The Blake Griffin Episode
Friends Keep Secrets
Blake Griffin opens up about his NBA career, retirement, and life after basketball. He shares insights on athleticism, mental health, rituals, and the pressures of fame.
Key takeaways
- Early exposure to basketball shaped his skills
Transcript preview
V. Ooh, boop, boop, blake, yeah. Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boa, boa, boa, boa, boa, baa, blake, gee, oi, f f f f i nahin. Mfin, mahin. See you this week. Look, look, guys. Chuck, is this our first baller? Mhaller? Mm-a. Mhmm. Mm-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m- Are you intimidated? No, I mean this is me at home. This is your dream. This is my dream. This man, the... Look at this... Wow! Whoa! Are we ready? That was just outside. I thought we were... Guard him! Guard him! God him! Go! Go! Go! I thought we were playing. That was really good. I didn't. I didn't know how the card. I didn't know how. I didn't. Great. Great. Great Griffin's one of the best Dunkers in the best Dunkers in the basketball. I really. That was. That was. long time. Were you ever scared to take the shot? I loved it. Ah! Can we just chill the back out for a second? Get up, come this way. He'll like walk right by you, oh, pussy can't guard you. We're in the three-o-five baby. Yeah, I'm, yeah, I'm. Dude, you're so fun. I just picked it up from outside. This was not here for you. This was a baseball. It was a ball. Yeah, sorry. I saw and I saw and I was like, oh, I was like, oh, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I like, I was like, I like, I like, I was like, I like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, I was like, it. I'm like the perfect guy heightwise to showcase how tall you are. Like I'm like the perfect guy. How tall are you? I don't know. Five four. No, no, I think I'm five six. Can you touch the ceiling just standing? Yeah, well we got there. Wow. You get that dust. We've got some dust. We've got some dust. We've got some. Like, do you want some water or anything. Like, do you want some water or. Like, do you're conscious, you're had to think of anything. Never. There's never any. What about like, you know, you go to like a castle in Europe? Nothing. No, no, I'm no one. Like, I'm no one like. I can go anywhere. Before you came, Benny was asking, he said, do you think Blake has been the best player of his friends since he was like, like by age five, eight, did everyone? No, that's not what I said, I said, were you born exceptional? five were you just like every other kid shooting and they were like oh and then like did you get exceptional was there like one year where like you became exceptional? I don't know like so my dad is a basketball coach high school basketball coach so like I've just I've had a ball in my hand since I could like before I could walk you know and then like started dribbling super young so I think maybe like a little bit like advance but not like you wouldn't walk into a gym and be like oh my god that's what I'm sense. maybe when I was young like 10 I have a 12 year old son right now and he's like I think we're kind of like comparable you go watch him play and he's like you're like good but you're not like it's it's hard like when you're like 12 like these kids yeah 12 year old son yeah well you're like six you're appreciate it in your area. Like this morning I saw a video online of the number one fourth grader. See I hate I hate those like number one fourth graders. It's like yeah and also like kids some kids are just bigger earlier. Yeah there was a kid growing up who was like my height in like third grade and he was really good and everybody talked about how he's the best player in the state. He didn't he stopped growing like seventh grade. isn't short but like that's you know people thought he was gonna be like the next greatest thing and like I don't know I think it like messes up kids like psychie because I they don't follow sports quite like me no no he's like a savant but I went to a lot of clippers games when you were playing oh nice thank you thank you what love city like really good at work. Yeah I know I remember Chris. No, Blake Griffin's one of the best dunkers in the history of basketball. I mean I wouldn't even label you a dunker like that. I mean I could speak about your game ad nauseum. Like what's wrong with you? Because you're like you're like so like God made you like too perfect there's got to be something wrong with you. You're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like funny too. You're like you're like you're like you're like funny too. You're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you're like you really wrong with you? No, he's the fucking man. You have like, you have like four, three toes or something. Yeah, I got some demons. Yeah, what are your demons? I don't know. I don't know. I feel like I was just so like, as an athlete, like you can't really like... Focus. Yeah. You know, like you have to be so like locked. So like has your world totally been rocked since you've retired and you're no longer doing it? No, because I kind of like, I started preparing for it pretty early for it pretty early. like doing other stuff you know I started production company in 2016 yeah my brother and I have a VC font like so as soon as I retired I like stepped into all that so that helps also like I was just like dude I had nine surgeries like my you know yeah so I was like I was feeling it yeah like I feel great for just living life but like to go play an 82 game schedule it was like working out and recovery like was like 70% of it you know that do you feel like you have to like eat well sleep well and you can't live your life like fully yeah for sure because like I would get I would get like anxiety about if I woke up I have a problem with like waking up and not being able to go back to sleep yeah yeah me too and like if it's a game day the next day I would be like I would have like you know like you have like sleep anxiety you know like where you'd like toss and you'd be like to be like, I could be like, I could get like, I could get two not being able to sleep but then having to go like... Right. Yeah, yeah, it's just part of it. Yeah, like is there ever like before, like the day before, like ritual, it's like don't talk like, like I can't have sex the day before, I can't do this the day, like is there like... Yeah, do you have rituals? My rookie year I used to like be very, very strict about everything and then like over time I kind of learned where I could burn yourself out. You know, you know, like one year I was, I was, I was like I was like I was like I was like I was like I was like I was like I was like I was like I was like I was like I was like I was like I was like I was like I'm gonna eat so strict, I was like I was like I was like I was like I'm gonna eat so strict, I was like I was like I was like I'm gonna be so strict. of just like literally nothing bad yeah no alcohol no like very little sugar it was like dude and I fell off the wagon like three months into the season and not drinking wise but like I just I kind of started eating shit like shitty you know I go to like the hotel like mini bar and have like peanut m&M's and like you know that's you're it's affecting your next game did you notice a difference? Not really so I was like fuck it so like then from then on I was like moderation like if I like If I'm like you know what I want pizza all you pizza you're like working out all day I know but like it's part of it was the biggest thing that would impact a game like what's like the biggest difference between like this is probably sleep honestly you're what if you get in a fight before I like like like you're like you're like you're like no you're like you're like with your significant others or like your parents say someone says has that affected you're like thinking about? I don't think people think about that. No, no. Like guys are having like guys are having shitty days and like listen we're playing a game and guys you get paid to play it so it's like it's all fine but like also like sometimes you know guys are allowed to have bad days. Can I tell you one of the my biggest pet peeves every time I would go I went to the games a lot with someone and they I forget the player's name I forget the player's name. It wasn't you. Oh, Hackishac. No, what's his name? Oh, De' Andre Jordan. Yes, yes. And they would mess with him and I felt like I could feel the pressure and I would just be like everyone needs to chill out and let this man do his job. Yeah, it sucks. She hates that part of the game. She thinks this is completely unsports like that too. And I think it doesn't matter which team you're on. I'm like do it outside. But when everyone is here is here trying to play, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, make me, like, like, like, make me, make me, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, make me, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, make me, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like It is interesting because like sport professional sports especially is so much like find the weakling Yes, and it's like exploiting it's exploiting it's exploiting but it's like that's competitive sports it is like the highest level and like you know I don't know like De' Andre was so good at other things that like free throw it wasn't his thing and it's like we didn't look at it like I don't know they were so much if everyone would just like calm? They were so much I think like I play in like a wreck league with my friends every weekend and if I like like like if you miss your first couple shots you feel weird shooting your third one yeah no or if like like I put too much lotion on my hands I'm like shit or like if I'm like ass stitches I'm like I'm like something like anything there's such a difference like I'm a great wreck league player and then so I would always assume I would dominate Celebrity games like I was born to just and then but I also had never really played in an arena or like just felt like just felt like just felt like just felt like just felt like just felt like just felt like just felt like just depth. The weight of the depth. And the pressure of like, you know, this is like being like filmed in a certain way and just like you can't it's not meaningless. So as soon as I got one of these games I realized how it's such a different level of pressure. So is every like NBA player like who you're like oh that guy sucks at shooting like they're like if they're on their own like in a gym they're making like every shot. Yeah because you have to think first of all, if you're not a shooter you're shooting every day and like you'll see the things of them go on to like pick up games and like make it like so the pressure is different you're not as tired you're not having to worry about the defensive end you know there's like a lot of variables like what's the deal with traveling because it always well looks like you guys are traveling it's gotten pretty lax so now like the the rule is that when you take a dribble oh I thought you're traveling for games for games I like that question. But when I watch I'm like, wait, the only thing I know is that you can't travel and I so I don't understand it. Now you can take a dribble and your first step is called zero step. Oh. So your first step is not really your first step. So if I dribble and take this step I still have two steps. Wow. Did they change that because they were like this is too hard to manage? I don't, it wasn't like a, hey we're changing it to this. I think it just slowly happened because everybody are so their footwork is so good that they can make it look really seamless and also cover a lot of space yeah it's like you take one step and you across the that's where like I see carrying as well. carrying like back in the day like every guy used to dribble like this they'd be like yeah like there was no like and then like eventually guys are like Alan Iverson was like one of the best and like he would like he really like kind of invented certain like cross so he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of like the he kind of became the has... Well, Tim Hardaway... Yeah, that one was like the... Yeah. You know what I really loved was watching your game just evolve. Oh, thanks man. I think about Detroit Lake Griffin. I'm from Detroit. Well, no, I was born in Gross Point, but I'm lived in Grand Rapids. Okay. You like it there? I actually enjoyed it. I was like, I'm from Oklahoma. So it kind of reminded me more of that. Like where I had space and a house and like, neighbors weren't like, I enjoyed that part of it because during the season I don't really like go out much anyway I would just be like even back when you were young in the prime of lob city and LA was your town you're playing every other day so like yes there are some times where it's like hey you got day off next day and so we'll go to dinner we'll go out but like not regularly yeah when you moved to LA like your complete social life change like every guys fighting for the clippers for the clippers for the clippers or the clippers or the clippers right no nobody Boy, this is like a real self-esteem, but I mean, I can come hang out more often, dude. When you're in Detroit, it's like, okay, I'm in Detroit. When you're in LA, you go, well, I don't know, I don't know if it's ever seen. I don't know if this chair, I don't know if this chair, I've seen a man of your stature before. I don't think, I've been at a thing, I've been at a wedding and like set down and, you know, you don't weigh a lot, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know a lot of, I know, I know, I know a lot of, I know a lot of, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know a lot of, I know, I know a lot of, I know, I know, I know, I know a lot of, I know a lot of, What are you talking about? It was 260 pounds. Okay, you're in Detroit. It's like, okay, cool, we're going out to like, whatever like the local bar club is. Detroit's a popping. Cool. Yeah, I better know. Yeah. I'm about Numblake in LA, single man moving to this. That's what I'm talking about. You're in LA You're like, you're world like, you're world like I remember seeing some of my, I don't I don't really remember like, I'm from Virginia. I remember like, I remember like, I remember like, I remember like, I remember like, I remember like, I remember like, I'm from out and they like I would like take them to a party and their worlds were like actually like rocked like some of my friends like like they literally I watched their bodies