Thank You, Blake Griffin

After nine years with the franchise, the Los Angeles Clippers traded Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons on Monday.

Blake Griffin,

Thank you.

There’s no easy way to way to do this. I didn’t think I would be writing this until you retired as a Clipper, and your jersey would be being raised into the rafters. But, here we are, and there are some things I would like to say.

Thank you, for giving a 13 year-old me something to finally be excited about. Growing up a Clippers fan was rough, to say the least. I went through season after season, player after player. Sure I saw the playoffs in 2006, which was great. It just seemed like there was no light at the end of the tunnel. There was no future. Then May. 19, 2009 happened. The Clippers won the draft lottery. After years and years of distress, there was finally a glimmer of hope.

On June. 25, 2009, the fate of the Los Angeles Clippers changed forever. NBA commissioner David Stern took the stage, and called your name. You went up, shook his hand, and smiled. And after decades of agonizing pain, Clipper fans were smiling too.

On Oct. 23, it appeared the infamous ‘Clipper Curse’ was alive and well. In the final preseason game of the season, you went up for one your thunderous dunks, and injured your kneecap. Boom. Season over. Just like that. The season was over, before it even began. All the hope and excitement from Clippers fans was seized from us, and we didn’t even get one game to take a look at what the future could potentially be.