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Michael Dwyer / Associated Press
The Blake Griffin era in Detroit appears to be over.
Griffin and the team announced Monday that the veteran forward will be banned from roster in the future, with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reporting that “the Pistons will continue to pursue business scenarios involving Griffin and discuss a contract buyout with his agent Sam Goldfeder. of Excel Sports could possibly be finalized. “
Pistons general manager Troy Weaver told Woj:
“After a lengthy conversation with Blake’s representatives, it was decided that we will start working to facilitate a resolution regarding his future with the team that maximizes the interests of both parties. We respect all of Blake’s efforts in Detroit. and his career and will strive to achieve a positive outcome for all parties concerned. “
Griffin added in a statement: “I am grateful to the Pistons for figuring out what I want to accomplish in my career and for working together on the best way forward.”
Trading the 31-year-old will be difficult. Usually, when aging stars – or former stars, depending on whether you think Griffin’s struggles this year is a tough time or his new normal – have huge contracts like Griffin, the teams trying to deal with them are able. to perform two types of movements:
- Treat it for another player with an equally large and prohibitive contract. Think of the Russell Westbrook for John Wall trade.
- Give it to a team with a salary cap to absorb the player’s big contract. Typically, you also part with certain strengths like young players or draft picks in such a trade.
Both scenarios will be difficult for the Pistons to operate. The first is tricky for two reasons. First, Griffin is really struggling this year, averaging just 12.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while shooting 36.5 percent from the field. He wasn’t much better last year, posting 15.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting an abysmal 35.2 percent from the field.
It’s hard to market Griffin as a star at this point. A series of injuries simply turned him into a shell of himself, which included five All-Star Game appearances in his first six seasons. Maybe a new environment takes more advantage of him, but the Pistons aren’t going to get a major comeback for him based on his game.
It gets even harder to deal with when you factor in his $ 36.5 million contract for this season or the $ 38.9 million player option for next year that he will absolutely exercise. Even if you could find a player to play in a trade – let’s say the San Antonio Spurs wanted to leave the struggling LaMarcus Aldridge (14.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 47.6 FG percentage) and were ready to pitch. the dice on Griffin, hoping he could come close to his previous form – matching the money would be tricky.
Aldridge, for example, is making $ 24 million this season. San Antonio would have to add another player to the deal to make the money work. But most teams probably view Griffin as a negative asset given the contract-to-production ratio you get.
Westbrook, for example, averaged 27.2 points a season ago. The biggest issue with Wall, 30, was that he was coming back from an injury-lost season and might have lost some of his shine. He was still playing at a high level before this injury.
But the Pistons also probably won’t be interested in divesting assets to get out of Griffin’s contract. They are in reconstruction. On the contrary, they would probably prefer to be the team that gets the assets in return for using the ceiling space to absorb bad short-term contracts.
Considering Griffin’s waning game and huge contract, the Pistons’ task is tantamount to trying to shoot pRoton torpedoes in an exhaust port. First-year GM Troy Weaver is going to need some serious Jedi mind tricks on this one, especially since the redemption route isn’t ideal unless Griffin is willing to cut a huge part of his salary.
Griffin seems unlikely to want to waste so much money. It also seems unlikely that the Pistons would want to get rid of so much money without getting anything back. And if nothing else, the looming possibility of a buyout diminishes Detroit’s influence in trade negotiations. If Griffin could just become a free agent in the buyout market, why not wait?
It’s a tough situation for the Pistons and Griffins, but they are now determined to figure it out after Monday’s news.
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