6x NBA All-Star Blake Griffin addresses the narrative about not wanting to dunk in a Pistons uniform, explains what the actual scenario was
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The 1st pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, Blake Griffin, was a freak of nature athlete. The former Clippers forward was a physical specimen who exhibited some high-flying dunks.
However, Griffin’s prime didn’t last very long as the former rookie of the year suffered several injuries from the very beginning of his career, robbing him of his freakish athletic abilities.
In 2017, the 6x All-Star was traded to the Detroit Pistons, where he played the next four seasons of his career. Though Griffin had a great start to his journey in Detroit, injuries continued to haunt the former NCAA rebounding leader.
Griffin played a mere 19 games during the 2019-20 season, averaging 15.5 PPG. The following season, the 6″9′ power forward would return but struggle from the field. Thus Griffin’s contract was bought out by the Pistons.
Blake Griffin reveals why he wasn’t able to dunk in Detroit
While appearing as a guest on the JJ Redick Podcast, Griffin addressed the subject of him not dunking in over a year. As per a stat, Griffin went without dunking for 464 days before signing with the Brooklyn Nets. Griffin shocked everyone when his first bucket in the Nets uniform came as a dunk. The impressive play gave us glimpses of a young athletic Griffin. Nonetheless, this led to further speculation that Griffin didn’t want to play for the Pistons.
However, the 6x All-Star cleared the air. He revealed how his legs did not feel good after the training camps, while he was with the Pistons. He was afraid he’d lost his bounce, but thankfully that wasn’t the case.
I also had surgery in January. I played my last game with the Pistons before the pandemic hit in like December 20th, something like that…28th of 2019. And then we didn’t go to the bubble. So I didn’t play again till December 24th of 2020. There was like he hasn’t dunked in over a year, I was like I haven’t played in over a year. But, then yeah, I played those 19 games with the Pistons where I didn’t dunk. That just pi**ed me off because it’s just like you guys know the stat, you just choosing to be like ‘let’s do days instead of games.
Griffin had a pleasant year with the Brooklyn Nets playing the perfect role player coming off the bench. The 32-year old had some impressive play and can definitely ball. The Nets resigned Griffin on a 1-year veteran’s minimum contract during the current off-season.
