5 biggest surprises of the 2017-18 NBA season

2. The Blake Griffin trade

In their push to retain Blake Griffin last offseason, the Los Angeles Clippers pulled out all the stops. In fact, they went so far as to stage a mock jersey retirement for him, according to ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe.

The sales pitch worked, as Griffin agreed to stay in L.A. on a five-year, $171-plus million max contract. Six months later, the Clippers traded him, Brice Johnson and Willie Reed to the Detroit Pistons for Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanovic, a top-four-protected 2018 first-round pick and a 2019 second-round pick.

How’s that for loyalty?

In retrospect, perhaps we shouldn’t have been so caught off-guard by the Clippers’ decision to blow up the remaining vestiges of their Big Three era. When Chris Paul finagled a trade to the Houston Rockets last offseason, so went the Clippers’ 50-plus-win ceiling. Building around Griffin and DeAndre Jordan would have been more feasible had head coach/former team president Doc Rivers not wasted so many first-round picks in recent years, but L.A. instead found itself woefully short on young talent with whom it could build around.

The most surprising aspect of the Griffin trade was the fact it involved Griffin, not Jordan. After all, the latter can become an unrestricted free agent this summer by declining his $24.1 million player option for 2018-19, which is why his name had bounced around in rumors leading up to the Feb. 8 trade deadline. Lou Williams likewise appeared to be trade bait prior to signing a three-year, $24 million extension on Feb. 7.

The Clippers likely aren’t having sellers’ remorse in the wake of the Griffin deal, as he failed to catapult the Pistons into playoff contention. Meanwhile, L.A. remained in the postseason conversation until the final week of the regular season, escaped from Griffin’s onerous contract, picked up a late lottery pick and gained significantly more financial flexibility moving forward.

Next: 1. The Warriors aren't invincible?