A minor back injury forced Blake Griffin to pull out of the Team USA program this summer. Following a workout with Sasha Vujacic of all people, the LA Clippers All-Star forward said not playing in the FIBA Basketball World Cup was simply a precautionary measure. Per the LA Times:
Griffin had pulled out of Team USA’s basketball training camp for the FIBA World Cup because of back concerns, though the All-Star said they haven’t “restricted” him.
“It’s less than a hairline and my back is not fractured. Everything is still intact,” Griffin said. “I can still come out here and I can do my workouts and I can do everything I used to do. I just shouldn’t be playing and practicing everyday this early.”
“My whole thing is that I didn’t want to go into [Clippers training] camp and put myself in a worse position,” he said. “It’s not that my back is broken and I’m walking around with a broken back, or I’m in so much pain … But if I start playing basically two months earlier than everybody else and then go through all of next season and the playoffs, then I’m probably going to put myself in a bad position. I couldn’t do that.”
