The Clippers called Blake Griffin “Clipper royalty.” They backed it up with a five-year max contract.
What security did that get him?
Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders:
Sources: The Los Angeles Clippers proposed a blockbuster deal to the Minnesota Timberwolves involving forward Blake Griffin and center Karl-Anthony Towns. Full story coming on @BBallInsiders.
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) January 13, 2018
I don’t find this particularly noteworthy, though with the big names involved, it drew attention. Karl-Anthony Towns – better, younger, healthier – is way more valuable than Griffin. Towns also makes far less money, meaning the Timberwolves would have had to send L.A. additional players (though including negative-value contracts like Gorgui Dieng’s and/or Cole Aldrich’s could have helped balance the trade).
There’s no harm in the Clippers asking, even they knew Minnesota would say no. It’s not uncommon for teams to make longshot offers. The worst that happen is a rejection.
The difference here: It leaked. Scott’s sources could have had any number of agendas. Maybe they wanted to embarrass the Clippers for wasting the Timberwolves’ time. Maybe they want to inflate Griffin’s value, hoping to implicitly put Griffin on Towns’ level. Maybe they just wanted to show off their knowledge of private negotiations.
But none of those motivations make this significant.
Griffin can take a lesson, though: He’s not entirely secure in L.A. – if the Clippers can trade him for a better, younger, healthier, cheaper player.
As much as he considers L.A. his long-term home, even he probably already knew that.
