The L.A. Clippers walked back the pillar to their foundation after signing him to a massive five-year, $173 million max extension this summer, hoping he'd be the building block of the future at the wake of a Chris Paul departure.
“It was a (bleeping) hard decision,” one league source told NBA.com's David Aldridge on Monday night.
There weren't many teams with the capacity to absorb Griffin's huge contract, with most of it intact, but the Pistons were a hiss away from the panic button, making them work on the swap for roughly a week leading up to Monday.
Griffin was coming off his worst season, shooting a mere 44 percent from the floor, despite his physical gifts as an athletic player — now resigned to shoot long jumpers — a tactic which only has panned to a 34.2 percent clip on 5.7 attempts per game.
“As the season went on, the Clippers became convinced that they not only weren’t a real contender this season, but wouldn’t be next season as well with the current roster. So they were amenable when the Pistons came to them in the last couple of weeks with a proposed deal for Griffin. Nonetheless, the mood Monday afternoon within the team was “terrible,” according to a source.”
A Clippers fan tweeted that Griffin yelled “Nine f***ing years!” during a Jan. 22 home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves as he headed to the locker room, ignoring his picture request (via Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer).
In retrospect, Griffin could have been referring to the number of years he's been with the team after being drafted with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. Having been traded on the 29th, it is exactly seven days prior — roughly the time when talks between the two teams started.
Follow Us
Subscribe