By now, you’ve assuredly heard that Blake Griffin suffered a fractured hand after punching a Los Angeles Clippers assistant equipment manager. But more details have since trickled out.
It is now time to pillage through the Twitter feed of ESPN.com’s Arash Markazi:
Blake Griffin suffered a spiral fracture of the fourth metacarpal in his right hand throwing a punch on Jan. 23 in Toronto.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) January 26, 2016
Well, that’s not ideal.
Naturally, the Clippers aren’t happy:
Clippers say, "This conduct has no place in our organization and this incident does not represent who we are as a team."
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) January 26, 2016
The Clippers are are conducting a full investigation with assistance from the NBA. At the conclusion, "appropriate action will be taken."
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) January 26, 2016
It’s unclear what type of punishment may or may not be handed out if Griffin is found guilty of anything especially unsavory.
But if missing extensive time is punishment enough, Griffin, who hadn’t yet returned from a quadriceps injury at the time of this incident, can consider himself punished:
Blake Griffin is expected to be out approximately four to six weeks.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) January 26, 2016
As for Griffin’s relationship with the person whom he punched, the two were apparently pretty tight:
Testi isn't just a staffer; he vacations with Blake & DeAndre. Was part of the crew w/ Blake that went to Houston to sign DJ. Odd situation.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) January 26, 2016
To make matters worse, that four-to-six-week timetable for Griffin’s return might be a little ambitious:
Doc Rivers said 4-6 weeks is an optimistic timetable for Blake Griffin's return. He thinks it could be longer.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) January 26, 2016
The Clippers, for their part, are trying to deal with it:
Doc said the team is dealing with it since "these are two of their friends, not just Blake…For this to happen this is a hit for our guys."
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) January 27, 2016
Griffin hasn’t played since Christmas Day, and the Clippers have remained afloat during that time, reestablishing themselves as a top-four Western Conference power. The power forward, it should be noted, is also only 26 years old. Shit like this happens in your twenties, although it’s still not exactly clear what happened, and Griffin was once charged with misdemeanor battery in 2014, per Arkazi. The charges were later dropped.
Basically, this is all a clusteryouknowhwat.
