The LA Clippers made one of the most improbable moves of the NBA season when they traded away franchise cornerstone Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons on Monday afternoon. In exchange for Griffin, the Clippers acquired Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanović, and pair of future draft picks. The nine-year NBA veteran was easily one of the most important figures in Clippers' franchise history, changing the culture and making winning a regular occurrence over the last seven years in LA.
As many can expect, the trade was a shock not only to Griffin, but to his now-former Clippers' teammates as well. Here's what some of the Clippers players had to say about the trade, their former star and leader, as well as the new guys coming in.
DeAndre Jordan, who was close friends with Griffin since before the existence of Lob City:
“The organization felt like it was best for our team now and along in the future. Blake was a teammate of mine for nine years, his whole time here. We had a lot of good times together and he'll be a friend of mine after basketball. It was definitely tough to see him go. I wish him nothing but the best.
“We've got some great guys, some hard playing guys [in Tobias, Avery, and Boban]. A great defender in Avery, a very versatile guy in Tobias, and Boby is just huge, so they're all gonna help us out tremendously and we look forward to playing with those guys.”
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“We spoke. Everybody understands, and he's the first one to understand that it's part of the NBA business. Sometimes, it's tough. I went through the same thing when I was in New York. With him, it's even worse because he's been here all his career so I'm sure it's tough for him, but I wish him the best and I'm sure he's going to be great in Detroit.
“I couldn't really tell [if he was upset]. I mean he didn't expect it. Everyone of us didn't expect it. When I called him, he was just trying to realize the moment a little bit, but he's fine.
“Tobias is a different player from Blake so we'll make some adjustments, maybe we'll play a faster pace. I don't know, but me and Tobias will have to play a lot on the floor together.
“Avery is a very good defender, he's been in the league a while. He's a very respected player. I can't wait to start playing with him.”
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Sam Dekker, whose locker was immediately to the left of Blake Griffin's:
“I was pretty shocked. I was with Blake yesterday morning. I had no idea. I don't know what he knew, but I had no idea. He texted our team and told us the news. I thought he was kidding, but nah, he was serious. And Willie and Brice too. Those are three good guys. Blake obviously was the clipper of the past 10 years. It's crazy, didn't see it coming, but we've got to refocus and move forward with our new group.
“I talked to him this morning. Just called him before him, Brice, and Willie went off to Detroit and wished them luck and thanked him for being a good teammate and good dude. Those guys gave everything they had to our team. Obviously, we wish him all luck.
“I don't know. I don't know what he was. I know he was shocked. It's his first time being traded, this was his team. He was the [guy]. This is all he knows, so it's tough. I was traded last year during gate offseason and that was tough so it's shocking and I'm sure he's nervous and kind of made him sit down for a second to kind of re-evaluate everything. But he's a pro, he's a strong guy, I know he's going to bounce back fine, and go kill it over there.
“Blake is a true pro. I've known him longer than I've been in the league. He's good friend of mine. He's a hard worker. Coming off a back to back, I'll come to the practice facility thinking I'm early and he's already there getting lift in. That's why he is the way he is. I saw a tweet yesterday that summed it up perfectly. His first basket here was an alley top dunk and his last bucket was a go-ahead three-pointer, so it showed how much he's worked on his game and evolved as a player. You can a learn a lot from a guy like that.
“Part of it is funny because we know more truth than what's out there. Sometimes people just type things and then they get 2000 retweets just because they typed it and whatever. Part of that's funny to see what's true and what's not true. But also, it's a source for news for us too. When I got traded for CP, I found out on twitter with Pat and Trez and Lou. We're humans just like everyone else. We go on Twitter, Instagram and we get a kick out of what we see.”
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C.J. Williams, two-way rookie whose locker was immediately to the right of Blake Griffin's:
“Oh man, Blake taught me a lot. He taught me so much. That's why yesterday after I found out, I reached out to him and just thanked him for all the stuff that he's taught me and just wishing him good luck because he's a great guy. He's a great guy having in the locker room and he's very positive a lot of times. He's very intense and out of your franchise guy, you want that passion, that ‘never want to lose mentality.' He'll definitely be missed but it's a new chapter for him and for us as a team.
“Like I said, we built a bond as a whole with the team. We've been through a lot already this year with injuries, we found a way to make a push. Nobody thought with the injuries that we had, that we would make a push for the playoffs. We did that, and it's unfortunate but you have to move forward and you have to understand that the business aspect of it is what took over.
“Blake was a great teacher to me. He was a great teammate, he taught me how to be a professional. He taught me how to take each day on as a new day no matter what happened yesterday, you have to move forward to the next. I just watched how hard he worked and learned from that and I just want to implement that into my game.
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Austin Rivers, Griffin's longest tenured teammate outside of DeAndre Jordan:
“I don't think anybody saw it coming as far as we go. Nobody saw that. We were all surprised by it. We all love Blake so it's just one of those tough situations.
“I spoke to him yesterday. Sometimes you can only control what you can control as a player, so it's almost like what can you say that really matters at this point? It is what it is and that's what he was saying to me man. He was excited because it's a new chapter and that's the way you have to think in this league. You have to be positive. he gets to go to a situation where teams are always going to play behind Blake, and it's one of those situations where it was crazy because no one saw it coming. I didn't even believe it when I heard it.
“I had a call. I had missed called from some of my teammates and then I talked to Wes. Wesley Johnson called me and asked if I heard, and I said ‘that's fake news. That's not true.' And then I saw it. You hear a lot of rumors, but you don't know what's true or not. And then I saw it. I was just surprised by it. I called him, obviously he didn't answer because he's got a million things going on. I talked to him the next day though.”
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Patrick Beverley, who has been out due to knee surgery but has been strongly supporting the team from the sidelines:
I think it kind of shocked everybody. He's done so much for LA and for the Clippers organization. Being a part of the Clippers team that was really good and he'll definitely be forever missed.
“Yeah, I spoke to him. I dont think he's angry. He understands that it's a business.”
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Tyrone Wallace, two-way player who spent time with the team in the preseason and over the last couple of weeks as part of his two-way deal:
“I was probably just as shocked as everybody else. I had no idea. I was taking a nap actually and my phone was going crazy. I was kind of upset and I was denying calls. Then I woke up, finally checked my phone, and I'm like ‘this can't be. This can't be true.' That was kind of my expression and how I saw it when I found out.
“I think Blake was great help for me just as far as on the court, when we we're going over some defensive rotations, he would always help me out and tell me where to stay. He was one of the guys where, whenever you have a star that can encourage you and tell you to be aggressive and be you… He always told me that before every game and I think that helped me out a lot. He was great teammate, great guy, very sarcastic. Over my short time here, I think we were pretty close. I'm young, but it's like of like, ‘dang!' This is my first time ever seeing and going through this. The other guys understand, though, that this kind of thing does happen from time to time and it's a business.”
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Montrezl Harrell, who backed up Blake Griffin at the power forward position:
“It's just kind of shocking, really. That's a high caliber type of player, and the move that they made, they're just looking at what's down the line with the organization. I don't think it was anything bad dealing with Blake. He's great player, done a lot for this franchise, and I enjoyed having him as a teammate in the time that I was with him.
“As soon as the trade happened, all of us who were in the group texted, so a lot of the guys kind of were talking back and forth with each other. I didn't really get to see it since I broke my phone, but I did get a chance to see him before he left so that was good. Like I said, it's the nature of the business. Everybody who steps into one of these locker rooms has the opportunity or chance to be traded. you just gotta know that it come with the game and I think he does. I wish him all the best of luck in Detroit.
“We're going to welcome them with open arms, we're going to try to get those guys caught up on all the plays, what we play and the style of play that we have. We're going to treat it as if those guys have always been here.
“All season, you look at a guy who came back off a knee injury and he's had numerous big scoring games, hit big-time shots to seal games for us. you just look at his caliber of player and how her returned off a knee injury and what he brought back to the team for us.”
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