Blake Griffin Loves Candy

Hi, I'm Slum. I'm fourteen years old, well almost fifteen, and I love the NBA. Today on the show, we have one of the most recognizable players in the league. Some have called him Pi Griffinith and even the Rim Reaper. Today we had a one and on Blake Grift.

So.

I've heard a rumor that during your rookie season with the Clippers you were forced to carry around adoor the Explore backpack and you had to have your teammates sweaty socks in the backpack. Is that true?

Uh? The backpack, Yes, is true. The contents of the backpack sort of varied at first. I had to carry like playing cards for the older guys they played card.

I don't think I ever had dirty socks in there.

I wanted to feel like DeAndre Jordan, I know who's smell the worst.

But I guess yeah, it wasn't the If you like lean into it and you just go along with it, it's not as fun for them. But if you're like upset that you have to carry this backpack, then they get more joy out of it. So I just kind of leaned into it and was it pink? It was pink. Obviously, just had Dora and boots on them.

Yeah. But if your rookie season you were hurt to you have we heard on the bench when you were like no.

No, no, yeah, that would just staying on the bench with the backpack. Yeah, no, thankfully, not on the bench just when we traveled.

I mean, people wear some interesting things in their hurts, so you still would have probably you somehow would have been on like like lead to report fashion for your door. The explorerbackpack would.

Have been like on the conservative side of the door explorerback deck.

By the way, Kyle Kusma was going to listen to this and be like, oh, I should do that, And we're just like a Dora sew or something.

It's the next trend exactly.

We're trendsetters. Okay, So, as you know, I'm fourteen years old, but I'm about to be fifteen and I'm going into ninth grade. I know that you were homeschooled until about eighth grade. So my normal question would be, you know, I want to know everything about you when you were fourteen, but I guess your life is a little different because you just entered something that people had been in since kindergarten. So just I want to know everything about your eighth and ninth grade years.

So homeschooling for me was like not that crazy because we had some friends at homeschool and they just like didn't play sports.

They didn't I had a neighborhood full of kids.

My brother and I played every sport you can imagine, so we were just constantly around kids, so it wasn't too strange for me. My mom was a school teacher, so the way she set it up was very Obviously we didn't go from class to class, but we had we went subject to subject every single day, same one.

You know. She had a lesson plan. We followed that.

So the best part about it was we started like eight thirty and I was done around like twelve twelve thirty every day. So my brother and I just like did whatever. We'd go play outside, we play basketball, whatever sport we were playing at the time. Wait for the neighborhood kids see at home, play with them, and that was kind of our day.

You entered like traditional school in eighth or nine into eighth grade? Yeah, and what was that? Like? How tall were you then?

I was probably like five eleven maybe like and then grew to probably be like six one. I was like six to one at the end of eighth grade, and I was like six six at.

The beginning of that because of your hype, Did you think you could make it to the league.

It was like a dream, but I wasn't. I was like a I don't know, I just never it didn't. It wasn't like a reality until it truly became a reality for me. I was just always like somewhat skeptical, but it was always a dream.

I feel like once you hit six six, you were probably like, wait, this is actually probably.

Really the person goes up every every like inch taller you get.

So yeah, yeah, okay, so obviously in Oklahoma, Okay, see is fairly new. So what team did you What was your childhood team?

Honestly, growing up, it was more about like players because back then, like we didn't have the league League Pass to like be able to like watch every team. I didn't really get to go on the internet and watch like highlights. That wasn't like really a thing when I was growing up, So I would just watch like the national televised game. So I was like when I was young, it was Michael Jordan and then it was like Vince Carter. We would get like Lakers games next game. So I

Who was your favorite player?

My favorite player is Michael Jordan.

Always classic, very predictable. I was hoping you would say something.

Totally random, but something like Muggsy bogues.

Okay, don't no need to disrepect Muggsy. Fun fact, I was actually for some wild reason, he posted a picture of me on Instagram.

All right, well, let's hear the other story for that.

So I was at NBA Cares Day and I was volunteering, and I don't know, he just like took a picture with me. And then the next day I like looked at his Instagram and I was like, did he post that? That's so weird. But yeah, but Muggsy shout out, you have good social media manager.

And he's a very nice guy, very nice guy.

So as you know, currently with AU and e y b L NBA Prospects five Stars, four stars, they're playing each other. They all they all know each other now because they're going to the same place as like Peach Jam and stuff like that. When when you were fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, what players did you play man?

Everybody?

I mean, Derek Rose, Kevin Love, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Chandler Parsons was a good friend of mine, like kind of on the ey AU circuit at the time. Almost every like every any guy that's like around my age.

Was it obvious when you were there, Like if you were like playing against Katie, was it just like obvious, like you just knew at that moment that he was gonna make it?

Yeah, yeah, he I mean he was like kind of the same player. Like his games. I remember when you'd play against his games, like the gym would be packed. And he also played on a really good team. I think Ty Lawson maybe played on his team played in the NBA for a while. There was like tons of guys on his team, So anytime you played those guys, you always knew.

Like, were there any guys that were like drastically worse? Like was crazy enough? But Kyrie you were like, wait, he made it because when you saw him when you were younger, that was crazy.

Uh nook, Like he was always really good from the beginning. I think I probably was one of those guys that, like I wasn't ranked until my junior year, so I don't know.

I was sort of somewhat of a late bloomer.

But there's guys like that for sure, Like that, you didn't really like Jimmy Butler, I don't think was really like highly touted, even like Damian Lillard. Damian Lillard, Steph.

Like people well because Dell, but like still he like on his like it's not Max Preps, but whatever the website was, he didn't even have a.

Picture for sure.

Absolutely, Yeah, there's definitely guys like that always kind of pop up. But there's also guys who are like super highly ranked that it's hard to see that when you're in high school and you're like competing against them, but once, like as you're older, like now I look back, I'm just like, man, you just can't take anything for ground.

Speaking of Steph, when Oklahoma played David Davidson, he dropped forty four Okay, but you won. You had twenty one rebounds and twenty five points. Right, did you in that moment where you like, this kid is going to be the greatest shooter ever? Is that just not when you're like he was so young, you know, no one really knew, but could you see that playing against him?

I mean, you knew he was going to be you knew he was a great shooter. That was like our whole scouting report coming into it. And the crazy thing about that game, he had a good game, the whole game, but like he really kind of went off at the end too, and it was like it was one of those moments.

Where it was like and they say, he's not clutch.

Yeah, that's crazy, that's crazy. That's a whole different thing.

See, you guys heard it here. Blake Griffin thinks Steph Craz's clutch. So now you can't even debate it. Okay, so let's move on. Now I heard about you when you were a kid. That's cool, right, But now I want to hear about your life as you grew older. Okay, So the classic question, what was your welcome to the league moment?

Welcome to the league moment?

We were playing It was a preseason game and we were playing San Antonio. In San Antonio, I'd grown up watching I read like a bunch of David Robinson books.

I had grown up watching him play.

For a long time. Tim Duncan play for a long time. Actually, the first NBA game I ever went to was a Spurs game. I was like nine years old, and I'm warming up on one end and I just kind of like glanced down at the other and not even thinking anything, and Tim Duncan is like, you know, forty feet away from me, like warming up, going through this whole thing, and like, for some reason, that's when it like hit me, that's crazy. I can't believe I'm about to do your stackshot.

Of the game and well, you're lucky because your rookie season was so dull and it was like everyone else who's like puny little rookies and people were like dunking on it. You were you were dunking on the vegan.

It was a little bit. I still had some moments where you're just like, man, this guy is.

So good less than others, so let's be honest, less than oother.

I appreciate it.

So I asked you what you're welcome to the league moment is. But I think personally, as an LA kid, I think you're lucky because you were drafted to the Clippers and like Ella's a pretty fun place to be drafted to. That's immediately like, come on, you're in Hollywood. So instead of what you're welcome to league moment, what was your welcome to LA moment? Like when was it like you were drafted, you came to LA and you were just like, I'm here, this is cool.

That's a good question.

It's interesting that you say that, though, because at the time when the Clippers got the first pick, everybody was telling me to like take a stand, not not tell the Clippers not to draft me. They'd had like a long string of number one pick sping bus, they'd had a you know, they had made the play, they'd made the playoffs once in however many years.

You did bring them to the playoffs for the first time since two thousand and six.

You know your stats. I don't know my welcome to LA. I think like playing probably playing like in Staples against the Lakers at the time when we first started, like the Clippers, weren't you know, we we sort of got it going.

But it's not it's not like the Lakers.

Was there anything with the celebrity.

Though that Like, yeah, I remember Jack Nicholson gave me a little fist bump one time, like after I'd had a dunk right before halftime, I was putting my mouth beast down. I was walking by him, you know, you said, right there by the away bench, and he gave me a little fist bump and he didn't say anything, but he kind of like did that, And I was like, I love.

That's what happens when you're drafted to the Clippers and not like I was going to say the Magic, but.

I didn't want to, like oh right right, yeah, like awkward with the.

Magic, but like it's true. I mean it would be cooler to be you do want to alienate yourself.

To Magic fans?

Yeah, Like I still love you. That's pretty cool.

Yeah, it's a little different.

Okay, So who is like a player that you go up against that's it's not like an All Star but every time he just guessed you like he's it's like an underrated.

Player, uh like in my position or just in general, just like.

In general, that's tough.

Uh So last season, Ish Smith, who actually played with in Detroit two times. He actually he started out the season with Charlotte and then finished the season with the Washington Wizards twice in the second half, particularly in the fourth quarter, just destroyed us, like destroyed us. We had a chance in both games. We didn't have a great season last year, but he's one of those guys that he's a guy that I always point to that's like,

Way and we couldn't do anything. Yeah, he's great. He's a great guy.

Should I get a jersey?

Yeah? Should get it Ish Smith Smith jersey.

Okay. I'm a really big Warriors fan, And something I like to do is I like to get jerseys of players that probably no one else has, not like no one else, but like I like to be like, look at me.

I like that.

So I rock a want Asconna Anderson a lot because he was just traded to the Lakes Lakers, and I'm like, I shouldn't have bought jersey, but something about him leaving that makes me want to buy a Dante DiVincenzo jersey. But then I'm like, he's probably gonna leave two or like a Quandary Weatherspoon, like, come on, that's so sick if you rock that.

Yeah, but like it's almost even better if they're like if they're there for life, then it allows more people to get that jer That jersey is.

Like theminga rookie. Come on, Like that's that's big time. And like people in like ten years people are like, oh, look at my comminga Jersey. I'm like, yeah, well when comingo was, I mean, well, we know he's amazing, but like he doesn't have his big of a role because the Wars the Warriors, and like I I had a cominga.

Jersey and you have a wand just gone away Jersey. Not that many people can say that.

That's why it's big time. I really wanted a Gary Payton in the second Jersey, but he's now on the Trailblazers, so I guess it was just meant to be that it didn't come in time.

You know.

Yeah, let that be a listen though exactly. I always always pull the trigger on that one. Does sound fire chios? Yeah, another great guy.

True, well you probably know better than me, but I feel like he just seems really cool.

Yeah.

I played with him in Brooklyn, not this past season, but the season before. It's hilarious and a really really good basketball players.

Yes, he's only five eleven.

Yeah, it's tiny cheese what we call cheese.

So this is by far my favorite segment. Let's just say it so. Stephen A. Smith is known for his hot takes. But Blake, listen to me. I don't think you've ever seen a take hotter than Kelly. You've read here. The takes that we're about to say, okay, are going to be so hot, like green eyes that you drown in Kelly's eyes beautiful, the like bleached blonde hair that he has. That's what these takes are gonna does he still have? I can't keep up with like he Actually

Don't you feel like you always want to? I'll go with Russ just because he just has has done it forever and like he's sort of the one that kind of like got everybody else on this, Like.

Agreed, I like his mech Gala outfit.

Okay.

Who has the best shoe game?

The best shoe game? PJ Tucker?

Okay, good because every time I ask that question, if someone doesn't say PJ Tucker, I'm like, you're weird. Like he has a house for his shoes. That just has to be the end.

Yeah, he also like appreciates shoes that you just like, like I didn't even know those existence.

Yeah, some company made like a shoe commercial with him, and I was just like, that is so smart.

I didn't see that. That is smart, very smart.

You should look it up. Who is the funniest current NBA player?

DeAndre Jordan?

Interesting? What's like the funniest thing he ever did? When you were in LA? But it has to be appropriate because I am still a kid.

Yeah, obviously.

I don't know I don't think it's just like a He's just like has the ability to talk to everybody or make everybody laugh. He's like one of those glue guys on a team that sort of keeps everything like and keeps people together.

Okay, Which NBA player is the best singer?

I would say Victor Oladipo.

I guess did you see him on the mask singer?

I did.

I saw a clip of it, but I didn't watch the mask. He also has like an album, he does, Yeah, he has an album. And one day we were at USA, like doing in Vegas at USA like training camp, and he was like just like singing, just like kind of to himself.

Was like, Wow, Which NBA player is the best rapper? Because that can start controversy.

Oh, that can't start controversy. I'll go with Dame Lillard.

I like, I feel like the other answer is slightly problematic right now. You know what I'm saying. You guys get it, get it, you get it.

Yeah, I guess I'm just gonna keep going. And Andre Drummons pretty good. Andre Drumm's pretty good too.

Which NBA player could run for president and win?

Chris Paul or c J McCollum probably.

Like a Christ of all. That is a really good call. I feel like most people that I've asked said Lebron, but I think Chris Paul because Lebron it's like some people hate him, some people love him, whereas Chris Paul. Like, I've never seen anyone who just like hates Chris Paul. I mean, you've been his teammate, like some refs, some refs, but a lot of refs. Hey, that's only one vote.

Yeah, that's true. That's true. It's true.

And he's been all around the league a lot of different states. Would he would get their electoral college.

Votes and he was the NBPA president for while.

Oh yeah, so you were the rookie of the Year and ESPN named you one of the top fifteen best rookies of all time. So in this past NBA season, if you like, not Adam Silvana, any of the journalists, if you got to choose who the rookie of the Year would be, would you still give it to Scotty Box.

Oh Man, Uh yeah, he had. I mean he had a really good rookie year.

I thought I thought, uh, Cave Cuttingham had a great rookie year too, it's just I don't I don't know what we're doing with these awards, like.

Especially Rookie of the Year.

Like a lot of people's thing was, well, Scottie Barnes' team is better than CAD's. Yeah, but like as a rookie, like aren't you just supposed to be having like a great season. I still think Scotty Barnes deserved it, but I also think, like Evan Mobley is really I'm a.

Huge believer in that the NBA awards are corrupt because most improved player I will I live by this. Jow shouldn't have won. He is on a normal progression of an NBA star. Jordan Poole went from playing in the G League to being a starter in the NBA finals, going back to the Wars. But it's not I'm not being just okay, but it's not just about the worst. Same with Desmond Baine and he I mean, Joe actually gave the award to Desmond Bain after I don't know

I actually do agree with you not to take anything away from Jaba.

No, of course not.

He had an unbelievable year, but you're right, he like Rookie of the Year to All Star to like it's tough to give somebody a Rookie of the Year and then I also a most improved player.

It's like if they gave you most improved Player during your like rookie season because your first season didn't play and you'd be like, I mean, yeah, technically I improved from sitting on the bench.

Like, yeah, this guy didn't play at all last year, and look at him now.

He went from not playing to un that's amazing. So now we're going to move on to our final segment. It's funnycause we talked about Muggsy Bogues very short, the shortest player to ever play in the NBA, Maneu Bowl the tallest player to ever play NBA. So we're gonna go with Muggsy or Maneu, two very different things. And I want to hear your choice.

This is straight rapid fire.

Last shot.

I'm Jerakobe Michael Jordan.

This one may have get you going Oklahoma State or University of Oklahoma.

The University?

Yeah, I okay, Nike or Adidas?

Nike?

Is that only because you have to deal with nice.

I'm a Jordan athlete. But it's like it's Nike, you know.

Nike and Jordan.

Katoride or Powerade Powrate's nasty. People don't drink powery know, Powerids for the week, Gatorades for the song right, Instagram or.

TikTok probably just Instagram, but TikTok's great. I agree.

I love TikTok okay Out on the Town or Netflix and Chill.

Staying in like Netflix, Netflix and chill sweet or salty sweet.

I'm a huge sweet tooth, huge sweet tooth.

What's your favorite dessert anything?

I love ice cream, mcconnald's ice cream, Sea Salt cream and cookies.

McConnell's The Way to Go. Mcconnad's is a nice from place in LA and they have fabulous ice cream and I like their birthday cake flavor.

It's great. I had actually had it last time. I always go see salt cream and cookies. But I tried it last time.

I think my dad may have gotten like olive oil from there once. That was a really.

Question interesting I got to talk about.

It was like, that's not that's clash, no choice I left. It was like, I'm not sleeping in your house.

You know what I'm driving home?

Yeah, Michael Jordan or Lebron James? Oh, I love you though.

No, Yeah, listen, when you have to pick one, it's not like that you're saying one's bad.

And like, I, as a Warriors fan, personally believe that Steph just ruined Lebron's chances of being the greatest of all time. I mean, they both have four rings.

Is this a Warriors podcast?

It's not a Warriors podcast. But if the Warriors wanted to sponsor me, I wouldn't say no.

You know what I mean, we got to get a Warriors player on.

I know if you would love to text one of them, that would be great.

I'll try. I'll try.

Great, that will work well for me. Another high five? Okay, Zion or jaw oh Man.

I mean I think you just got to go.

I think you gotta go job just because he's we haven't seen Zion play.

I love Zion's game.

Giving Zion the most important player wouldn't be crazy because he's had a different progression, but.

He's still he's averaged like twenty. I guess if he went from like I don't know what he averages, but he went from like twenty to like thirty, I guess. But still, it's like you should probably give that award to guys who, like, you know, went from like seven to fifteen or like twelve to twenty, you know.

And I also think something about him is like people didn't realize when he played how good he was. He was the youngest ever starting All Star and yes that was because someone was hurt, but like, still he's is.

That jar or wait oh Zion really?

Yeah? And like he's done so much he just hasn't been able to show it. But Jaw's jaw.

Last season was Yeah, he was, he was, he was great.

Yeah. New York or La La good? You know what, you get another high five for that one. I love New York City, but like La is the place to be?

No, yeah, they're both great.

Rinaldo or Messy.

Oh messy.

I saw a TikTok yesterday and it was parking spaces at the Nike headquarters and your parking spot is next to Ronaldo. So maybe he crashed his car in two years after he heard that you think messy.

Yeah, oh that's cool. You set me up with his question.

Yeah, Ronaldo just swam right into him. Oh maybe like in six months, I'm going to be able to get my permit and Ronaldo can give me my lessons and I'll be like, I think we should go to the to the Nike parking lot and then we'll just go like straight into your car.

After we do this podcast, you're gonna advocate this.

It would go viral on TikTok and I would film it so like I've again, not a good decision, but probably would go viral.

You hear that drivers drivers instructor.

That's not good Doris Burke or me.

I mean, come on, come on.

My guy. I think that's a really good way to end, Blake Griffin. You heard it here first people. I'm pretty good at interviewing basketball.

It's a great interview. That was awesome, very well done.

Thank you. Thanks for listening to Sloan Notes. Keep up to date with me and see the amazing thing. Blake and I did after this interview and all of my other interviews by following sloan notes on TikTok and Instagram. Sloan has me. By the way, if you want to see all the fun NBA action coming from me because I know the end b A, make sure to leave a review. Thanks for listening to slone Up. Yeah,