Blake Griffin is free to sign with the Nets or any other interested NBA team after agreeing on a contract buyout with the Detroit Pistons.
The Nets are “believed [the] leaders ”to add Griffin, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweeted, the addition of “competing teams with interest expect Griffin to choose [Brooklyn] as a title favorite for the chance to win a championship. ”
The Lakers, Heat, Warriors and Clippers – his former team – is among those who also expressed interest, according to the New York Times.
The 31-year-old Griffin has not played since Feb. 12, while the Pistons tried to swap him before the March 25 deadline, but they got no chance for the rest of his $ 36.6 million salary for this season. and the $ 39 million he earned. due for 2021-22.
The Nets have won ten of their last 11 games to enter the All-Star break with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference (24-13), a semifinal behind Philadelphia.
Kevin Durant has missed the last nine games with a thigh muscle injury, and Steve Nash mostly has a smaller team with 6-4 that Bruce Brown played in the power forward.
Durant will put out Sunday’s All-Star Game, but the Nets are still represented by guards Kyrie Irving and James Harden.
After Griffin turned down the waiver on Sunday, the Nets could use their mid-range exception (about $ 5.6 million) to cover him as the depths of the courtyard behind Durant and DeAndre Jordan, a former Clippers teammate to record. Griffin also worked with Durant during the summer in Los Angeles.
Griffin averaged a career-low 12.3 points and 5.2 rebounds in 20 games this season. He was handed over to Detroit by the Clippers in 2018 during the first season of a five-year extension worth $ 171 million.