Want more from Front Office Sports
in your search results?
Blake Griffin thinks the Clippers got the appropriate punishment for violating the NBA’s salary cap rules.
Speaking to Front Office Sports on Wednesday, the former Clippers star said the punishment the NBA handed the Clippers “probably fits.”
He also mentioned the irony of the Clippers ownership going from Donald Sterling, one of the “worst owners in sports and notoriously cheap,” to Steve Ballmer, who circumvented the salary cap in an effort to pay Leonard more than what the NBA allowed.
“Clippers fans have literally gone from the cheapest owner of all time to an owner that’s like, ‘Yeah, I’ll pay more.’ Which is kind of funny,” Griffin told FOS’s Dan Roberts on an upcoming episode of Portfolio Players. “If you’re a Clippers fan, you want your owner doing everything possible to try to ensure success for the team. Obviously, that went a little too far.”
In 2014, when Griffin was still in Los Angeles, Sterling was forced to sell the Clippers after leaked audio revealed him making racist remarks. Ballmer purchased the team from Sterling for $2 billion.
Last month, the NBA found the Clippers illegally circumvented the league’s salary cap with sponsorship deals for Kawhi Leonard. They handed down a slew of punishments, including stripping them of five future first-round picks and suspending owner Steve Ballmer for a year and other team executives for six to 12 months.
Griffin said he ultimately feels that Clippers fans got the worst of it: “That is an extremely loyal fan base. I still live in LA and run into Clipper fans all the time, and the way they just roll with that team and rep that team, good or bad, is incredibly impressive, and it makes being a former Clipper—I have a lot of pride in that. Even though [it’s] not a franchise that has had a ton of success.”
Griffin did give a little hope to his former team’s fans, saying the next five years may not be a “complete loss.”
“They can overachieve,” Griffin said. “Ty Lue’s a great coach. They have some good pieces. Having to be smart to take this next five years and really plan for the future, I think is most important,” Griffin said.
Griffin, whom the Clippers drafted with the No. 1 pick in 2009, is one of the franchise’s best players. He played eight seasons in Los Angeles, making five of his six All-Star appearances while in a Clippers uniform, and has scored the second-most points in franchise history.
He retired in 2024 and is now an analyst for Amazon Prime Video.
Download the FOS App
The business of sports, in your pocket.
Scan the QR code to get the app now.
