Buffalo Braves

Buffalo Braves

Conference	Eastern
Division	Atlantic
Founded	1970
History	Buffalo Braves 1970–1978 San Diego Clippers 1978–1984 Los Angeles Clippers 1984–present
Arena	Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
Location	Buffalo, New York
Team colors	Black, White, Orange, Columbia Blue
Team manager	Eddie Donovan (1970–1975)
Head coach	Dolph Schayes (1970–1972) Johnny McCarthy (1972) Jack Ramsay (1972–1976) Tates Locke (1976–1977) Bob MacKinnon (1977) Joe Mullaney (1977) Cotton Fitzsimmons (1977–1978)
Ownership	Paul Snyder (1970–1977) John Y. Brown, Jr. (1976–1978) Harry T. Mangurian, Jr. (1977–1978) (minority partner)
Championships	None
Conference titles	None
Division titles	None
Playoff appearances	3 (1974, 1975, 1976)

The Buffalo Braves were an American professional basketball franchise based in Buffalo, New York. The Braves competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division from 1970 until 1978. In 1978, Braves owner John Y. Brown, Jr. swapped franchises with then-Boston Celtics owner Irv Levin, who then moved the team to San Diego, where it was renamed the San Diego Clippers. The franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1984, and is now known as the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Braves were one of three NBA expansion franchises that began play in the 1970–71 season (the others being the Portland Trail Blazers and Cleveland Cavaliers). Originally owned by an investment firm that had few ties to Buffalo, by the end of the first season, Paul Snyder, a then 33-year-old entrepreneur who had recently cashed in on the sale of his Freezer Queen business, had bought the franchise. They played their home games at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, sharing the arena with another new franchise, the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Buffalo Sabres, who also debuted in 1970, as well local college basketball teams that had used the auditorium for decades prior. Because the Braves only had third choice of dates (behind the Sabres and Canisius College) at the auditorium, from 1971–75, the Braves were forced to play a total of 16 home games at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto; in addition to alleviating the auditorium's scheduling issues, the Braves also played internationally in the hopes of expanding their fan base beyond Western New York and into the Greater Toronto Area (a similar strategy was employed by the National Football League (NFL)'s Buffalo Bills from 2008 until 2013). The NBA had two previous teams in Western New York, the Rochester Royals and the Syracuse Nationals.