LOS ANGELES — Blake Griffin was back in his usual place, front and center on a
Clippers stage.
After opting out of his contract, Griffin didn’t spend the offseason toiling
over whether to sign with another team – like his teammate DeAndre Jordan
famously did. For Griffin, it was an easy decision to sign a max five-year deal
to stay with the only NBA team he’s played for in his seven-year career.
“I want to say how excited I am to be back. This has been my home since I was
drafted. A lot went into this decision,” Griffin said Wednesday. “In the end, I
realized this was a no-brainer for me. This is the place where I want to start
and finish my career. This next chapter and next season for the Clippers and
myself, I’ve never been more excited about an opportunity.”
Griffin, 28, is undoubtedly the star of the Clippers with Chris Paul gone in the
trade with the Rockets that sent Pat Beverley to Los Angeles.
Griffin said he and Paul talked about his decision to want to leave the
Clippers.
“No hard feelings,” said Griffin, a five-time All-Star. “I think we’re all
professional enough to know and we’ve all been in the situation now to know
sometimes you have to do what’s right and what’s best for yourself and your
family. I’ve never had hard feelings with any of my teammates who decided to
leave or felt like it was best to leave. I wouldn’t start now.”
For the Clippers, the prospect of Griffin leaving as well made for a nervous
stretch but it didn’t last long. Griffin quickly made a decision to re-sign for
about $175 million. Doc Rivers avoided a possible rebuilding effort.
“This is a great day in Clipper history, when you get a guy of Blake’s ability
to say, `I want to be a Clipper,”‘ Rivers said. “I think that messaging for us
is amazing. You know about his talent. We wanted to bring him back because of
what he had done, his body of work. He’s one of the best passing, best scoring,
best defending big men in our history of our franchise. The fact we can get him
and keep him and build around Blake, it’s phenomenal for us. Our goal doesn’t
change.”
Griffin, the No. 1-overall pick in 2010, is the only player to reach the 10,000
career point mark all in a Clippers uniform. He pointed to the organization’s
plan, ownership, coaching staff and roster as reasons to return.
Last year, Griffin averaged 21.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists. He’s
dealt with injuries throughout his career and is rehabbing from a toe injury.
He’s expected to be ready by training camp.
Los Angeles also suits Griffin and all of his non-basketball ventures. So his
summer wasn’t filled with meetings with other teams. He canceled those after he
met with the Clippers.
“I didn’t want to waste anybody’s time,” Griffin said. “Once I met with the
Clippers, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to have them fly in
and sit through what I’m sure was going to be an awesome presentation but those
teams needed to be able to have time to make decisions. I didn’t want to tie
anybody up and make them go through the process when I already knew what I was
doing.”
