‘Shocked’ Blake Griffin said he found out about trade on Twitter

Basketball fans and NBA players alike were in disbelief when news broke on Twitter that the Clippers had agreed to ship franchise big man Blake Griffin to the Pistons Monday night.

Apparently Griffin was in the same boat.

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Griffin, who previously had spent his entire seven-year career with the Clippers, said no one from the organization called to inform him of the deal prior to news of the trade hitting social media.

While the five-time All-Star acknowledged basketball is “a business” he admitted it was disappointing to find out he was being traded on Twitter like the rest of the basketball world.

“The only thing I just wish I had known or had the opportunity to talk to somebody beforehand. Finding out through Twitter, through other people is a tough way to find out when you've been with a franchise for so long,” Griffin told ESPN Wednesday. “But at the end of the day, basketball is a business, and I want to play where a team wants me. And that's why I'm excited about being here (in Detroit).”

Despite Griffin saying he was “shocked” to find out he was being traded, he appeared to take the news in stride, tweeting out a gif of Will Smith looking surprised shortly after it was reported he was being shipped to the Pistons.



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Griffin later posted a farewell note to Twitter, saying he is "forever grateful" to Clippers fans for embracing him, but he is now “ready for the next chapter.”

The decision to trade Griffin comes only months after the Clippers signed him to massive five-year, $173 million deal last June. As part of an elaborate free-agent pitch to keep Griffin in Los Angeles, the Clippers performed a mock jersey retirement ceremony for Griffin, displaying his jersey in the rafters while pumping crowd noise throughout Staples Center.

Griffin led the Clippers to the playoffs in each of the last six seasons. However, after trading Chris Paul to the rockets prior to the start of the season and never being able to make it past the Conference Semifinals during the Griffin Era, the team opted to begin a complete rebuild.

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