Blake Griffin has been on the rumor mill quite a bit this offseason. The Los Angeles Clippers forward has been the subject of many reports. With the Clippers pursuing Kevin Durant in free agency, some of those rumors made sense.
However, according to coach and president Doc Rivers, that is not the case. Rivers appeared on The Vertical Podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski and refuted any reports about shopping Griffin. In fact, he claimed that he’s wishful for Griffin to spend his entire career in LA with the Clippers. (h/t RealGM for the transcription):
“One, I’m glad you asked the question,” said Rivers. “It’s funny, you don’t want to go out and send out a press release every time there’s a rumor about Blake. We’re hoping Blake ends his career playing for the Clippers. Period. So when teams call, we say we have no interest.
“First of all, no team is calling right now because teams know we don’t have any interest. It just tells you the different times, you know. Things have changed. Everyone believes that they’re media now. I feel for guys like you. There’s so many good credible guys and there’s some of the guys that are bloggers that have nothing to do with the sport.”
Well besides Doc personally attacking my honor as a blogger, this is an interesting quote.
It’s hard to believe that the Clippers have never talked to other teams regarding Griffin considering the volume of reports. Rivers could just be saving face in front of his player who he will have to coach in a couple months.
On the other hand, it may provide some insight into the Clippers plan moving forward. The team has had the same core for a while now and hasn’t been able to break through in the postseason. Rivers comments may mean that they are not ready to break up this group to try again. They could also mean that he is willing to break up the group in order to build around just Blake Griffin. It could also just be Rivers starting early in the process to get Griffin to stay with the Clippers in free agency next summer.
Either way, it is an interesting comment regarding one of the league’s premier players and trade targets.
