Blake Griffin withdraws from USA Basketball for the summer, program surprised

Well, this may explain how a spot opened up for John Wall to be added to the USA Basketball camp in Las Vegas that begins Monday.

Los Angeles Clippers power forward and foe of rapper Drake, Blake Griffin, has withdrawn from the program for the summer. That means no mini-camp in Vegas, and no FIBA World Cup in Barcelona in late August.

Here's Griffin in a statement released by the Clippers:

I want to focus and dedicate 100% of my energy on improving and preparing for the upcoming season with the Clippers.

Following four seasons in which he missed a grand total of four regular season games and appeared in 30 post-season contests, the 25-year-old Griffin could probably also just use a break. Or this is an elaborate plot by Drake to further damage Griffin's reputation.

This opens up an opportunity for another young frontcourt player on the mini-camp roster to step up at the Worlds and gain some invaluable experience, improving the program's depth ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo suggested this could also create an opportunity for a member of the select team. He also expressed surprise at Griffin's choice:

I'm disappointed he's not going to be with us. It's unfortunate (because) it's been two competitions in a row (that Griffin has missed), but it sounds like a broken record because it happened recently with someone else.
...
It just opens up an opportunity for somebody else. I'm very open minded, so it could be someone who comes in from the (Team USA) Select team. Who knows?

With Anthony Davis, Kenneth Faried, Kevin Love and DeMarcus Cousins already in camp, the roster isn't exactly hurting for quality bigs, but this may represent a chance for a developmental name like Draymond Green, for example, to get a longer look.