Community Shootaround: Blake Griffin

Blake Griffin enters unrestricted free agency with some question marks but undoubtedly the Los Angeles Clippers star will wind up with a max contract. The big mystery is whether he’ll re-sign with the Clippers or seek a fresh start elsewhere.

The Clippers have the advantage of being able to offer him a five-year deal worth approximately $175MM. He would have to accept a maximum of four years and $130MM elsewhere but opt out clauses are often used by agents to circumvent those restrictions.

Griffin’s last two seasons have been sidetracked by injuries. He appeared in just 35 games in 2015/16 because of a quad injury. This past season, a knee injury limited him to 61 regular-season games. He missed the last four games of the opening-round playoff series against the Jazz with a toe injury that required surgery.

Griffin’s defense, and occasionally his character, has also been criticized. But there’s no denying his offensive talent. A power forward who can average 21.6 PPG, 8.1 RPG and 4.9 APG, as he did in his walk year, will have plenty of suitors on the market.

The Celtics, Wizards, Thunder and Heat are some of the teams expected to pursue him. Boston needs a big-time power forward to get over the hump in the Eastern Conference and Washington needs more balance to its backcourt-oriented attack. Griffin could return to his home state of Oklahoma and take some of the scoring and playmaking burden off Russell Westbrook. He could be “the man” for a club like Miami and even the Lakers could be an option, considering that he’d be surrounded with young talent and their No. 1 scoring option.

Of course, the Clippers will do everything they can to keep their core of Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan intact, despite the playoff flops in recent years.

That brings us to our question of the day: Which team do you think unrestricted free agent Blake Griffin will sign with and why?

Please take to the comments section and share your opinion on this topic. We look forward to what you have to say.

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