Steve Ballmer wanted Blake Griffin to believe he was more than the Los Angeles Clippers’ franchise player. He had already spent about 7 seasons with the franchise since his rookie season. In mid 2017, the organization staged an elaborate presentation promising the five-time All-Star a future in Los Angeles. It was fine until they decided to print a shirt. They even made employees wear the shirts that placed Griffin alongside historical icons.

Seven months later, the Clippers traded him to Detroit. Now, Griffin is revisiting the bizarre sales pitch. It didn’t end well. And the franchise even demanded PR damage control move from the star.

“So I do have a shirt now. I don’t think I kept it at the time,” Griffin said, appearing on Pablo Torre Finds Out, recalling the event.

“When it happened during free agency, I, like, saw it, I clocked it on because all the staff members had on. I clocked it, but I didn’t, like, put much thought into it at all. It was like saying hi to people, and literally on the way home, it exploded on Twitter, and I was like, Is that Martin Luther King? Is that Gandhi? Oh my God. Like, you know, just the amount of people that were on there.”

The absurdity hit only after he left the place.

The shirt, labeled “Pioneers,” featured his image alongside influential figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, Muhammad Ali, Albert Einstein, and Michael Jackson. A crafty design that takes a while to figure out what’s odd about it.

It’s an attempt to reinforce the Clippers’ message: Griffin was a Clippers’ legend, and he will remain one till his retirement. A Clipper for life pitch.

However, it didn’t last long.

Griffin signed a five-year, $173 million contract in July 2017. It wasn’t any ordinary contract extension sight. The Clippers pulled off a mock jersey-retirement ceremony at Staples Center. 

The franchise had just lost Chris Paul, who went to Houston, leaving Griffin as the face of the franchise. The organization staged a tribute, raising his jersey to the rafters, and explicitly made a ‘Clipper for life’ pitch. It wasn’t any misinterpretation, but a legit publicized commitment.

That commitment lasted until January 2018.

The Clippers traded Griffin mid-season. The trade also included Willie Reed, and Brice Johnson to the Pistons. In exchange, Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanović, a protected first-round pick and a second-round pick. It officially marked the next era in Clippers basketball.

Clippers’ Blake Griffin pitch exposed corporate reality

The trade helped the Clippers collect players and draft assets as they reshaped their roster in the following years. A transition that eventually brought younger talent into the organization, including the draft rights to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (acquired via the protected first-round pick from the trade). 

For Griffin, however, the basketball logic was only part of the story. 

The sudden reality of the “Clipper for Life” message became harder to believe. To make it worse, the front office even wanted him to play it cool.

During his return to Los Angeles as a Piston, Griffin notably did not shake Ballmer’s hand. According to Griffin on Torre’s show, the Clippers wanted him to return and shake Ballmer’s hand for camera optics. The former All-Star had one thing to say: “Why was I obligated?”

The interview also arrived amid a separate controversy involving Ballmer and the Clippers.

Following Pablo Torre’s investigation, salary-cap circumvention surrounding Kawhi Leonard was ultimately proven. The NBA suspended Ballmer for one year and fined the franchise $30 million (while also stripping the team of five first-round picks). Leonard subsequently left the franchise after being fined $700,000.

That distinction does not erase the irony. 

The same owner who bluffed with a promise faced a penalty for salary-cap circumvention, facilitating another franchise superstar.

Griffin’s recollection brings the original sales pitch back into focus. The shirt was meant to make him feel like a historic figure in Clippers history; the trade revealed how quickly that could give way to roster calculations.