Blake Griffin has reached a significant milestone in his recovery from a staph infection in his right elbow, tweets Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. The Clippers star is out of his elbow brace and his stitches have been removed. Woike also reported that Griffin can start working out, but he won’t be joining the team on its upcoming road trip (Twitter link). Griffin, the Clippers’ leading scorer at 22.5 points per game, had surgery on the elbow February 9th.
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Suns guard Brandon Knight has moved around quite a bit, but he sees that as a positive, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic writes. “I know if I would’ve been playing terrible or not playing as well as I was, I wouldn’t have been able to be moved for three players,” Knight said. “It’s a good thing and it’s a bad thing. I’m never going to try to play bad, but playing as well as I did put me in this position to be traded.”
- The Lakers‘ Steve Nash hasn’t lost his desire to play, reports Scott Stinson of The National Post. Nash had planned for this to be his 19th and final season in the NBA. but nerve damage in his back prevented him from ever stepping on the court. Instead, Nash has become involved with projects such as filmmaking and a fitness center, and it’s uncertain whether he would give the league another try next season at age 42. “It’s tough,” he said. “I still wanted to play, but my body wouldn’t let me.”
- George Karl has returned to coaching with the Kings because basketball is his calling, according to Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report. Karl still has a desire to teach the game the “right way,” which is the Dean Smith way he learned at North Carolina. That’s especially true with a talented but volatile young player like DeMarcus Cousins, who evokes memories of the relationship Karl had with Gary Payton in Seattle two decades ago.
Zach Links contributed to this post.