The LA Clippers are focused on re-signing Blake Griffin. The team will meet with Griffin’s representatives on Friday.
F5 season, as Reddit calls it, has begun. The LA Clippers have set their sites on re-signing Blake Griffin. The team recently agreed to trade Chris Paul to the Houston Rockets, so now they can go all in on the star forward.
Despite not playing a full season since his rookie year (which was delayed by a year due to injury), Griffin has been a great player in the league. He looks to have several suitors this offseason, including Boston and Miami. He’s also agreed to meet with the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.
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The Clippers biggest advantage lies in the fact that they can offer Griffin a five-year deal worth around $175 million. Other teams can only offer a maximum of four-years and $130 million. The Clippers also offer a sense of familiarity. Griffin has been in the public eye through his various media ventures, in part due to his being in LA. Even though he would most likely have opportunities elsewhere, staying in LA is the most convenient.
The newly signed players seem to want to be involved with the recruitment of Blake to stay in LA, especially Patrick Beverly. Beverly took to Twitter after the trade was announced and showed a lot of excitement to come to LA. He also told Brad Turner of the LA Times that he immediately contacted Lawrence Frank and got all the current players’ phone numbers.
"“We got to get Blake to try and stay,” Beverley said. “We get him and we’re going to be dangerous. I’m all in for that recruitment stuff to try to get him to stay. I talked to him. He seems excited. It’s a process. I told him no matter what to enjoy the process because he deserves it.”"
Griffin will undoubtedly meet with several teams and fully take in the whole process of being a free agent. The LA Clippers will have to pull out all the stops and rely on the help of newly appointed Jerry West, Blake’s close friend DeAndre Jordan and newcomers such as Beverly and Sam Dekker to convince Blake that the team will be competitive.
The team will have around $21 million in cap room, assuming they waive some players from the trade. If Griffin does re-sign, the team will be well positioned to make a big play next summer as most players will be off the books. The team will only have Jamal Crawford and Wesley Johnson guaranteed. Everyone else would be a player or team option.
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