Do the Los Angeles Clippers have a Blake Griffin free-agency conundrum on their hands?
Um, maybe.
Griffin has an Early Termination Option for 2017-18 and can become a free agent next summer. Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher has apparently heard he isn’t “wed” to the Clippers and could have wandering eyes when it comes to exploring the open market:
Blake Griffin is the first guy that comes to mind. He has certainly embedded himself in the L.A. scene, done a lot of things off the court as an entertainer. But that said, I’ve heard a drum beat—a quiet drum beat—over the last year or two that he’s not wed to the Clippers or the way that they do things. And while there have been reports out there already about this idea of him going to Oklahoma City, going back home essentially and playing, I don’t know if he’d necessarily go that direction. But he’s another guy that I could see exploring places like New York and elsewhere—still would want a big market, I would imagine, but not necessarily L.A.
Look, talk of Griffin’s free agency is beyond premature at this juncture. He has more than 11 months before he’s available. And it’s not like Bucher says Griffin 100 percent wants out of Los Angeles. It’s just something that he might consider, as he should—as any self-respecting unrestricted free agent in his prime would.
We also don’t know if things are hunky-dory between Griffin and the Clippers behind the scenes. Questions about his relationship with Chris Paul, who can become a free agent in 2017 as well, have always seemed overblown, but Griffin’s name has ambled in and out of the rumor mill since his altercation with team equipment staffer, Matias Testi, last winter.
If the Clippers have, in fact, shopped Griffin around, that’s a blow to the ego. Maybe talks were never serious. Perhaps those discussions were always initiated by outside teams. Head coach and president Doc Rivers, after all, hasn’t been shy about his desire to keep the team’s Big Three together.
But Griffin’s future is nonetheless something to monitor as we begin 2016-17. Not only is he working his way back from a quad injury still, the Clippers have to give serious thought to whether they might be better surrounding Paul and DeAndre Jordan with three shooters. Paul’s own free agency complicates things, because there’s certainly no guarantee he returns if the Clippers fall short, again, in their bid to win a title. And if you’re the Clippers, you’ll want to be proactive, capitalizing on at least one potential departure—hence why the Griffin rumors, however innocuous, aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
