Los Angeles Clippers: 5 biggest disappointments from 2017-18 NBA season

1. Loyalty

When the Clippers shipped Blake Griffin to Motown near the end of January, it sent shock waves throughout the NBA.

L.A. had just re-signed Griffin to a brand new, five-year, $173 million dollar contract, wooing him over the summer with the idea of being a Clipper for life, as well as putting him in the same breath as historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.

While the trade seemed to be mutually beneficial for both parties, to some it cast the Clippers as villains.

How does it look to future free agents if the Clippers put on a showing of loyalty, only to turn their back on it less than a year later?

The idea of loyalty in sports isn’t as real as fans would like to believe. Teams and players can praise each other all they want, but the second a better situation becomes available, they will jump at the opportunity, even if it means upsetting the other.

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This, however, doesn’t give the Clippers the right to turn their backs on a player who was under the impression — one the Clipper themselves created — that he would remain with the team until he retired.