The Clippers are back to being the Clippers, which is why they are back in the NBA draft lottery tonight.

They have a 7.6 percent chance of getting the No.1 pick and, in theory, Los Angeles sports fans ought to be rooting for them, because the No. 1 pick means Memphis point guard Derrick Rose or Kansas State power forward Michael Beasley.

But let’s hope Donald Sterling’s team doesn’t get the No. 1.

Because if the Clippers go first, at least one potential superstar will be sucked into the star-devouring black hole that is the Clippers franchise, and why would we want Rose or Beasley to wind up like Danny Manning or Michael Olowokandi, other Clippers No. 1s who (respectively) underachieved because of injury and underachieved because he sucked.

As long as Sterling runs this franchise, it really doesn’t need to be any good — and almost certainly won’t be. He doesn’t much care, his involvement only makes things worse and we have the Lakers if we want to see a serious NBA franchise.

The Clippers exist to give L.A. fans twice the exposure to visiting NBA teams. LeBron James comes to town twice a year, instead of once. And so forth. That’s why the Clippers are here.

They made the playoffs two years ago, and beat the Nuggets in the first round (turns out, everyone does), and took the Phoenix Suns to seven games in the next round, but it’s been back to ugliness since then. Last year’s 40-42 retreat, then the 23-59 meltdown of this season in which they lost 18 of their last 20.

Clippers fans … or, more correctly, those who pay attention to them; let’s not slander them by calling them fans … suggest this team could be decent, IF Elton Brand re-signs and comes back strong, IF Chris Kaman plays like he did the first half, IF Corey Maggette re-signs, IF Shaun Livingston recovers from that horrible knee injury …

I don’t think so. I think the historic Clippers mojo is back … and it’s a mojo of “whatever bad can happen will happen.”

Why drag some kid into that? Why burden a top pick with the Clippers logo? Let him go someplace where his new team’s fortunes matter. Which would be just about anywhere that isn’t the Clippers.