Blake Griffin
Blake Austin Griffin is an American former professional basketball player. Griffin primarily played with the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association and played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners, where he was named the consensus national college player of the year as a sophomore. Griffin was selected first overall by the Clippers in the 2009 NBA draft, and was a six-time NBA All-Star and a five-time All-NBA selection. In January 2018, Griffin was traded to the Detroit Pistons and played for them until 2021. In March 2021, Griffin signed with the Brooklyn Nets. In September 2022, Griffin signed with the Boston Celtics, whom he stayed with until his retirement in 2023.
Griffin won four high school state titles at Oklahoma Christian School under his father, head coach Tommy Griffin. Griffin played two seasons of college basketball for the Sooners before entering the 2009 NBA draft, when he was selected by the Clippers. During the final pre-season game of 2009, he broke his left kneecap, had surgery, and missed the entire 2009–10 season. Griffin made his NBA debut as a rookie the following season, in which he was selected as an All-Star, won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, and was named the NBA Rookie of the Year. In 2011, Sports Illustrated called him one of the NBA's 15 Greatest Rookies of All Time. He is also widely regarded as one of the best slam dunkers of all time.
Early life
Griffin was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Tommy Griffin, who is of Afro-Haitian descent, and Gail Griffin, who is white. His father was a basketball center and track standout at Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Griffin and his older brother, Taylor Griffin, were home-schooled by their mother from first grade until Taylor was in the tenth grade and Blake was in eighth. Growing up, Griffin was good friends with future NFL quarterback Sam Bradford. Bradford's father owned a gym where Blake and Taylor played basketball. Before deciding to focus on basketball, Griffin also played baseball as a first baseman and football as a wide receiver, safety, and tight end.High school career
In 2003, Griffin followed his brother to Oklahoma Christian School, where they played under their father, head coach Tommy Griffin. They played together during the 2003–04 and 2004–05 high school seasons, winning two state basketball championships. In his freshman year, the Oklahoma Christian Saints posted a perfect 29–0 season and won the Class 3A boys state championship game at the State Fair Arena against Riverside Indian School, 55–50.In Griffin's sophomore year, the Saints repeated as Class 3A state champions, defeating Sequoyah-Tahlequah 51–34, where he scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds. The team finished the season with a 24–2 record, with Griffin averaging 13.6 points per game. He was later named to the Little All-City All-State team in what was his final high school season with his brother. Taylor went on to accept a scholarship to play college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners. During the summer of 2005, Blake was a member of the Athletes First AAU team, where he played against Kevin Durant and Ty Lawson's AAU team, the DC Blue Devils.
During Griffin's junior season, the Oklahoma Christian basketball team was moved down to Class 2A from Class 3A. As he began his third season with the Saints, he was quickly developing as a player, as he led them to a third straight state championship. He scored 22 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and recorded six blocks in the finals as Oklahoma Christian defeated Washington High School, 57–40. He was named the state tournament MVP, and the Saints finished the season 27–1, with Griffin averaging 21.7 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 4.9 assists. For his efforts, he was named The Oklahoman Player of the Year and to the Tulsa World Boys All-State First Team. His play attracted the attention of the new basketball head coach for Oklahoma, Jeff Capel, who first heard of him through his brother, Taylor. That spring, Capel saw him play for the first time and was quickly impressed. Capel liked the fact that Griffin had not yet become a household name among recruiters and felt he was exactly the player whom he needed to rebuild the Oklahoma men's basketball program with. Griffin had been considering Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, and Texas, but his brother eventually sold him on joining Oklahoma when he raved about the direction of the Sooners and the chance to play together again for his home state.
Griffin committed to Oklahoma before the start of his senior season. He went on to average 26.8 points, 15.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.9 blocks per game as a senior while leading the team to a 26–3 record. In a game against Oklahoma City Southeast, he finished with 41 points, 28 rebounds, and 10 assists. The Saints advanced through the playoffs, defeating Crescent in the quarterfinals and Foyil in the semifinals to earn a berth in the Class 2A state championship once again. On March 10, 2007, he played his final high school game in the state title game against Pawnee High School. Griffin registered 22 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two blocks, as the Saints defeated Pawnee 81–50, winning their fourth straight state title. He was named the Class 2A state tournament MVP for the second consecutive year after averaging 26.6 points per game in the tournament. During his four-year run, the Oklahoma Christian Saints posted a 106–6 overall record.
Following Griffin's senior year, he was named the Player of the Year by both the Tulsa World and The Oklahoman. He was also named to the Oklahoma Boys All-State First Team, EA Sports All-American Second Team and Parade All-American Third Team. Additionally, he was the Gatorade Oklahoma Player of the Year and was selected to the McDonald's All-American and Jordan Brand All-America teams. At the McDonald's All-American game in Louisville, Kentucky, he won the Powerade Jam Fest slam dunk contest. He was ranked as the nation's 13th best high school senior by HoopScoop, 20th by Scout.com and 23rd by Rivals.com. HoopScoop also rated him as the country's third-best power forward while Rivals.com ranked him sixth and was seventh according to Scout.com.
College career
Freshman season (2007–2008)
Griffin was one of the highest rated and most decorated recruits ever at Oklahoma. As a freshman at Oklahoma, he averaged 14.7 points and 9.1 rebounds and led the Sooners to a 23–12 record. He ranked ninth in scoring, fourth in rebounding and third in field goal percentage in the Big 12 Conference. In a game against the Kansas Jayhawks, he suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee five minutes into the game. Less than two months after injuring his left knee, he injured his right knee in a home victory against Texas A&M. The injury this time was torn cartilage, and he had arthroscopic surgery on March 2, 2008. He missed the following game, a victory over in-state rival Oklahoma State Cowboys, but was back on the court a week after the injury with 14 points and eight rebounds in a win versus Missouri. Griffin was a first-team all-district pick by the USBWA and NABC, and was named to the Big 12 All-Rookie Team and to the first-team All-Big 12 selection by league coaches and Associated Press. He became the first Sooner to make the conference All-Rookie team since Wayman Tisdale in 1983 for the Big Eight Conference. He was expected to be a lottery pick in the 2008 NBA draft but decided to return to college to give himself time to mature physically and try to help Oklahoma win the NCAA championship.Sophomore season (2008–2009)
In Griffin's sophomore season, the Sooners started out the season winning their first 12 games before falling to the Arkansas Razorbacks. In the third game of the season, in a win against the Davidson Wildcats, he scored 25 points and grabbed 21 rebounds. The very next game, he had 35 points and 21 rebounds against Gardner–Webb, becoming the first player in Big 12 history to record back-to-back games of at least 20 points and 20 rebounds. This earned him three consecutive Big 12 player of the week honors and finished the season with a record-tying six player of the week honors. In a home victory against the Texas Tech Red Raiders, he set career-bests for both points and rebounds with 40 points and 23 rebounds, becoming the only player in Big 12 history and the third player in the history of the University of Oklahoma men's basketball program to record at least 40 points and 20 rebounds in a game, joining Wayman Tisdale and Alvan Adams.On February 21, Griffin received a concussion in a loss to the Texas Longhorns, when he caught an inadvertent shot to the face from the open hand of Texas center Dexter Pittman. He sat out the second half during the Sooners loss with a bloody nose. It was the Sooners' first loss of their conference schedule for the season. After sitting out the next game, a loss to Kansas Jayhawks, he was cleared by the medical staff and returned a week later to get 20 points and 19 rebounds in a victory over Texas Tech. Oklahoma finished second in the conference with a 13–3 record but fell short in the first game of the Big 12 tournament to Oklahoma State. In the NCAA tournament, Oklahoma was seeded No. 2 in the South Region with a 27–5 record. In a second-round win over the Michigan Wolverines, Griffin scored 33 points and grabbed 17 rebounds and became just the second player in the 2000s with at least 30 points and 15 rebounds in an NCAA tournament game. The Sooners ended up losing to the North Carolina Tar Heels in the South Regional final.
Griffin averaged 22.7 points, 14.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game during the regular season and earned All-American First Team honors. He led the NCAA in rebounding and was also the Big 12 scoring and rebounding leader. Griffin recorded at least 20 points and 15 rebounds 15 times, which is a Big 12 record. He also set school and Big 12 single-season records for most rebounds, rebounding average, and double-doubles, and his free throw attempts were the most by a Sooner in a single-season. With 30 double-doubles during the season, he was one short of the NCAA record of 31 set by David Robinson in 1986–1987. His total of 504 rebounds were the most in a season by an NCAA Division I player since Indiana State's Larry Bird had 505 in 1978–79 and his rebounding average of 14.4 was the highest since Wake Forest's Tim Duncan averaged 14.7 in 1996–97.
For his sophomore year performance, Griffin swept all six of the national player of the year awards. He was a unanimous choice by voters in all nine geographical districts for the Oscar Robertson Trophy and was named Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year, receiving 66 of the 71 national media panel members' votes. Griffin was announced as the Naismith College Player of the Year on April 5 in Detroit. Three days after announcing that he would turn pro, he won the John Wooden Award as college basketball's top player. He became the first Oklahoma player in school history to win the Naismith Award, Oscar Robertson Trophy, Adolph Rupp Trophy, John Wooden Award, and the Associated Press player of the year. He was also named Player of the Year by the Big 12, Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News and FoxSports.com.