The Clippers’ pitch to Blake Griffin must have been a good one, he signed almost on the spot.
Of course, the $173 million max offer sealed the deal, but the Clippers pulled out the full “dog and pony” show for Griffin including a walk-through museum of his life, highlighting his time with the Clippers. It was a no expense spared kind of thing. Showing a player you want him with these kinds of productions helps.
However, as part of the effort, Clippers staff wore a T-shirt that was painfully tone deaf. Marc Spears of The Undefeated at ESPN had this part of the story.
Clippers employees wore T-shirt after Blake Griffin's FA meeting likening him to MLK, Obama, Ali, JFK, Lincoln, Gandhi, MJ,Einstein,Mandela. pic.twitter.com/BZtXqhdrWr
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) July 1, 2017
Um.... I’m at a loss for words. I think Dave Zirin put it best: “Did Donald Sterling design this shirt?”
Just to be clear, it’s a shirt comparing Blake Griffin’s time with the Clippers to Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Michael Jackson, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein and Nelson Mandela. I am a bigger Griffin backer than most, but come on now.
Twitter was merciless.
Thought exercise - What would be the worst thing on a shirt you'd tolerate if the people wearing it were also handing you $173 mil? https://t.co/OEH9skUVUR
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) July 1, 2017
Celebrating the news of Blake Griffin re-signing with the Clippers and then seeing the shirt the team used in the meeting to re-sign him. pic.twitter.com/G2Vek4sbTb
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) July 1, 2017
The Clippers will bury this and try to move on, but the fact nobody stood up in a meeting and said “about that shirt...” should concern everyone involved.