Austin Rivers left shocked by Blake Griffin trade to Detroit Pistons

The LA Clippers are no longer the home of Blake Griffin, not after he was traded by the team to the Detroit Pistons in a shocking deal three days ago. Griffin, for his part, is ready for his new opportunity in the Motor City and is looking forward to getting Detroit into the playoff mix and beyond this season.

Griffin’s former teammate on the Clippers, Austin Rivers, said he was caught off guard by the trade news and, at one point, described hearing about it as “fake news.” But the reality of the deal is settling in for Rivers and the rest of the Clippers, writes Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times:

Like all his teammates, Rivers said he was surprised to learn that Griffin had been traded to the Pistons along with Willie Reed and Brice Johnson.

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“I don’t think anybody saw it coming,” Rivers said. “As far as we go, nobody saw that. We were all surprised by it. We all love Blake. It’s just one of those tough situations.”

Rivers said he eventually spoke with Griffin on Tuesday, hours after the trade had taken place on Monday.

“Sometimes you can only control what you can control,” Rivers said. “So it’s like what can you say that really matters at this point? It is what it is, and that’s what he was saying to me. He’s excited, obviously, just because it is a new chapter, and that’s the way you have to think in this league. You have to be positive. He’s in a situation where obviously teams are going to play behind Blake.

“It’s one of those situations where it was just crazy. I didn’t even believe it when I heard it. Wesley Johnson called me and he was like, ‘You heard.’ I was like, ‘That’s fake news. That’s not true.’ And then I saw it. Because you hear a lot of rumors, you don’t know what’s true or not. Then I saw it. I was just surprised by it.”

Rivers says he is closing in on a return from the right Achilles strain that has kept him out of the lineup since late December. He hopes to play, ironically enough, next week when the Clippers visit the Pistons on Feb. 9 (7:30 ET, NBA League Pass).