Patrick Beverley Questions Paul George, Blake Griffin's Basketball HOF Credentials
Former NBA guard Patrick Beverley questioned the credentials of Paul George and Blake Griffin on the latest edition of his podcast amid a discussion about what makes a Hall of Famer.
"The people who sit back and be like, 'OK, this current player is a Hall of Famer. This current player is a Hall of Famer. And I'm talking about people say Paul George, right? You hear a lot of people say, 'Yes he is,' right? And I'm looking at it like, well if he is a Hall of Famer, [Stephen Jackson] for sure is a Hall of Famer. [Lou Williams] is for sure a Hall of Famer. Like, so I'm trying to see like what's the stipulations with the Hall of Fame?
George has played 15 seasons. He's a nine-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA Team member (one first team, five third teams) and four-time All-Defensive Team honoree. He's averaged 20.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Basketball-Reference lists his Hall of Fame probability chances at 97.9 percent.
Later in the conversation, Beverley began speaking about Griffin.
"And people talk about Blake Griffin being in the Hall of Fame. And I'm looking like, how? No discredit to Blake Griffin, but I'm looking like, how? I took the Clippers to the Western Conference Finals, like, the first time ever. If I were to dunk more, that mean I would have got in the Hall of Fame? It's real tedious and critical when they get in this Hall of Fame, I'm just trying to see to the politics..."
Griffin played 13 seasons (2010-2023). He's a six-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA player (three second teams, two third teams) who averaged 19.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Griffin was the key member on the highly entering "Lob City" Los Angeles Clippers teams from the 2010s. His Hall of Fame probability chance is 54.8 percent, per Basketball-Reference.
The knock on both is that neither has enjoyed championship success. George led the Indiana Pacers to the 2013 and 2014 Eastern Conference Finals but lost both times to LeBron James and the Miami Heat. He also helped guide the 2021 Los Angeles Clippers to the Western Conference Finals, where they lost to the Phoenix Suns.
Griffin's teams never made it to the Conference Finals, although he did make the conference semifinals four times.
However, both were superb players at their peaks, routinely going to the playoffs and finding themselves on All-NBA teams. Both ran into tough luck in the postseason, with the former blocked from the NBA Finals by James and the latter not getting there during a brutally tough decade in the Western Conference, which was littered with very good to legendary teams in the 2010s.
We'll soon find out how voters feel about Griffin's candidacy. A player must be fully retired for three years, and this season marks his second away from the game. George, meanwhile, is still active with the Philadelphia 76ers, so we'll find out about his Hall of Fame candidacy down the road.
