapsed with two weeks remaining in 1982-83 with what was later diagnosed as an irregular heart beat. He was traded to Milwaukee, where he developed into one of the best forwards in the game.

--MICHAEL BROOKS. A No. 1 draft choice in 1980, he suffered a severe knee injury 47 games into the 1983-84 season and never played for the Clippers again.

--DEREK SMITH. The Los Angeles Clippers had a 5-0 start in 1985-86, thanks largely to Smith’s scoring. Then he suffered torn cartilage in his knee in the ninth game, returning for only the final two games. He had continued knee problems and never played for the Clippers again.

--MARQUES JOHNSON. After averaging 16.4 and 20.3 points in consecutive seasons, he collided with teammate Benoit Benjamin and ruptured a disk in his neck 10 games into the 1986-87 season. Johnson missed the rest of the season and all of the next.

--NORM NIXON. The Clippers sent rookie Byron Scott to the Lakers in a package to get Nixon, and the veteran responded with three years of 14.6 points or better. Then, he missed all of 1986-87 with a knee injury suffered while playing softball. After rehabilitation, he missed all of 1987-88 with a ruptured Achilles’ tendon suffered during the next-to-last preseason practice.

--DANNY MANNING. Twenty-six games into his rookie season, he suffered a torn anterior cruciate knee ligament Jan. 4, 1989, and was not able to return until after this season started.

--RON HARPER. Twenty-eight games after he was acquired from Cleveland, he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and cartilage damage and will need surgery.