National Basketball Association

LA Clippers: Blake Griffin only took a week off after surgery

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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LA Clippers star Blake Griffin needed surgery this summer, but waited no more than a week to begin rehab and says he “didn’t deserve a summer break.”

The LA Clippers’ 2015-16 season couldn’t have ended in a more heartbreaking or frustrating manner for the team and its fans. After Stephen Curry‘s MCL injury offering a sudden spell of hope that the Western Conference Finals could be in reach for the Clippers, the basketball gods struck. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin both suffered season-ending injuries within a few minutes of each other in Game 4 of the first round of the playoffs. That was it.

From potentially the best season in franchise history, their two best players were eliminated in an instant. But Griffin isn’t ready to let that hold him back for next season.

After missing 47 games in the regular season due to a partial quadriceps tear and a broken hand from the Matias Testi incident, it was issues with his quad that took Griffin out of the playoffs. He’s needed surgery to deal with it this summer, but didn’t wait long to begin rehab, as he explained on J.J. Redick‘s latest podcast for The Vertical:

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“I took a week off after I had surgery and then started rehab a week after that, and I’ve been going all the way through. I actually just got back from vacation, so I took a week off there, so basically two weeks (off) this whole summer. I kind of had in my mind, I’m just going to go all the way through. In my mind, I didn’t deserve a summer break.”

Saying that he doesn’t deserve a summer break says a lot about Griffin’s mindset. It’s the same driven mindset that has allowed him to add so much to his game as a playmaker and mid-range/post specialist over the course of his career, and now it can only hasten his recovery process.

After surgery, I think we can agree that the two weeks he did enjoy (primarily due to necessity) are justified.

If there’s one thing the LA Clippers and their fans can get excited about more than anything else next summer, it’s the return of a healthy and motivated Blake Griffin.

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