Blake Griffin suspended four games for punching team employee
We can finally stop holding our breaths waiting for the news of Blake Griffin’s punishment to be handed down.
On Tuesday, the Clippers announced in an official release that Griffin has been suspended four games without pay for a January 23rd incident in which he punched team equipment manager Matias Testi, per Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Griffin will also have his wages withheld for one additional game due to the broken hand he sustained in the episode.
Clippers suspend Blake Griffin four games for striking a team player and wages held for additional game for injury. pic.twitter.com/qdzkSH6G3r
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) February 9, 2016
A four-game ban isn’t that harsh at all considering that the five-time All-Star punched a co-worker in the face on what essentially amounted to a business trip. Griffin will, in all likelihood, begin serving the suspension once he is medically cleared to play as he currently is in the midst of what the Clippers estimate to be a two-month recovery timetable. And it might be even longer than that considering these pictures that recently surfaced of Griffin’s gnarly-looking and heavily-swollen right hand.
As such, Griffin looks like a longshot to return to action during the regular season. The Clippers have managed to go a somewhat miraculous 18-4 in his absence. But in the arms race that is the Western Conference, they’ll need their superstar forward at full health to have even an outside shot at a deep playoff run.
Numerous trade rumors have dogged Griffin as a direct result of the skirmish. But now that his suspension has been announced, the Clippers can finally start to put this black eye of an incident for their entire franchise behind them once and for all.
Image Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
