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In 2017, the Los Angeles Clippers gave Blake Griffin a five-year, $173-million contract that they said would make him a “Clipper for life.”
When he signed the contract, employees of the team were wearing a controversial shirt that read “Pioneers,” featuring Griffin alongside notable historical figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, and more.
Clippers employees wore T-shirt after Blake Griffin's FA meeting likening him to MLK, Obama, Ali, JFK, Lincoln, Gandhi, MJ,Einstein,Mandela. pic.twitter.com/BZtXqhdrWr
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) July 1, 2017
Fast forward nine years later, Griffin appeared on “Pablo Torre Finds Out” and talked about how that moment still haunts him to this day.
Before Amazon kicked off it’s inaugural season covering the NBA on Prime Video last season, Vice President of Global Live Production, Jared Stacy, held a team meeting with the streaming service’s broadcast and production team and told everyone that they are all “Pioneers.”
Including Griffin, whom he reminded had been a “Pioneer” before.
In their pitch to make Blake Griffin a "Clipper for life," team staffers wore a Blake Griffin-themed "Pioneers" shirt, featuring Griffin alongside Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Einstein, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, JFK, Muhammad Ali and Michael Jackson. pic.twitter.com/zKgKKBVIT4
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) October 20, 2026
“He does this whole speech about, you know, ‘We are pioneers, and I really have to single out one guy.’ And he says, ‘Blake, this isn’t his first foray into being a Pioneer,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh no,'” Griffin said. “He brings up the shirt. Found the shirts and bought everybody on the Prime team a Pioneer shirt.”
When he received the first copy of the shirt, Griffin said he ended up losing it and also didn’t realize who was on it at first.
“Literally on the way home it had exploded on Twitter, and I was like, ‘Is that Martin Luther King? Is that Gandhi? Oh my God,'” Griffin said.
During the interview, Torre asked Griffin if he had remembered all the faces on the shirt.
The former six-time All-Star started off strong, but couldn’t complete the entirety of the list as he forgot Nelson Mandela and Michael Jackson were featured in the image.
“I’ve tried to block the shirt out of my memory,” Griffin said while laughing about it.
While the Los Angeles Clippers promised Griffin that day he would be a “Clipper for life,” their word would be true for only a year and a half, as he was traded by the team to the Detroit Pistons in January 2018.
Griffin spent over three years with the Pistons, then finished his career playing for the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics.
Following the 2023 season, Griffin retired from basketball.
Now, Griffin is about to embark on his second year working in the NBA on Prime Video and is also about to begin his new show, “The Stepback with Blake Griffin.”