Blake Griffin is hitting free agency on July 1st, and there’s a line of suitors ready for him to be on the open market. The All-NBA forward is headlining the summer as one of the top, if not the top, talents this exploring his options following his former teammate Chris Paul facilitating his exit from Los Angeles to join the Houston Rockets. With Paul off the market, the lone option remaining for the Clippers to stay in some playoff contention possibly is Blake Griffin. And the Clippers know it.
The team stressed in the past that re-signing Paul and Blake was their top priority this summer, but CP3 forced their hand. Now as they recover from the blow of losing Paul, all their eggs are in the Blake Griffin basket.
Clippers Executive Vice President Lawrence Frank spoke to USA Today Sports NBA Insider Sam Amick in the latest episode of his ‘NBA A to Z’ podcast. They talked about the Paul trade to Houston, the Clippers assets received in the deal and most importantly, Blake Griffin and if he will remain with the Clippers.
Blake (Griffin) in a very, very unique situation. Blake was the first pick of the Clippers. Blake…basically the perception of the Clippers changed once Blake Griffin started as a Clipper. Right? And we’ve had great success. Chris (Paul) obviously, ya know, was great, ya know…Chris’ winning ways. And we’re grateful for it. But Blake is in a position…We look at him as Clipper royalty. And it hasn’t changed. So we are gonna do everything we can to keep Blake a clipper. But ultimately just like Chris and just like all the other free agents, it’s his decision and we respect whatever decision he chooses to make.
You can listen to Amick and Frank talk about the Chris Paul trade as well as the future of the Clippers. The discussion about Blake Griffin begins at approximately the nine minutes mark.
