Over the course of his 13-year NBA career Blake Griffin has played for four organizations: the Los Angeles Clippers, Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets and now Boston Celtics.
The one commonality shared between Griffin’s first three squads is that he didn’t leave any of them on good terms.
With the Clippers, Griffin was deeply upset that he was sent away after receiving a five-year, $173 million contract.
In Detroit, he had a weird resentment for the team’s fans – culminating in him bizarrely refusing to dunk for an extended stretch.
And with the Nets, he felt like head coach Steve Nash wronged him in some capacity.
To be clear – some of Griffin’s gripes are legit. There are decent justifications in certain cases. But when you leave every squad you’ve ever been on in a salty way, maybe you’re kind of the problem.
This week, in a chat with Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe, Griffin seemed to take a bit of a shot at his old teams.
“The amount of maturity and welcoming,” Griffin said.
“It’s a different atmosphere that I’m sort of used to, in a good way. Practice was focused, very encouraging and helpful. You don’t take that for granted because it’s not always the case everywhere you go.”
Yikes. Understandably, many perceive this to be a bit of a jab at Griffin’s old teams: the Nets, Pistons and Clippers.
To be clear, all of those squads have their own fair share of issues. There is no denying that. And maybe Griffin will set the world ablaze as a member of the Celtics.
But most likely he won’t.
It wasn’t all bad news for the Dolphins today. https://t.co/Ru8zP3GhUe
— Game 7 (@game7__) October 9, 2022
Odds are pretty great that will continue to be a benchwarmer on the Celtics just like he was on the Nets, because that’s who he is at this point in his career.
When he and the Celtics inevitably end their relationship after a lackluster run, it will be interesting to see if he still has the same glowing things to say about the franchise that he does now.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
