Cold World!

29 Jan, 2018

The LA Clippers have agreed to trade Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons, according to reports from David Aldridge of TNT, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Shams Charania of Yahoo.

According to the reports, the deal will send Griffin, guard Willie Reed, forward Brice Johnson and a second-round draft pick to Detroit for guard Avery Bradley, forward Tobias Harris, center Boban Marjanovic, plus a first-round and a second-round draft pick.

The Pistons (22-26) started the season strong, but have struggled lately to fall to ninth in the East. This move pairs Griffin with Andre Drummond, the league’s leading rebounder and another elite interior finisher. With those two and point guard Reggie Jackson in tow, Detroit is hoping to shoot up the Eastern Conference, where the the fourth through eighth-place teams are separated by just two-and-a-half games.

Griffin has spent his entire eight-year NBA career in LA and signed a five-year contract this summer to stay with the Clippers. LA currently sits in the ninth seed in the Western Conference with a record of 25-24.

This move likely signals a restart for the franchise after its most successful era. The Clippers won over 50 games in each of the previous five seasons after failing to reach that mark in the entirety of their history, which dates back to 1970.

LA decided to trade All-NBA point guard Chris Paul during the offseason, however, which appeared to put the success of the franchise in the hands of Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Instead, Griffin is out, and Jordan is reportedly close behind.

It is safe to say that Griffin, who was extravagantly pitched by the Clippers as the new face of the franchise, is surprised by the news.

NBA

Image

Mentioned In This Post: