NBA
Blake Griffin retires: The All-Star forward announces his retirement
Number one in 2009, the Oklahoma native went through four franchises in his 13 NBA seasons.
Through a statement on social media, Blake Griffin (35) announced his retirement from professional basketball on Tuesday 16 April. “The game of basketball has given me so much in this life and I wouldn’t change a thing,” wrote the player who played his last NBA game last April 25 in 2023 with Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks.
The power forward says goodbye after 13 seasons and 765 regular season games (68 playoff games) with four different franchises: Los Angeles Clippers, Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets and the aforementioned Celtics. “I’m thankful for every single moment,” said Griffin who says goodbye with 19 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 0.5 blocks on average.
The Oklahoma native’s career has been full of ups and downs. Chosen number one in the 2009 draft by the Clippers, he had to delay his NBA debut for a season due to a fracture in his left knee. The injuries were a constant headache for him, especially in the final stretch of a career that saw him make six appearances in the All Star Game, as well as two inclusions in the second Best Five of the season and three in the third.
It was physical problems that prevented the sky from being his kingdom during his career. Griffin was a true colossus in the air, the man who possessed the five jewels of infinity when he decided he had to pound the opposing hoop. What sticks out the most is that unforgettable 2011 dunk contest in which he emerged champion with a 360-degree spin, an elbow hooked in the hoop and, the big moment, his leap over the hood of a car.
He was a favourite among NBA viewers and a hero for Clippers fans who dreamed of greatness with him, DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul, the man who fed the two towers. There, in California, he won the Rookie of the Year award a year after sitting out his first NBA season due to the aforementioned knee fracture. However, in eight and a half seasons with the franchise, the ring never came. His peak? Three Western Conference semifinals.
Griffin left California, heading to Detroit Pistons, where he played two and a half seasons and got his last call to an All Star Game. The Michigan Pistons played their last postseason with the power forward, who began an unstoppable decline due to the accumulation of physical problems that he brought with him from Los Angeles (left quad, right and left knees, right toe) and that continued in MoTown (right ankle and left knee).
His last chance came in Boston, in a team with which he came close to his first and only ring in the North American League with a bit-part role during the playoffs. Miami prevented the Celtics from advancing further in the Eastern Conference Finals and stopped Griffin from winning a championship that would have been the grand finale for who was once the king of the sky in the NBA.