Much has been made of the Los Angeles Clippers trading Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons after going so over-the-top in their attempt to keep him around when he was a free agent this past summer. Namely, people want to know why if they cared so much about Griffin, why didn’t they give him a full no-trade clause?
It’s a fair question, and was one that both the Clippers and Griffin would certainly be asked about after the trade. On Wednesday, Griffin was introduced to the media in Detroit and was asked about this very thing.
His response was something of a shot at his previous organization, and made it sound like he never really wanted a no-trade clause, anyway, because it would keep him from getting traded if things in Los Angeles went south.
“I want to play for an organization that wants me to play there.”@blakegriffin32 says he doesn’t regret not signing a no-trade contract.
(H/T @FOXSportsDet) pic.twitter.com/yDNi0nfkEp— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 31, 2018
“I wanna play for an organization that wants me to play there,” Griffin said. “Cleary this was an organization that wanted me to play here. Being stuck in a no-trade clause, it was something that was brought up, but it wasn’t something that we went about, obviously. This is where I wanna be, this is a place that wants me. That’s the type of organization I want to play for, I wouldn’t wanna be stuck in a place that wasn’t working.”
This is the other side of the no-trade clause coin. A player like Griffin will have financial stability throughout the life of his contract, but if he’s going to be unhappy someplace with a middling team, why would he want to stay in that place and waste away? That’s especially true if a team wants to shop him around and see what he it can get back for him, but would be held up by a no-trade clause.
In the end, it appears not giving Griffin a no-trade clause was the best thing for all parties involved.
