Report: Blake Griffin injured hand punching a team staffer
The emerging reports concerning how Blake Griffin injured his right hand are downright troubling, as the Los Angeles Clippers superstar allegedly suffered the injury during an altercation with a member of the team’s equipment staff, according to ESPN’s Michael Eaves.
#Clippers forward Blake Griffin injured his right hand after hitting a member of the team's equipment staff during an argument in Toronto
— Michael Eaves (@michaeleaves) January 26, 2016
Eaves reports that the argument between Griffin and the unidentified team staffer started at a restaurant and escalated from there.
The altercation started in a restaurant. It proceeded outside where Griffin hit the equipment staffer multiple times. #Clippers
— Michael Eaves (@michaeleaves) January 26, 2016
If the allegations prove true, it obviously turns an already-disappointing situation into an egregiously ugly one. Original reports stated that Griffin broke his hand in an “undisclosed team-related incident.” And while that characterization of how the injury occurred is technically accurate, the story being told now certainly paints a far more disturbing picture.
Griffin already was on the shelf with a quadriceps injury that has cost him 14 games. But the Clippers appear to be thriving in his absence, going 11-3. How the fallout from these most recent events play out — Griffin is expected to miss a few weeks due to the fractured hand in the first place — remains to be seen.
Interestingly, Griffin was accused of slapping and choking a man during an outing at a Las Vegas nightclub in October 2014 and he was charged with one count of misdemeanor battery in relation to the incident, although the charges were ultimately dismissed.
