{"id":53631,"date":"2023-09-05T15:08:56","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T19:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=53631"},"modified":"2023-09-05T15:08:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T19:08:56","slug":"boston-celtics-reportedly-unlikely-to-re-sign-blake-griffin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/09\/05\/boston-celtics-reportedly-unlikely-to-re-sign-blake-griffin\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics Reportedly \u201cUnlikely\u201d to Re-Sign Blake Griffin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Despite <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/08\/07\/celtics-report-roundup-team-may-bring-back-former-1-pick\/\" target=\"_self\">earlier reports<\/a> suggesting that the Boston Celtics and free agent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/griffbl01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Blake Griffin<\/strong><\/a> may be open to a reunion for the 2023-24 season, this <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/10088338-celtics-rumors-blake-griffin-contract-unlikely-for-now-as-pf-considers-options\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">no longer looks to be the case<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The 34-year-old big man played in 41 games for the Celtics last year, including 16 starts.<\/p>\n<p>Griffin averaged 4.1 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 1.5 APG in 13.9 MPG. These were all career lows for the former Los Angeles Clippers star.<\/p>\n<p>Boston has one roster spot left <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/09\/01\/the-boston-celtics-sign-svi-mykhailiuk\/\" target=\"_self\">after their latest signing<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mykhasv01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Svi Mykhailiuk<\/strong><\/a>. And as it stands, the Celtics will likely move on from Griffin.<\/p>\n<h2>Boston Celtics Reportedly \u201cUnlikely\u201d to Re-Sign Blake Griffin<\/h2>\n<p>The Celtics signed Griffin to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/news\/veteran-free-agent-blake-griffin-joins-celtics\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">one-year deal last offseason<\/a> right before the 2022-23 season started.<\/p>\n<p>Griffin was brought in mainly to be a depth piece behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/horfoal01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Al Horford<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/williro04.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Robert Williams III<\/strong><\/a>. Still, Griffin did exactly what was asked of him.<\/p>\n<p>Though this isn&#8217;t the same Griffin that was catching lobs from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/paulch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Chris Paul<\/strong><\/a> in LA, Griffin is still an effective basketball player, even if in more of a limited role.<\/p>\n<p>Griffin has become a <a href=\"https:\/\/hoopshabit.com\/2022\/12\/17\/blake-griffin-leadership-boston-celtics\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">locker-room leader<\/a> and recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.celticsblog.com\/2023\/8\/23\/23841469\/blake-griffin-talks-time-boston-celtics-jayson-tatum-jaylen-brown-banner-18-championship\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">talked highly about playing for Boston<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If he does join a different team, it&#8217;s evident that both parties will miss each other.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Best of Blake Griffin in 2022-23 NBA Regular Season\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iJBlQIBA1Hs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>What&#8217;s Next for the Celtics?<\/h3>\n<p>With one more roster spot open, the Celtics need to bolster their depth at the center spot.<\/p>\n<p>Behind Horford, Williams III, and now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/porzikr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Kristaps Porzingis<\/strong><\/a>, the only other big man rostered is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kornelu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Luke Kornet<\/strong><\/a>. And no offense to the creator of the &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/news\/luke-kornet-contest-eclipse-defense-celtics\/d90pcnahh9ymrexqtebvpux8\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kornet Kontest<\/a>,&#8221; but it&#8217;s pretty obvious the team needs another big man on the roster.<\/p>\n<p>Some quality big men still available include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/woodch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Christian Wood<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/biyombi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Bismack Biyombo<\/strong><\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/ibakase01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Serge Ibaka<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Wood offers scoring and is a double-double threat every night, but he may be too expensive for the Celtics.<\/p>\n<p>Biyombo and Ibaka are both good defenders who would likely play a limited role for the Celtics &#8211; similar to what Griffin did for the team last season. Both bigs can offer quality minutes if needed, but neither would crack the rotation during the postseason.<\/p>\n<h3>What&#8217;s Next for Griffin?<\/h3>\n<p>Although Griffin was a fun addition for the Celtics last season, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/los-angeles\/nba\/news\/story?id=6479861\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2011 Rookie of the Year<\/a> is past his prime. At this stage in his career, he will likely be looking to make his way to another championship contender.<\/p>\n<p>A few teams that could be interested in Griffin&#8217;s services include the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and Denver Nuggets.<\/p>\n<p>These are all teams Griffin has personal ties to, either through past teammates or familiar scenery (<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/08\/22\/nba-rumors-exec-says-lakers-should-sign-blake-griffin\/\" target=\"_self\">in the case of Los Angeles<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Another team that could be intriguing for Griffin would be the Oklahoma City Thunder. He is from Oklahoma and was a member of the Sooners in college.<\/p>\n<p>However, the elephant in the room is that the Thunder are likely not championship contenders right now. That said, they are a very young team and would benefit from a veteran leader like Griffin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite earlier reports suggesting that the Boston Celtics and free agent Blake Griffin may be open to a reunion for the 2023-24 season, this no longer looks to be the case. The 34-year-old big man played in 41 games for the Celtics last year, including 16 starts. Griffin averaged 4.1 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 1.5 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":53651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1608,62,3],"tags":[129,226,3145,297,128],"class_list":["post-53631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celtics","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-bismack-biyombo","tag-blake-griffin","tag-christian-wood","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-serge-ibaka"],"modified_by":"Kayla Fonte","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}