In the summer of 2017, the Clippers held a mock jersey retirement ceremony for Blake Griffin at Staples Center to convince him to stay. It worked, and he re-signed on a five-year max deal. The following January, they traded him to the Detroit Pistons, and he found out through Twitter.
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“Finding out through Twitter, through other people, is a tough way to find out,” Griffin said at the time.
Today, Griffin says he holds no hard feelings. But one moment from the aftermath still confuses him, the night he ran past Steve Ballmer’s outstretched hand, and the Clippers’ request that he go back and shake it.
“Why was I obligated?” Blake Griffin said in a recent conversation with Pablo Torre on Pablo Torre Finds Out. “And I have zero hard feelings towards that whole situation, but like it was just a crazy (thing). Another crazy thing that I was like, how did I end up the bad guy in this situation?”
The story goes back to January 12, 2019, Griffin’s first game against the Clippers at Staples Center since the trade. Throughout his career, Griffin finished his pregame warmups at the free-throw line and then sprinted straight to the locker room.
Even the arena ushers knew the routine. “I never stopped for anybody my entire career,” he said.
That night, Ballmer was waiting on the sideline with his hand out. “I swear on everything. I don’t see him at first,” Griffin said. “I see him and I’m like, split second, like I’m not stopping. I’ve never stopped for anyone. Why would I stop now?”
But as soon as he reached the locker room, the message came.
“And I didn’t think that much of it. And I get to the locker room, and I’m continuing my routine, right? And I get a text from my agent, and he’s like, Gillian Zucker like texted, like, ‘Hey, can Blake go up and shake Steve’s hand before the tip?’ And I’m like, “So, okay. Oh, this is all for the appearance.”
For those unaware, Gillian Zucker is the president of business operations of the Los Angeles Clippers. Griffin didn’t go back out. “I stuck to my guns,” he said. He went on to score 44 points in a 109–104 Pistons win.
What bothered him more was the reaction afterward. He said some Clippers beat writers were “very critical” of him, even though they knew he did the same thing every game. To Griffin, the team that had once staged his jersey retirement was now the one asking him to make peace in public.
The timing gives the whole story some weight. On September 2, the NBA suspended Ballmer for a year and Zucker for a year without pay. It also fined the Clippers $30 million and stripped five first-round picks over the team’s handling of Kawhi Leonard’s endorsement deal with Aspiration, which Torre first reported.
Griffin was criticized for liking a post about that report and addressed it on the same episode. “I get no joy in like seeing this happen to the Clippers,” he said.
His trade was certainly a controversial moment for the LA Clippers and a cold basketball decision.
Griffin had been the No. 1 pick in 2009 and the 2011 Rookie of the Year, and he made five All-Star teams in Los Angeles. But a front office led by Lawrence Frank, with Jerry West, decided to start over. It traded him for Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanovic, and two draft picks, and cleared cap room for a bigger move. That move came in 2019, when Leonard and Paul George arrived.
Griffin got his explanation for the trade. He still hasn’t gotten one for the handshake request.