The biggest name in next year's NBA free agent class will be none other than Blake Griffin, which means as the 2016-17 NBA season rolls on, you're probably going to hear a lot of speculation about where he'll end up next. The belief seems to be that he'll stay in Los Angeles and remain with the Clippers when he opts out of his current contract and becomes an unrestricted free agent, but he's from Oklahoma and played college basketball there, so could we see him in a Thunder jersey at some point?
Probably not. Yes, he's from Oklahoma, but he doesn't want to hear anyone ask him about returning home during the Clippers' trip to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder on Friday night. "People that I talk to and my friends and family from back home, I think they're...I would say true friends and family, where they know that my main focus is this season and [the Clippers]," Griffin told ESPN on Wednesday night after his team annihilated the Trail Blazers. "And they know that I enjoy playing here and I love this team, coaching staff, everybody. So they know that that's my main focus. So I think they pretty much know not to bring that up."
In addition to growing up in Oklahoma, Griffin also spent two seasons at the University of Oklahoma playing for the Sooners. The school sits just 20 miles south of his hometown. Griffin was the National Player of the Year in 2009 and was swept up by the Clippers with the first overall pick that year. The Thunder ended up taking James Harden with the third pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
During the preseason this year, Griffin also told SiriusXM NBA Radio about how he's not worrying about his impending free agency just yet. "It's honestly nothing I even really think about," he said. "Haven't had a conversation with anybody. That includes friends, family, agents, coaches, teammates...It's not a conversation I have. I got a lot of basketball left to play this year. I got a full season, postseason, still got some preseason. So that's on the back on my mind. I'll deal with that when the appropriate time comes. But right now isn't the time."
Griffin signed a five-year max extension with the Clippers in 2012, but he can exercise an early termination option to become a free agent this summer. We're sure that, despite Griffin's denials, most Thunder fans are still thinking about the possibility of him jilting the Clippers and leaving boring Los Angeles for sunny Oklahoma, especially after watching their own guy get poached by the Warriors to virtually lock up a championship last summer. Keep hope alive, Thunder fans!
