Blake Griffin will not play for Team USA in the 2014 FIBA World Cup. Late Monday, we learned why: Griffin has a back injury he traces back to the playoffs. The Clippers were not aware of the injury at the time, per the Los Angeles Times.
Blake Griffin bailed on Team USA due to a back injury a month after he backflipped into the sea
Those two facts make this video very interesting. It's from late June, well after the Clippers' playoff run ended and weeks before Griffin announced his withdrawal from Team USA.
At the time, the video received a good bit of attention. For example:
Blake Griffin with some solid form on the back flip on video taken at Croatian beach: http://t.co/SK1Ymzdz6j
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) June 28, 2014 But at the time, no one knew anything about Griffin’s back injury. Which makes one wonder if the back was even injured before the Croatian vacation. If so -- if Blake is telling the truth that he was hurt in the playoffs and didn’t tell the team -- why is he backflipping into the sea a month later? Furthermore, why did Griffin’s camp deny there was any injury when announcing his withdrawal from Team USA three days ago? (USA Basketball was caught off-guard by the withdrawal, and Griffin said he just wanted to rest before the regular season.)
There’s certainly no evidence that Griffin injured himself or aggravated a pre-existing injury in Croatia. But it’s all a bit ... fishy.
The mystery of Griffin’s summer grows.
