{"id":96860,"date":"2024-09-20T20:44:25","date_gmt":"2024-09-21T00:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=96860"},"modified":"2024-09-21T02:04:24","modified_gmt":"2024-09-21T06:04:24","slug":"rockets-part-ways-aj-griffin-former-first-round-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/20\/rockets-part-ways-aj-griffin-former-first-round-pick\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockets Part Ways With Former First Round Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Next spring, the Houston Rockets hope to be in the playoffs for the first time since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hardeja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Harden<\/a> left. The path has been long and arduous, with three straight seasons winning fewer than 23 games. In 2023-24, the Rockets appeared to right the ship, going 41-41 while coached by Ime Udoka. However, they were still a couple of players away from getting over the hump.<\/p>\n<h2>Rockets Part Ways With Former First Round Pick AJ Griffin<\/h2>\n<p>With the 2024-25 season opener around the corner, one of the potential pieces to that puzzle won\u2019t be rostered. Per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, the Rockets and wing <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/griffaj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AJ Griffin<\/a> will part ways after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/rockets\/article\/aj-griffin-bought-out-19780515.php\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agreeing to a contract buyout<\/a>. The buyout agreement will allow Griffin \u201cto sit out the season while considering whether to continue his career.\u201d Feigen adds that \u201cthe buyout was worth $250,000,\u201d with Griffin originally set to make $3.9 million in 2024-25.<\/p>\n<p>On Sept. 12, Shams Charania and Kelly Iko of The Athletic reported that Griffin was seriously considering walking away from the sport.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Just in: Houston Rockets F AJ Griffin is seriously considering stepping away from basketball, sources tell me and <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KellyIko?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@KellyIko<\/a>. Griffin, 21, was the No. 16 pick in the 2022 NBA draft to Atlanta, then traded to Houston this summer. Sides are preparing for his departure from the game. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AyNp1rF4MI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/AyNp1rF4MI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1834329384498454746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 12, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>He was drafted 16th overall in 2022, only recently turning 21 years old.<\/p>\n<h3>What\u2019s The Story?<\/h3>\n<p>There\u2019s yet to be an explanation for why Griffin has become so disenchanted by the game this early. Charania and Iko noted they \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/5782871\/2024\/09\/20\/aj-girffin-retirement-duke-rockets-hawks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">as training camp edged closer<\/a>, Griffin&#8217;s appearances \u2014and communication with the organization \u2014diminished.\u201d They added that the Rockets \u201cunderstand that his personal life takes priority and have offered their support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet, neither of these appendages are explanations. As a result, all people on the outside <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/13\/why-rockets-aj-griffin-preparing-to-walk-away-from-nba\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">can do is speculate<\/a>. With his injury history, there could be reason to believe that constantly going through a rehab process has been draining. Yet, Griffin hasn\u2019t had any injuries \u2014rumored or reported \u2014since the trade.<\/p>\n<p>There was definitely a rapid shift in his career trajectory after the Atlanta Hawks changed coaches though. To that point, professional athletes are human too. The internal and external pressure they face can take a toll. A young player who felt the door shut in his face might experience emotional turbulence.<\/p>\n<p>Another factor that could have led to his decision is Udoka\u2019s coaching style. Griffin is the son of a former NBA head coach. However, coaches approach their jobs differently. Players take to the same coach differently. For example, Udoka isn\u2019t afraid to push buttons. While <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sengual01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alperen Sengun<\/a> says that he loves it, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Green<\/a> can <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/02\/29\/houston-rockets-jalen-green-growing-increasingly-frustrated\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">hardly stand it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe it\u2019s something else. It doesn\u2019t even have to be negative. Perhaps he just found a passion he wants to pursue other than basketball. He\u2019s spent his life in and around the sport, so a change could be appealing.<\/p>\n<p>If so, it isn\u2019t hard to see him wanting to come back to the NBA eventually. Nor is it difficult to believe that NBA fans will never see him in a jersey again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Next spring, the Houston Rockets hope to be in the playoffs for the first time since James Harden left. The path has been long and arduous, with three straight seasons winning fewer than 23 games. In 2023-24, the Rockets appeared to right the ship, going 41-41 while coached by Ime Udoka. However, they were still [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":96864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[31,1608,62,3],"tags":[3824,297],"class_list":["post-96860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rockets","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-aj-griffin","tag-nba-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96860","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\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}