Blake Griffin Says Narrative About Him Not Dunking with Pistons ‘Pissed Me off’

AP Photo/Kathy Willens

Blake Griffin was the one who jumped over a car to win the Slam Dunk Contest when he was a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, so the internet took notice when he wasn’t throwing down dunks on the Detroit Pistons.

He discussed the narrative that surrounded him and how annoyed he was by it during an appearance on The Old Man and The Three podcast with JJ Redick and Tommy Alter.

“It bothered me a little bit,” he said. “Because the stat was he hasn’t dunked in four-hundred-something days, sure.”

Griffin explained the Pistons didn’t go to the Walt Disney World Resort bubble and he underwent surgery, which limited the number of games he actually played during that stretch.

“Everyone’s like ‘he hasn’t dunked in over a year,’ I’m like I haven’t played in over a year,” he continued. “But I played those 19 games with the Pistons and didn’t dunk. … That just pissed me off because you guys know the stat, you’re just choosing to be like ‘let’s do days instead of games.'”

Griffin played just 18 games during the 2019-20 campaign for the Pistons and was not as explosive as he was during his prime on the Clippers. However, he appeared rejuvenated with the Brooklyn Nets when he joined them in 2020-21 after agreeing to a buyout with Detroit.

He helped lead Brooklyn to the playoffs and found a secondary contributing role alongside the star power of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving.

And, yes, he also dunked.