The LA Clippers have some chance now to reunite with one of their foundational superstars; per a Woj tweet, Blake Griffin has agreed to a contract buyout with the Detroit Pistons and will be a free agent.
A followup tweet by Marc Stein told us that among the teams interested in Blake Griffin were the LA Clippers, the Lakers, the Nets, the Heat and the Warriors, and Shams would later tell us that the Nets are considered the favorite.
The LA Clippers can’t offer the most money to Blake out of those teams, but they just may be able to offer him the best combination of fit and situation, with the Nets a likely competitor in that regard.
The Clips would have to start off by shedding some salary to pick up Blake Griffin, on account of being hard capped. That’s easy enough to do, though; there would certainly be a team willing to take on, say, an expiring Mfiondu Kabengele, even if the LA Clippers would have to attach a second round pick to him.
With that done, the LA Clippers would give Blake the opportunity to rest and rehab; unless the unthinkable happened and the Clips got rid of Serge or Zu, they wouldn’t have an immediate need for Blake Griffin to step on the court and perform. The Clips are looking for a playoff piece, not necessarily an April piece.
Contrast that with a Brooklyn Nets team that will likely will want a more immediate contribution, and it’s got to be attractive to Blake that he could spend some time getting physically right, while still being on a team that has Finals aspirations.
There’s also the matter of what the Nets and the LA Clippers need. From what we’ve seen out of Blake this year and last, his ideal role right now is a backup big who can be a tertiary ball handler and playmaker, and who can knock down a few open shots per game.
Which sounds, well, exactly like what the Clips would want and need. Blake Griffin wouldn’t be joining a team whose biggest need is defense, like the Nets. Expecting Blake to step in and be the gamechanger on the defensive side is likely asking for trouble at this point.
So sure, the Nets can probably offer him a bigger defined role right now. But what happens in a month or two when the defense hasn’t gotten better? Can he be certain that he’ll keep that role into the postseason?
The only other team I could see being a serious threat to sign Blake Griffin would be the Lakers. I’m sure that the Warriors and Heat do have interest in him, but if his number one goal is to win a ring, it’s easier to see the path in Brooklyn or Los Angeles than with those teams.
The Lakers have much more of a logjam at the 4 and 5 than the LA Clippers do, especially come the postseason. With LeBron, AD, Kuzma, Gasol, Markieff and Trezz, Blake’s road to playing time might be a bit stiff, and even more so when the playoffs start and we start seeing more of Davis at the 5.
With the LA Clippers, Blake Griffin would play that fifth “big” role, behind Batum, Morris, Zu and Serge, being able to give some rest minutes to our power forwards and our centers.
When you look at what the team would expect from Blake and how much time he could realistically expect to see on the court, the LA Clippers make a lot of sense. Of course, there’s history with the front office that would need to get worked out, but if the fit is right, that will not be insurmountable.