Blake Griffin and two other players that were part of the trade (Brice Johnson and Willie Reed) arrived in Detroit from the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers got Boban Marjanovic, Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, and two draft picks from the Detroit Pistons. While there were rumors about Blake Griffin leaving the Clippers, this trade came as a shock for the fans as well as for Blake himself since he found out about the trade on Twitter.
He continued to say that at the end of a day basketball is a business, and he wants to play where a team wants him.
Detroit came up a winner from this trade?
The biggest downside of this trade for the Pistons is that Blake Griffin is an injury prone player, in fact, out of his five All-Star games Griffin missed three because of his injuries. He has struggled with injuries this year too, and thus missed 16 games, but still, when he was able to play he has put up an All-Star caliber stat line (26.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 5.4 assist per game), which is impressive coming from a power forward position player.
At his debut yesterday (Feb. 2) against the Grizzlies, despite barely knowing his new team's offense, Blake scored 24 points, had 10 rebounds, and a team-leading five assists.
The Pistons loss of Avery Bradley should not be a downside of this trade because Bradley has struggled on the offense this year with only 41 percent from the field and that he is a free agent this summer who could command a very large contract.
On the other hand, Tobias Harris has certainly demonstrated that he is a talented player, but just like Bradley, two years from now he is going to get a major contract, plus Griffin is a better player at the same position.
With this trade, the Detroit Pistons' intentions are clear.
They are trying to put themselves in playoffs this year. So, if Blake Griffin can stay healthy, this trade could come up as a clear win for the Detroit Pistons, including the fact that they have their first-round pick protected.
Griffin’s contract
Blake Griffin's desire to play for a team that wants him has been a reason for him not rushing the no-trade clause when he signed a $171 million contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. Blake turns 29 in March, and in the final two years of the deal, he is going to make about $36.6 million per year. The surprising thing about this is that the Detroit Pistons are willing to pay a huge amount of money owed to Blake by the Los Angeles Clippers. At the end of a day, we can’t know anything for sure, but the time will tell which team got the shorter end of the stick.