The Los Angeles Lightning was a professional basketball team in the

Independent Basketball Association The Independent Basketball Association (IBA) was a semi-professional men's basketball league that began play in the fall of 2011. The six charter members were Battle Creek Knights, Chicago Redline, Gary Splash, Kankakee County Soldiers, Lake Count ...

(IBA). The Lightning was owned by Mark Harwell, an entertainment industry executive, and played at the Gilbert Sports Arena on the campus of

California Lutheran University California Lutheran University (CLU, Cal Lutheran, or Cal Lu) is a private university in Thousand Oaks, California. It was founded in 1959 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but is nonsectarian. It opened in 1960 ...

. Founded in 2007, the Lightning first played in the

International Basketball League The International Basketball League (IBL) was a semi-professional men's basketball league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States. In 2010 the Albany Legends became the first team in the Northeastern United States to join. The ...

for four years (2007–10). LA joined the IBA for the 2012 Spring season, which would also be their last.

History

The Lightning captured the 2009 IBL title with an 18–5 record.

Lamond Murray Lamond Maurice Murray Sr. (born April 20, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. Murray was selected seventh overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1994 NBA draft after a college career at the University of California ...

, a first-round pick of the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

1994 NBA Draft The 1994 NBA draft took place on June 29, 1994, at Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. Two NBA rookies of the year were picked in the first round, as Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were co-winners of the award for the 1994–95 NBA season. Kidd and Hill ...

, was named MVP of the IBL Finals. The Los Angeles Lightning roster featured seven former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

players including

Jamal Sampson Jamal Wesley Sampson (born May 15, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player. A power forward / center, Sampson is the cousin of the 1983 NBA draft's number one overall pick Ralph Sampson. He attended the University of Califor ...

Toby Bailey John Garfield "Toby" Bailey (born November 19, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. He is currently a sports agent. College career Bailey played four years of college basketball at UCLA, being part of the Bruins squad th ...

Fred Vinson Frederick "Fred" Moore Vinson (January 22, 1890 – September 8, 1953) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th chief justice of the United States from 1946 until his death in 1953. Vinson was one of the few Americans to ...

Juaquin Hawkins Juaquin Hawkins (born July 2, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. He played with the Houston Rockets during the 2002–03 NBA season. Professional Basketball Career After going undrafted in the 1996 NBA draft, he signed a ...

Darrick Martin Darrick David Martin (born March 6, 1971) is an American basketball coach, most recently head coach for the Reno Bighorns of the NBA G League. He played basketball for more than a decade, shuttling between the Continental Basketball Association ( ...

and

Tyus Edney Tyus Dwayne Edney Sr. (born February 14, 1973) is an American basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the San Diego Toreros men's team of the West Coast Conference (WCC). Listed at , he played point guard. He played coll ...

. Former Lightning player, Fred Vinson is also an assistant coach with the NBA's

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their hom ...

. In 2012, the Lightning joined the Independent Basketball Association and captured the spring season regular-season title (12-2) behind the solid play of Trayvon Lathan (26 ppg), Chris Ayer (21 ppg, 12.6 rpg) and ex-UCLA star Billy Knight (20 ppg, 48.5% on 3-pointers). The team also played the 2012 Los Angeles Summer Pro League
SPL
finishing with a 4–2 record. In 2013, they claimed the International Championship hosted by the Elite Talent Exchange of China.

Notable players

2009 *

2009, 2010, 2012 *

2009-10 *

Adam Parada Adam Parada (born October 21, 1981) is an American-born Mexican former professional basketball player. He played most notably as an import in the Philippine Basketball Association for the Alaska Aces. He played four years at the University of Ca ...

2009-10

References

External links

@LA_Lightning
{{Greater Los Angeles Area Sports Basketball teams established in 2007

Lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

Independent Basketball Association teams 2007 establishments in California Sports in Thousand Oaks, California