CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Cavaliers small forward LeBron James has seen a little bit of everything in his 16 years in the NBA, but even he can be caught off-guard on occasion.
When news broke Monday that the Los Angeles Clippers dealt star power forward Blake Griffin, along with Brice Johnson and Willie Reed to the Detroit Pistons for Avery Bradley, Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic and a pair of draft picks, James’ initial reaction was surprise.
“I had just woken up from a nap and seen the news,” James said after shootaround prior to tonight’s game against the Pistons at Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit. “I was a little bit in shock when I saw it, but I know the business. As unfortunate as it looks, you know the business, so it is what it is.”
Selected by the Clippers with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft out of the University of Oklahoma, Griffin spent all nine of his professional seasons with Los Angeles until Monday’s trade.
Twice, Griffin, a five-time Western Conference All-Star, signed contract extensions to stay with the Clippers, including last July, when he reached an agreement on a five-year, $171 million deal.
“He spent his last nine years there and signed a multi-year deal there last summer,” James said of why he referred to the deal as unfortunate. “It’s unfortunate, but that’s the business, so it’s both sides. It works both sides. It’s the business.
“For sure, when a player gets traded, they were doing what’s best for the franchise, but when a player decides to leave, he’s not loyal. He’s a snake. He’s not committed. That’s the narrative of how it goes. I know that first-hand.”
Although James says it is tough to see the breakup of the Clippers, which first got underway when point guard Chris Paul was traded to the Houston Rockets last June, and continued with the Griffin-to-the-Pistons deal, he understands it is business as usual in the NBA.
Additionally, it has been widely reported that the Clippers have explored trade possibilities for center DeAndre Jordan, with the Cavaliers being mentioned as an interested team.
“That’s how the league is,” James said. “That’s how it goes. It’s no different from us being in Miami and grabbing attention for four years, and it changes, or Boston and what they were doing in ’08, ’09, ’10 and their changes.
“Orlando was playing great ball with Dwight (Howard). It changes. OKC grabbed it for a little. It’s just how it goes in professional sports, unless you’re San Antonio or the New England Patriots. Pretty much everybody else has moving pieces that move around.”
