Some bizarre news broke early Wednesday when it was announced that Blake Griffin, who was supposed to be due back in the next few games or so from a quad injury, potentially broke his hand in an undisclosed team-related incident.
As time went by, it was revealed that the broken hand may have come from Griffin hitting a member of the Los Angeles Clippers equipment staff during an altercation in Toronto. Here are the details, from Mike Wells of ESPN:
Sources previously told ESPN’s Michael Eaves that Griffin hit Matias Testi, the Clippers’ assistant equipment manager, on Saturday night in Toronto.
The Clippers were in Toronto as part of a five-game road trip. They played the Raptors the day after the incident, losing 112-94.
Sources told Eaves that Griffin and Testi were at a restaurant when they traded insults and got into an argument. Griffin hit Testi, who then left the restaurant and went outside. Griffin followed him outside and hit him again. Testi had visible injuries to his face, sources told Eaves.
Both Griffin and Testi were sent home from the road trip after the incident. The two are good friends and had vacationed together, sources said.
Griffin and Testi were apparently close for many years, and the power forward acknowledged his costly mistake on twitter:
— Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin32) January 27, 2016
Griffin is set to miss the next four to six weeks due to the unexpected injury.
Jim Park is a blogger and Tweet of the Night author of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.