Let Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers tell it, the team never had any interest in trading star forward Blake Griffin.
Griffin came up in trade rumors as of late with teams such as the Boston Celtics for a few obvious reasons. For one, he’s 27 years old. Two, he hasn’t appeared in more than 67 games in each of the past two seasons thanks to injury and other issues. Speaking of other issues, Griffin is the guy who injured his hand punching a member of the training staff.
Despite the clear signs pointing toward a trade, Rivers made it clear there’s nothing doing, according to Brian Robb of Celtics Hub:
Doc on Blake Griffin trade rumors on @WojVerticalNBA pod: “No team is calling right now, because teams know we don’t have any interest.”
— Brian Robb (@CelticsHub) July 28, 2016
Rivers went on to dispel any notion he had talked with Boston team president Danny Ainge about any moves:
Doc Rivers addressing the Blake Griffin to Celtics rumors specifically on @WojVerticalNBA podcast: pic.twitter.com/vzQ5aJXnr5
— Brian Robb (@CelticsHub) July 28, 2016
Rivers could be holding back, sure. But it makes sense to believe what he’s saying because the team still has a contending core in place when Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan can actually get on the court together.
And really, those same factors making Griffin look like an obvious trade candidate likely drive his value down. If the Clippers can’t get good value out of shipping him away, why pull the trigger on a deal?
Rivers and the Clippers sound like a team ready to suit up and see if they can make this work. If the team struggles or more incidents pop up, then it will be time to revisit trade speculation. For now, though, anything surrounding the Clippers and trades seems dead in the water.
