After a 14-year NBA career, Brake Griffin recently announced his retirement from the sport. From being drafted by the Clippers in 2009, Griffin went a long way to solidifying himself as the most spectacular dunkers of all time and helped the LA franchise to reach the upper echelon of NBA teams.
Thanks to his run with the Clippers, Blake Griffin might be the first player from the franchise to have his jersey retired next season when the LA side moves to Intuit Dome. During a recent episode of FanDuel’s “Run It Back” podcast, the 6-time All-Star touched on the matter and said, “It’s obviously a huge honor. I wouldn’t turn that down. But in my mind, I don’t know that I necessarily deserve it… If it happens, that’s awesome. It’s a huge honor and I’d greatly appreciate it.”
Griffin and the Clippers never made it to the promise land, with 3 playoff first-round finishes and 3 conference semifinal losses in the years the 35-year-old was with the franchise. His partnership with Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan was pivotal in the Clippers’ playoff runs in the last decade, but his relationship with CP3 has always been a matter of media scrutiny.
Blake Griffin Reflects on His Relationship With Chris Paul
Blake Griffin and Chris Paul packed one of the deadliest one-two punches in the league during their time together at the Clippers. The seamless alley-oops and layoff dunks were sights to behold, but the dynamic of their relationship was always of interest to the media.
Talking on FanDuel’s “Run It Back”, Griffin debunked the narrative about his relationship with CP3. “It’s all love after the game, but during the game, no. So that feeds into it as well. It’s a narrative, and what’s the better story? ‘Oh these guys hate each other,’ or ‘Yeah they’re great guys and they all get along, they just didn’t win.’ That’s not a story,” said Griffin. The forward explained his coming together with his former teammate was nothing but being competitive and there was only love after the game between the players.
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After Chris Paul returned to face the Clippers in the 2017-18 season, with his Rockets side, things got chippy between him and Griffin during the match at LA. It was further reported that things got heated in the tunnel and then in the locker room when the Point God led his team into a brawl with the home team. The LAPD’s intervention was required to calm the situation and, since then, the duo’s relationship has been under the microscope.
While the Lob City didn’t win a championship in their heydays with Griffin and Paul, the former is certainly a hell of a player to become the first franchise player to have his number retired.
