Blake Griffin (Photo : Harry How | Getty Images Sport)
Make no mistake about it; the Los Angeles Clippers is Blake Griffin's team.
This season, he makes the strongest case for the Most Valuable Player Award if not for the freakish display of the Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry.
NBA site Hardwood Paroxysm posted a list of possible MVP candidates aside from Curry and they included Blake in the shortlist. They note that the Clippers forward "is so much more than the player he was when he entered the league - his ballhandling and playmaking have improved, coupling with his athleticism to form one of the most unstoppable offensive threats in the league."
However, there is hardly a chance for Curry to win the award. Aside from Curry's insanely successful year, the Clippers are not doing very well. In fact, they have reached the point of exploring trade options, according to Clips Nation.
Based on Sam Amico's tweet, the Clippers are making "exploratory calls" but CN admits that these may not lead to anything substantial that would change the fortunes of the team.
CN enumerates "Lance Stephenson's contract (which is a team option next year), Jamal Crawford's expiring deal, and the young, unproven players in Dawson/Wilcox" as the only pieces worth looking at. None of them can bring back a substantial return.
The Clippers could not afford to have a losing season or miss the playoffs. They are the most expensive franchise purchase (a whopping $ 2 Billion) and have invested too much on bravado.
As Rivers stated, teams can get stale and even now, there are trade rumors for DeAndre Jordan and even Chris Paul as the Clippers core may need to reboot if they still fail in their fourth year together.
