The Blake Griffin rumors are starting again. In a feature about the Los Angeles Clippers, Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding reported that league insiders increasingly believe the star forward could look elsewhere in free agency this coming summer. The story also mentions the three most popular potential destinations for Griffin: the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder:
That Griffin would also stay and reap the biggest payday he can seems likely, too—in theory. But more and more people around the league believe he would be open to a fresh start—perhaps with the Lakers or the Boston Celtics, who have coveted Griffin for years and would offer a new chance to win. The most intriguing fit might be if he were to go home to Oklahoma to join Russell Westbrook and the Thunder, but his interests in the entertainment industry make staying in Los Angeles a priority.
Things to know about this:
- Griffin has said next to nothing publicly about his upcoming free agency. Last summer, he told Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated, “If there’s something that anybody hears throughout the course of the season, it’s false, because it didn’t come from me.” He acknowledged that fans would speculate, but he simply wanted to try to win a championship with the Clippers and focus on everything else later.
- It’s worth noting that, even in Ding’s story, it’s not presented as likely that Griffin leaves the Clippers. He would make the most money by re-signing, and there’s no guarantee that going somewhere else would give him a better chance to win.
- It’s hard to overstate the importance of how the rest of this season goes. Los Angeles has been inconsistent this year, with perhaps the widest gulf of any team in the league between its peaks and valleys. Chris Paul and J.J. Redick will be free agents in July, too, and another heartbreaking playoff loss might mean major changes are necessary. As it stands, it looks like the Clippers will likely play the Utah Jazz in the first round. If they are fortunate enough to get past the Jazz, then they will likely meet the Golden State Warriors. If they don’t at least put a scare into the Warriors, then it would be crazy for Griffin to not at least consider his options.
- Jumping to another contender on a max contract might not be simple. As CelticsBlog’s Keith P. Smith pointed out, Boston would have to dump Terry Rozier, waive Tyler Zeller and renounce all its free agents, including Kelly Olynyk, Jonas Jerebko and Amir Johnson, in order to even get near the amount of cap room that would be required to offer Griffin or someone like Gordon Hayward a max deal.
- The Lakers have even less flexibility than the Celtics, thanks to the much-maligned Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng signings last summer. It would take some real magic from their front office to acquire Griffin. The Thunder, too, sacrificed whatever chance they had to chase Griffin when they gave contract extensions to Victor Oladipo and Steven Adams on Halloween.