Having taken over as the Vice President Basketball Operations for the New Orleans Pelicans, David Griffin has a new challenge ahead of him.
But even as he begins to build around No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson, that hasn't stopped him from reflecting on his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In a piece published to Sports Illustrated on Thursday, Griffin did just that, discussing the "miserable" nature of his three-year stint as Cavs GM. Perhaps most shockingly, Griffin said that after initially celebrating LeBron James' return to Cleveland in 2014, he proceeded to burst into tears, "overwhelmed by the sudden pressure to deliver The King's coveted ring," wrote Jake Fischer.
Two years later, Griffin would accomplish just that, with James leading the charge as the Cavs overcame a 3-1 series deficit to defeat the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals. Only it was at that moment that Griffin claims he knew he wasn't long for Cleveland, where he had worked since 2011.
“Literally the moment we won the championship I knew I was gonna leave. There was no way I was gonna stay for any amount of money," he said.
Why?
“Everything we did was so inorganic and unsustainable and, frankly, not fun," Griffin said. "I was miserable."
Griffin later added: “We won despite our culture to a huge degree. And I knew it. I knew what we weren’t doing. There were so many things during that period of time that I wanted to do differently."
A year later, Griffin's words would prove prophetic as he ultimately left the Cavs after his contract expired in the summer of 2017. In what would be the first of his two years between Cleveland and New Orleans, the 45-year-old Griffin said he didn't even watch basketball.
“I didn’t watch the league, and I didn’t love the game anymore,” Griffin said. “I was so fixated on outcome that I just totally lost my joy.”
That joy, however, ultimately came back, thanks in part to the year he spent as an analyst for NBA TV. In April, he returned to the NBA as the VP of Basketball Operations for the Pelicans, where he'll be tasked with nurturing the legacy of perhaps the most highly touted since James in Williamson.