Blake Griffin Lakers deal? Clippers want top billing in LA

Blake Griffin Lakers: There are reports that the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers could be trying to ship power forward Blake Griffin to the L.A. Lakers.

|
Lucy Nicholson/REUTERS
Los Angeles Clippers Blake Griffin scores against the Memphis Grizzlies during the NBA Western Conference Quarterfinals basketball playoff series in Los Angeles earlier this year.

The Los Angeles Clippers are reportedly in the mood to make some moves as the free agency period for the National Basketball Association (NBA) is set to begin July 1.

The latest rumors from various news sources have the Clippers trying to deal NBA All-Star power forward and dunking machine Blake Griffin across the Staples Center to the Los Angeles Lakers for soon-to-be free agent center Dwight Howard. If this deal were to happen, Howard would be able to negotiate a new multi-year, multi-million dollar contract with the Clippers and team up with All-Star guard Chris Paul.

Griffin would then become teammates with perennial All-Star Kobe Bryant and forward Pau Gasol, possibly forming an impressive inside-outside scoring offense for head coach Mike D'Antoni.

The other part of this puzzle is the reported ongoing negotiations between the Clippers and Boston Celtics over the future services of head coach Glenn 'Doc' Rivers and power forward Kevin 'KG' Garnett.

The Celtics, led by general manager Danny Ainge, are at a crossroads, with aging superstars, young talent, and various role players, who barely got the club to the NBA playoffs this season. Boston lost to the New York Knicks in the first round.

For their part, the Clippers feel like they are only a few pieces away from being a championship contending team. Some of those pieces would fall into place if they could add Rivers as coach, Howard as center, and Garnett at the power forward spot.

However, the Celtics are pushing hard to receive Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe and center DeAndre Jordan in exchange for Rivers and Garnett. There may be other players involved before it's all said and done. But it's an interesting subplot to the main league story of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat this week.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Blake Griffin Lakers deal? Clippers want top billing in LA
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Sports/2013/0618/Blake-Griffin-Lakers-deal-Clippers-want-top-billing-in-LA
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe