Blake Griffin will don a new jersey for the first time in his nine-year NBA career after being traded to the Detroit Pistons on Monday afternoon. But it's not only the letters on the front that will change, but the number on the back as well, as Griffin will don his old college No. 23 during his time with the Pistons, according to Bleacher Report's Jon Hamm.
Griffin's No. 32 is retired by the Pistons in memory of Richard “Rip” Hamilton, who was part of the 2003-04 championship team and one of the longest-lasting players from the Joe Dumars era. The 6-foot-10 forward had full intentions to wear No. 23 coming into the league, veteran Marcus Camby was the owner of it, cutting out his chances to wear it as a rookie in the league.
Griffin worn the iconic No. 23 at the University of Oklahoma, where he played for two seasons next to his twin brother Taylor before declaring for the NBA Draft on 2009.
While the order in number is reversed, the same is to be expected from him on the floor, as he'll immediately take over the bulk of the scoring load with Tobias Harris out of town — making his frontcourt partnership with Andre Drummond a key to watch out for in the remaining games of the season.
President and head coach Stan Van Gundy took a major risk trading for a star player at this point of the season, and with 34 games left in the schedule, there's only so much time left to right the ship before it sinks past the point of contention.
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