Adam Silver Comments on NBA's Investigation into Blake Griffin Incident
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke about the incident that involved Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin punching a team equipment manager.
Sam Amick of USA Today reported Wednesday on Silver's comments, which came from an NBA A to Z podcast interview that will air later in the week. Silver said the NBA's investigation is still underway and hinted there will be disciplinary on the horizon:
"I'd say from the league's standpoint, of course it's the last thing that you want to see happen. And whether it's in the NBA, or in any industry, you have one co-worker, in essence, punching another co-worker. That's a terrible thing. Blake has acknowledged that. But at the same time, I know he recognizes that there are consequences of his actions.
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Silver also admitted the league office may have been compelled to close up its probe into the matter sooner had Griffin been healthy enough to play:
"Because of Blake's (quad) injury, we probably could have moved faster if we had needed to. But because we knew he was going to be out for an extended period anyway, we thought, 'Let's make sure we have … as complete an understanding as possible as to what happened.' But I'm hoping we can wrap this up relatively quickly.
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In addition to the quad Griffin hurt on Christmas Day, the Clippers announced he fractured the fourth metacarpal in his right hand after throwing the punch (h/t Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports).
Griffin's absence hasn't had such a negative impact on his team. Others have stepped up in his stead, as L.A. has posted a 15-3 record since the 26-year-old went down.
The timeline the Clippers gave for Griffin's recovery from his hand injury was four to six weeks. But his return depends on how severely Silver decides to penalize him for his unsavory off-court conduct. For his part, Griffin did issue a public apology on Twitter for the incident.
With a championship-winning head coach in Doc Rivers and an elite point guard in Chris Paul to lead the way, the Clippers have hung tough in the deep Western Conference. Whether the squad is championship-caliber this season likely hinges on when Griffin returns.
Because of his extended time away from the lineup, there's a real risk Griffin may struggle to re-establish chemistry with his teammates in time to position L.A. for a deep playoff run. Whenever the dynamic forward does return, Rivers has a tricky personnel situation to manage along with high expectations.
