During the 2012 NBA playoffs, superstar forward Blake Griffin suffered a knee injury that hindered his play and ultimately may have led the Los Angeles Clippers being knocked out of contention by the San Antonio Spurs. The combination of Chris Paul’s injuries and Griffin nowhere near 100% was enough to devastate the Clippers.

Once the NBA off-season officially began for the Clippers, Griffin’s focus was on signing a contract extension with Los Angeles and getting ready for the 2012 Olympics with Team USA. After making the final 12-man roster for Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Griffin officially punched his ticket to London, England in order to compete alongside Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Clippers teammate Paul.

Unfortunately, Griffin’s status with Team USA and competing in the upcoming Olympics is now in jeopardy after he aggravated the same knee injury he suffered during the playoffs. This injury came at the wrong time for Team USA with the team already thin in terms of frontcourt players.

As arguably the most banged up squad in the history of Team USA basketball, the hits keep on coming with Griffin joining Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade and LaMarcus Aldridge on the injured list.

In an effort to replace Griffin, Coach K has brought in rookie forward Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Hornets. It has yet to be determined if Griffin will miss the Olympics entirely, but there’s a lot of doubt surrounding his return.

Since Griffin recently signed a five-year contract extension with the Clippers, the Los Angeles franchise may ask that he sit out in order to recuperate for next season. Not a bad request considering Los Angeles has just invested $95 million dollars in arguably their second-best player on the squad behind Paul.

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