David Griffin Was 'Miserable' Building Championship Roster for LeBron, Cavaliers

Griffin said "I knew I was gonna leave," after the Cavaliers won the 2016 Finals.

Former Cavaliers general manager David Griffin said he was "miserable" during his three-year stint leading Cleveland's front office from 2014-17, which included a stretch with three-straight trips to the NBA Finals.

"Everything we did was so inorganic and unsustainable and, frankly, not fun. I was miserable,” Griffin told Sports Illustrated's Jake Fischer. “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.”

Griffin and the Cavaliers won the 2016 Finals over the Warriors in LeBron James second season with the franchise after his four-year stint in Miami. Griffin left the Cavs in June 2017, starting a two-year stretch as an analyst for NBA TV.

“I didn’t watch the league, and I didn’t love the game anymore [after the 2016 Finals],” Griffin told Fischer. “I was so fixated on the outcome that I just totally lost my joy.”

Griffin is now back in an NBA front office after his television tour. He was hired as the Pelicans' executive vice president of basketball operations in April.