Celtics Discuss Potential Blake Griffin Return

Blake Griffin has played for four NBA teams across his 13 seasons in the league.

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla and guard Derrick White both recently weighed in on Blake Griffin potentially returning to the team this season. 

White had high praise for Griffin, calling him “one of the best teammates all of us has ever had.”

Griffin — who has yet to play in the NBA since the start of the 2023-24 regular season — seems to be embracing his time away from basketball. According to White, the 34-year-old is “living life” and “spending time with his family, and he's enjoying it.”

As for Mazzulla, he spoke with Griffin during the 2023 offseason but left the latter alone after he said that family is the most important thing to him.

“I talked to him a little bit in the offseason," Mazzulla said. "I talked to him one or two times I think when we were in LA, but when he told me at the end of last season that his family is the most important thing, I stopped talking to him about it because I know what it’s like to be away from your kids and be away from your family. He’s always gonna make the decision that’s best for him.”

Griffin logged 41 appearances and 16 starts with the Celtics during the 2022-23 regular season and averaged 4.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game while shooting 48.5 percent from the floor and 34.8 percent from 3-point range. 

But he played in just one game during Boston's playoff run — which ended in the Eastern Conference Finals at the hands of the Miami Heat — a season ago.