Blake Griffin won't be participating in the London Games. The Clippers power forward flew back to Los Angeles earlier today, and now the reports seem to indicate the Olympics are not going to happen as he heals up.
The good news is that it won't affect his status for the upcoming season. At least if preliminary reports are any indication. Both Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated and Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports filed similar stories.
Source close to Clippers F Blake Griffin says he will not be participating in the Olympics but will be ready for training camp.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) July 13, 2012
Source close to Clippers injured star Blake Griffin tells Y! he will be ready for training camp which would suggest he won't be an Olympian
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) July 13, 2012
Griffin now leaves the US Olympic team with virtually no big men. Tyson Chandler is the only pure center on this team, and Anthony Davis will probably be featured in limited periods as a rookie. The United States will probably have to feature Kevin Durant and LeBron James as big men more prominently to shore up their weakness inside, although Durant and James have both played at the 4 (and James was often able to play center last season, particularly in the playoffs).
Luckily, NBA fans will probably not have to worry about Griffin being ready for action, as he figures to be all-healed up by the time the season begins.
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