Blake Griffin spent approximately five seasons with the Detroit Pistons between 2017 and 2021. In that span, he made roughly $34 million per year.
Last year, after expressing a desire to play for a championship contender, he was given his walking papers and permitted to sign with the Brooklyn Nets.
On paper, it seems like the relationship between Griffin and the Pistons shouldn’t have ended poorly. And yet apparently it has.
Recently, during an interview with Barstool Sports’ "Pardon My Take" podcast, an exasperated Griffin seemed to suggest that fans didn’t appreciate him.
“That must have been the 2018-19 season when I was an All-Star, All-NBA, I dunked a few times, played in the playoffs injured, but ya… I’d hate me too, Detroit,” he said.
The season Griffin referenced was objectively his most productive in Detroit. He averaged a career-high 24.5 points per game on 53 percent shooting from the field, while also chipping in 7.5 rebounds per outing. Of course, focusing on that year ignores Pistons fans’ real gripe.
The following year an injury-plagued Griffin averaged 15.5 points per game, then the year after that his production fell to 11.0 points per game, and then it rose ever so slightly to 12.3 points per game. In that same span, he, a power forward, also began refusing to go into the paint.
During Griffin’s tenure with the Pistons, more than half of his shots (56 percent, to be exact) were threes. And while his three-point percentage certainly improved markedly from his atrocious early-career Los Angeles Clippers days, it still wasn’t a high-percentage shot.
Clearly, just based on the numbers, Griffin was attempting to avoid taking damage in the paint during his time with the Pistons. Which is fine. It’s a perfectly understandable business decision. But to then turn around and act like fans were ungrateful for calling it how they saw it seems a bit weird.
Mind you, Griffin himself not long ago admitted why he started dunking with the Nets while refusing to do so with the Pistons. Were folks in Detroit supposed to react warmly to that?
Griffin has always been something of a unique guy, so maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he’s a bit out of touch. Still, it’s safe to say these most recent comments won’t win him too many fans.
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