Blake Griffin Reveals the Reason He Chose to Retire Early

Blake Griffin was one of the NBA’s most exciting players during his 13-year career. Along with Chris Paul, he was the key component of the Lob City Clippers, he won the 2011 Dunk Contest by jumping over a car and he’ll go down in history as arguably the greatest in-game dunker of all-time.

Griffin dealt with more than his share of injuries, and when he lost his hops, he reinvented his game to become a dangerous perimeter player. Expectations for athletic longevity have been skewed by guys like LeBron James and Tom Brady dominating into their 40s, but by any measure, Griffin had a great career, even if he didn’t make it quite that long.

After a short stint with the Celtics in 2023, Griffin retired, and on a recent appearance on the Post Moves podcast with Candace Parker and Aliyah Boston, the first-ever guest in Post Moves history gave some insight into what his post-playing days have been like.

“I just decided to retire and kind of fade into the background and not do much, and it’s been good,” Griffin said. “I think as athletes you’re always thinking about retirement and what it’s gonna be like, but it’s honestly been great. Looking forward to whatever’s next.”

Parker asked Griffin, “What is an everyday life in normal retirement, like not your other jobs and your commercials and your Red Lobster, you know, dippin’ lobster and dunkin’ crab and things like that? What does your everyday life look like since retirement?”

Parker was referring to Griffin’s partnership with the seafood restaurant chain that began earlier this year, and he hilariously set her straight by saying, “First of all, I have to correct you, it’s Lobsterfest.” He laughed as he said, “I’m contractually obligated.” He then explained why he retired in the first place.

“Honestly, one of the biggest reasons I did decide to retire was my kids, just being able to be around and be there day-to-day and go to sports games and do all this stuff that you know as athletes, you unfortunately miss a lot of that,” Griffin added.

Griffin has two kids with his ex Brynn Cameron, an 11-year-old boy named Ford and an 8-year-old daughter named Finley and his less taxing schedule has allowed him to see much more of them.

In addition to being a Red Lobster pitchman, Griffin will be joining Amazon’s recently-acquired NBA coverage this fall as an in-studio analyst, where he’ll work alongside Dirk Nowitzki and Taylor Rooks. That’s just one of the exciting new studio shows that have sprung up from the latest NBA rights deal, as NBC will be featuring Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter and Maria Taylor on their own new studio show.