Blake Griffin injured the plantar plate of his right big toe on Friday as his Los Angeles Clippers were playing the Utah Jazz in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The injury is bad enough that the Clippers have ruled Griffin out for the rest of the NBA playoffs and it also might mark the end of his career with the Clippers.
Blake Griffin's career with the Clippers
Blake Griffin was a star in high school, winning four state titles for Oklahoma Christian School, and then helped lead the Oklahoma Sooners to an Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA tournament.
However, it was in college that Griffin began to show signs of wear and tear, suffering a sprained MCL in his freshman year and missing time due to a concussion in his sophomore season. The Los Angeles Clippers used the first overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft to choose Griffin. In his rookie season, Griffin suffered a stress fracture in his left knee and then broke his left kneecap, missing most of the season.
This meant that his second season in the NBA was actually his true rookie year and Blake Griffin exploded and became the first rookie to ever average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in over a decade. Griffin won the NBA Rookie of the Year and is considered one of the best rookies of all time.
Blake Griffin ended up teaming with Chris Paul to make the Los Angeles Clippers a perennial playoff team, although they had little success making it far into the playoffs. This led to Doc Rivers coming in as a new head coach in 2013 but still struggled in the postseason. After an injury plagued 2015-16 season and finishing the 2016-2017 season injured in the playoffs, Griffin might have played his final game in Los Angeles.
The future of the Clippers and Blake Griffin
Blake Griffin missed 18 straight games earlier in the season after undergoing knee surgery. Despite this, Griffin was still the leading scored (21.6) and the second best rebounder (8.1) for the Los Angeles Clippers this season. Despite the numerous injuries and surgeries, Griffin is only 28-years-old and has a lot of basketball still to play.
However, Blake is a free agent when the season ends and there is concern whether the Clippers want to invest in a contract the size that Griffin could garner elsewhere, especially with the lack of a championship and the injury reputation. Because Los Angeles allowed Blake to finish his free agent year without a new contract, there is a chance he does what Kevin Durant did this past offseason, and that is leaving the team he has starred for and joining another team in pursuit of a championship.
