People who work for the Clippers are “miserable” about the embarrassment that the reported altercation between Blake Griffin and equipment manager Mathis Testi has brought upon the franchise, Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding writes. Griffin, who’s expected to miss four to six weeks recovering from the broken hand he apparently suffered in the incident, issued a statement of apology through his verified Twitter account.
“A situation among friends escalated and I regret the way I handled myself towards someone I care about,” Griffin wrote. “I want to apologize to the Clippers’ organization, my teammates and the fans for creating a distraction. I am working with the team on a resolution and getting back in the game as soon as possible.”
The Clippers earlier seemed to express frustration with Griffin in a sharply worded response to the affair when they announced Griffin’s injury Tuesday. See more from around the NBA:
- The Hawks aren’t entirely sure that Al Horford will re-sign in free agency this summer, and they’re making it a priority to re-sign fellow soon-to-be free agent Kent Bazemore, too, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports says in the latest edition of his “The Vertical” podcast (audio link, scroll ahead to 48-minute mark). Wojnarowski and Yahoo Sports colleague Chris Mannix also elaborated on the Atlanta’s trade talks involving Jeff Teague.
- Luke Walton said that he had fun as interim Warriors head coach but acknowledged that he still has much to learn as he spoke in a radio appearance on 95.7 The Game. Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group has the partial transcription (Twitter links). “I’m not in a rush to go out and do anything different,” Walton said. “I enjoy the assistant role too … I’d love to be back again next season.”
- Matthew Dellavedova was “definitely shocked” when the Cavaliers fired David Blatt and said to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he’s sure he’ll cross paths with the coach again. “Coach Blatt was huge for me,” Dellavedova said. “He gave me a great opportunity. He really believed in me and 100% supported me. It was really great for my career, so I’m always going to be appreciative for what he did for me.” Dellavedova is set for restricted free agency at season’s end.
Bazemore has a nice payday coming to him after his breakout season.