NBA Rumors: Miami Heat Reject Blake Griffin Trade; Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic Refuse DeAndre Jordan, Paul Pierce Teammate

By Mitch de Leon
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Blake Griffin sidelined for two weeks due to torn quadriceps tendon.  Flickr.com/keithallison

The Miami Heat are still reeling over the loss of Dwyane Wade to the Chicago Bulls. While they managed to keep Hassan Whiteside during the NBA free agency, they failed to convince Kevin Durant who later on went to the Golden State Warriors. At this point, the Miami Heat have no Big Three stars as LeBron James is still firmly rooted in the Cleveland Cavaliers with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Meanwhile, Chris Bosh has yet to resolve his health issues.

Since the free agent market is now limited, this situation puts into mind the possibility of NBA trade talks with the other teams. At the moment, the Los Angeles Clippers are said to be potential partners with the Miami Heat and the trading block is none other than Blake Griffin. However, it looks like the Blake Griffin deal fell apart as the Hassan Whiteside squad reportedly rejected the deal.

While Pat Riley is scrambling to sign quality stars this offseason, the Miami Heat exec refuses to settle. That is, he wants players with good value for money - cash that he now has in abundance since he lost his key star Dwyane Wade to the Jimmy Butler squad this offseason. Despite Riley's reported concession with regard the contract details of Blake Griffin, the Miami Heat exec is said to have drawn the line when injury reports came up.

"I still think there's a concern with his leg," revealed an NBA exec of the Blake Griffin trade rumors. The source further shared, "We looked into him, and we're hearing that's a pretty serious thing. I'm not saying you don't go after him, but you'd better be really sure about that leg before you go making any big commitments."

Griffin suffered from a partially torn left quad tendon from the past NBA season. This injury was aggravated when the Los Angeles Clippers star forced a return in time for the 2016 NBA playoffs. Griffin is also off the US Olympic team, which includes Carmelo Anthony, due to a bone marrow injection he got this offseason.

Apart from Griffin, another controversial Los Angeles Clippers star who might be in the trading block is DeAndre Jordan. Unlike his teammate, the center is joining Team USA in the Rio Olympics 2016 - a feat that has him gloating over other basketball stars. The accomplishment of Jordan to make it to the Olympics team is compounded by the fact that he has never been an NBA All-Star.

"I think this [Olympics] is way bigger than any of that. I think making first-team All-NBA is way bigger than any of that," shared Jordan. He added, "When I was younger I used to care [about not making the All-Star team.]. But now it doesn't matter as much to me. As long as I have the respect of my peers, that's all that matters."

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