The Nets are believed to be the frontrunners to sign Blake Griffin once he clears waivers, sources tell Shams Charania and James Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Marc Stein of The New York Times first reported (via Twitter) that Brooklyn is considered a “strong contender” for Griffin, given his long-standing relationships with multiple Nets players. Griffin, who has played with DeAndre Jordan and Bruce Brown in the past, has relationships with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, among other Nets, tweets Edwards.
While Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported earlier today that Griffin – who has agreed to a buyout with the Pistons – would make a decision on his next team after conversations with several of his suitors, Charania suggests that clubs with interest in the veteran forward expect him to choose Brooklyn.
The Nets, whose star-studded roster is led by Durant, Irving, and James Harden, have looked dominant lately, even with KD sidelined, and may give Griffin the best opportunity to compete for a championship this season. Brooklyn has been on the lookout for frontcourt help, though the recent emergence of young center Nicolas Claxton has lessened the urgency of that search.
It’s also worth noting that the Nets have the ability to offer Griffin more than the minimum salary if need be. The team has the taxpayer mid-level exception available, as well as a $5.7MM disabled player exception.
The Lakers, Clippers, Heat, Warriors, and Trail Blazers are among the other teams that have reportedly expressed interest in Griffin, and Stein says the Celtics can be added to that group as well. Technically, the Clippers (and the Bucks) can’t currently sign Griffin due to their hard cap, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). The Clippers seemed like an improbable suitor for the 31-year-old anyway, given how his last stint in L.A. ended.
Brooklyn in da house
The buyout market is the single most anti-competitive feature in any professional sport, and it needs to die quickly (not that any team should really have much interest in the corpse of Blake Griffin specifically).
I honestly think it’s one of the more exciting and unique things about the NBA
agree
The current playoffs teams should not be allowed. to sign Griffin
Why would a non-playoff team want to sign him?
Because…
Well played
No one forced Detroit to buy him out.
I agree. It completely circumvents the whole point of the salary cap and punishes the team buying out by not giving them anything in return for their investment. Teams at the top have absolutely no reason to trade anything to get better because they can just sit back and wait for buyout ring chasing players to come knocking at their doors. It’s a joke.
Good players rarely get bought out. Griffin isn’t what puts any team over the hump to win a championship:
Not the point. The point is that #1 seeds do not have to give up any assets to get players that improve their roster, even just a little. Nor do they have to worry about even fitting these players with big contracts for this year into the salary cap. These buyouts are not going to sign with 8 or 9 seeds to improve their roster. So if those teams want to make a playoff push, they would have give up assets and fit the players under the cap if they want them.
I concur seamaholic
Really hoping the Bulls get Drummond for Porter and a 2nd!
Yup, gotta have a few more controls, restrictions for the buyout market.
It is what it is, the NETS will land Griffin and bolster that bench with some more smarts and whatever offense Griffin has left.
Where is that “#NBAPlayersClub” guy at to tell me contenders want nothing to do with Griffin?
Where he signs will say a lot about how Griffin sees himself and how hard he intends to work – Brooklyn and Lakers would be “support the stars and hopefully get a ring” whereas Warriors and Trail Blazers wold be “play meaningful minutes, mentor young inside players and go after a ring”. Not sure if he would go back to the Clipper Circus.
You know you take easy routes to get ahead, so stop it.
Brook-lann Zoo!
WTCANTFW!
He behind Jordan claxton green brown , but sure why not add him
So basically 3 stars & a half a star?
This is a predictable move either Brooklyn or back to LA. Makes me hope that they eventually lose but it’s looking more and more less likely
Who’s the half star? Griffin is awful now. I’m not sure he makes the Nets’ rotation if he wasn’t buddies with the superstars.
No, more like three stars and a white dwarf.
Ha ha ha ha ha
Griffin hasn’t dunked in 2 years. And that was his calling card. He’s pretty average at best these days unfortunately
Nicolas Clayton has lessened the urgency of the search for Nets’ front court depth?
Sure, the kid who just had two big games against San Antonio and Houston has sealed the championship aspirations of the Nets. The kid who has appeared in 20 games in his first two years in the league has fundamentally changed the team’s depth in the front court. He is on a hot run of appearing in five games this season and at the rate he’s going he could be be a Finals MVP candidate this summer. It’s just a shame they didn’t wait later to surprise teams with this guy because I’m sure nobody saw him coming, and now the league will get a chance to evaluate his weaknesses, should he have any.
“Lessened the urgency” of the search doesn’t mean “eliminated the need” for a search!
The real question here is how much can Griffin offer the Nets defensively. They already lead the league in scoring, so they should be procuring good defenders.
Exactly …… Griffin not going there. I’m sure they rather sign Drummond
Brooklyn make sense cause they need his size.
Lakers to me don’t make a good fit cause you already have AD, Kuzma and Morris.
Blazers don’t really make much sense. If they are going for a old PF it’s LaMarcus or Kevin.
Celtics hmm makes some sense cause of the need for size and he would be a handy scorer outside of Bronw Tatum and Walker but can’t se sit happening.
Clippers not happening, they traded him and they have Ibaka and Morris.
GSW again have Green and Paschall so no real need
And lastly Miami just no. I know they need a PF but not Griffin he’s not a good fit in the locker room and on the court he’s so washed up now you’d be let down.