Blake Griffin Announced His Retirement From The NBA

After 14 seasons in the NBA, eight with the Clippers before being traded to Detroit and finishing his career in Brooklyn and Boston, Blake Griffin has announced his retirement from basketball.

When Blake Griffin finally got onto an NBA court after sitting out his first year due to injury, the No. 1 overall pick from the 2009 Draft was nothing short of sensational. Griffin was, along with Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan, and others, one of the driving forces in turning the Clippers from a laughingstock into a perennial playoff contender. He was the reason L.A. became “Lob City”, turning the Clippers into a must-watch team by being the best in-game dunker the league had seen since prime Vince Carter.

Griffin’s explosiveness in his prime was unbelievable, but calling him a dunker did a disservice to how tremendous he was as an overall player. He was a 6-time All-Star and 5-time All-NBA performer, and continually adapted his game as his career progressed, adding new elements to adjust to what his body could do physically. His 2018-19 season in Detroit, in which he as an All-Star and third-team All-NBA performer was arguably his most impressive, as it came after he’d dealt with various injuries and surgeries, changing his play style and still managing to be one of the NBA’s best players.

For his career, Griffin averaged 19.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. His exploits above the rim will be the lasting images for most fans of his career, and every few years you can bank on some Twitter account posting a “people forget prime Blake was a PROBLEM” video compilation to remind folks that he was, indeed, a problem.