For some reason the Blake Griffin trade talk isn’t the main highlight for “Trade Deadline 2016”, Dwight Howard is. How is that? Blake Griffin is miles more worth it than Dwight, I think we can all agree with that. Is it possible that the Clippers have caught themselves amongst the ‘equipment staff incident’ and have decided to keep Blake?
They can’t stop people from calling up about it, the Denver Nuggets have tried a few times but the Clips aren’t biting, I think the Clippers realised that Blake is great and have taken him off the trade block. One Clippers executive has said none of it is true.
High-level members of the organization say they remain adamant about not dealing Griffin, the best young player the franchise has ever had, despite another round of rumors suggesting they called Denver about Kenneth Faried, Danillo Gallinari, Will Barton and Nikola Jokic.
“One hundred percent not true,” according to one executive involved in any trade discussions. Clippers coach Doc Rivers has also been vocal, saying the team isn’t trading Griffin.
A more realistic approach for the Clippers at the trade deadline would be using Lance Stephenson to somehow upgrade their roster. […] The Clippers would love to land a two-way player on the wing and could use a backup big man and short-term help at point guard.
It’s not true he says and I believe that. But why hasn’t Doc Rivers or anybody else said “Blake Griffin is off the block”? Are they just taking calls to see what they could possibly get?
Is the exec lying? It’s possible as ESPN’s Zach Lowe says Blake Griffin is available.
But the Griffin noise is real. He’s no longer untouchable. The Clips are listening, even right now, and they’ve rarely listened before. If they get wind over the next four days that they’re out of the Durant sweepstakes, they could accelerate the Griffin trade timetable. It’d take a monster offer to pry him away before the draft, but the ground is trembling (As I’ve written before, Rivers needs to think very hard about whether trading Griffin is a good idea).
Oh great, now we don’t know. There’s nothing I hate more than conflicting reports.
