Blake Griffin is a free agent. A few years ago that would have been the headline across all of sports media, but in 2021 this holds a bit of a different significance. As Blake Griffin is expected to join the Brooklyn Nets, we wanted to review the most iconic moments of his career through photos.
After his first full season with the Detroit Pistons in 2018, Griffin’s production has gone downhill…significantly.
After consistently averaging above 20 points per game over the first 10 seasons of his career, Griffin is down to just over 12 in 2021. An even sadder trend in Griffin’s game is the fact he hasn’t had an in-game dunk since 2019.
Blake Griffin’s new career chapter does not diminish the pure insanity of these photos
For a man whose whole career has been centered around dunking the ball, to say that he hasn’t dunked in just about 2 years is a crazy stat.
Now, it is not because he doesn’t want to dunk, it is because of the wear and tear all his highlight throwdowns have had on his body. Now, his body at age 31 is deteriorating, which is a tough pill to swallow for most fans.
Griffin is a free agent because the Pistons could not find a good trade partner for him, so instead, they bought him out. Teams were interested, but they are not expecting that star coming from Hollywood, but instead a debilitated player trying to find his niche in the game again.
Although Griffin has not dunked in quite a while, there is no ignoring the fact that his dunks made him the star that he is. So with that being said, let us take a look at Blake Griffin’s most iconic photos.
Blake Griffin demolishes Pau Gasol for the second time that game
In this Lakers-Clippers game back in 2012, Blake Griffin threw dunks down on Pau Gasol’s head not once, but twice.
There are many players throughout the league that have been victims of a Blake Griffin dunk, but Pau Gasol suffered through it twice.
The Clippers ended up losing this game, but most people only remember Griffin’s memorable dunks and this photo that captured the moment in all its glory.
Blake Griffin dunks on Serge Ibaka
One of the special parts of a Blake Griffin highlight dunk is that it is not some circus open court, fast-break dunk, they are ferocious dunks that put his opponents on a poster.
And in this 2012 matchup against the Thunder, Blake Griffin put Serge Ibaka on a poster.
This dunk sparked a rivalry that continued between Griffin and Ibaka.
Danilo Gallinari falls victim to Griffin
And at this moment, Mr. Gallinari knew he messed up. Many players simply believe in themselves too much, they take one for the team and try to block a dunk attempt.
But in Griffin’s prime, it was best to just move out of the way as he blew to the rim. Unfortunately for Gallinari, he didn’t.
The Knicks, as you will see at #2 have been a common victim to Blake Griffin and his throwdowns. This iconic photo of Blake Griffin shows he knew he had something coming.
Griffin shows Timofey Mozgov who is boss
There is not a lot of debate for slots one and two of top dunks in Griffin’s career. For most iconic photos of Blake Griffin ever taken.
But unfortunately for Timofey Mozgov, he fell victim to one of Blake Griffin’s most posterizing dunk.
The only reason Mozgov will only be on a poster in someone’s room will be because of Blake Griffin totally demolishing him.
Is Kendrick Perkins okay?
The poster of all posters. There may never be a more ferocious dunk in NBA history. Kendrick Perkins fell victim to a complete and utter throwdown.
You have to respect Perkins in this case, he knew he a very slim shot of slowing Griffin down, but he didn’t want to back down, as he said after the game.
Perkins explained: “A lot of people are afraid of humiliation or don’t know how to handle embarrassment. I don’t care. … How will my teammates look at me if next time I just back out the way and just let him dunk when I’m supposed to be defensive-minded, a shot-blocker?”
Nothing but respect for Perkins, but simply put, Blake Griffin OWNED him.
There could be new Blake Griffin photos soon enough…
One of the tougher things about Blake Griffin and the second half of his career is that it is easy to assume that we will never see another player fall victim to posterization from his hands.
There are plenty of stars in the league that can hit clutch shots and average over 20 points. But there are very few in history that could do what Blake Griffin could.
Hopefully, Griffin finds some form of his old game because it would be very exciting to wake up one morning and see Griffin on SportsCenter Top 10 again.
The Brooklyn Nets are getting a good guy and a solid player for their squad, and if these iconic Blake Griffin photos are any indication, Griffin still has magic up his sleeves to bring out at the right moment.