So, we haven’t seen Blake Griffin on the court since he broke his hand punching equipment manager Matias Testi at a restaurant on January 23rd. Since then the team has gone a respectable 14-9. Rumors have been swirling that Blake is close and will be returning to action soon.
A recent post by CBS Sports says team officials don’t believe Blake will be back until the end of April, sometime around the 24th. According to the report:
“Griffin, is going hard in workouts and getting closer to a return.”
Now, I don’t know how close he actually is to returning but I do know if the Clippers have any thoughts on advancing deep into the Golden State Warriors Invitational (more commonly known as the NBA playoffs) they need their all-star forward.
The question needs to be asked, this is year five of the Chris Paul/Blake Griffin experiment and while they have had moderate success, the ultimate goal has not been achieved. And, given the fragile state of the locker room since the incident (Testi was well liked and Blake may have broken a locker room code), will this be the end of the run for the Clippers? Discord and lack of cohesion is not a recipe for success when trying to win a championship.