Blake Griffin Will Re-Sign With the Clippers For 5-Years, $173 Million Per Report

Blake Griffin will re-sign with the Los Angeles Clippers according to ESPN. Blake will reportedly sign a 5-year $173 million contract to stay in L.A. Here’s how it went down, via ESPN:

"Griffin met with team owner Steve Ballmer, president and coach Doc Rivers, special consultant Jerry West and several players at Staples Center on Friday. One person involved reportedly described the meeting as “a trip down memory lane,” with players Jamal Crawford, DeAndre Jordan, Patrick Beverley, Wesley Johnson and Sam Dekker all featured in a “production.” At the end of the two-hour fete, Griffin rose and spoke, telling teammates, his coach and the owner that “I want my legacy to be a Clipper.”"

There’s a lot going on there. Like Sam Dekker walking down memory lane with Blake Griffin, but the important thing is that it worked. The Clippers keep their star. Isn’t that nice?

Now can they actually get good enough players to keep Blake from regretting this decision? Right now the entirety of Blake’s Clippers legacy is a bunch of really cool dunks.

Griffin has played 61, 35 and 67 games in each of the last three seasons and the Clippers have won just three playoff series in 6 trips to the playoffs. With Chris Paul the Clippers were at the very top of the middle. Good enough and good enough to be optimistic, but ultimately without any real success.

Griffin reportedly won’t have a no-trade clause in this deal. That’s good for the Clippers, but the last couple weeks have shown that maybe superstars don’t have much trade value anymore. And if the Clippers do trade Griffin down the road, what of his legacy? Did Griffin get suckered by the same family atmosphere that brought DeAndre Jordan back from the brink of Dallas?

Griffin’s legacy in L.A. might be that he was there for the brief time that the Lakers weren’t the best team in the city. Now the Lakers are on their way back up from the bottom and the Clippers are definitely about to get worse. Griffin was there for the rise. I guess it’s nice that he wants to be there for the fall.