The LA Clippers’ abrupt decision to part ways with Chris Paul in the middle of his final NBA season — and the way the organization handled that decision — is not sitting well with one of Paul’s most prominent former teammates.

Speaking on Amazon Prime’s pregame show, Blake Griffin, Paul’s running mate with the Clippers from 2011 to 2017, said the move was “extremely disappointing” and left him “at a loss for words.”

“Re-signing with the Clippers … was supposed to be his moment. ‘I’m coming back to LA, I’m giving it one last go,’” Griffin said. “And for him to not get to walk out on his own terms from the franchise that he chose to go to to end his career is extremely disappointing.”

Griffin called out the lack of communication between Paul and key Clippers stakeholders, including coach Ty Lue and governor Steve Ballmer.

“The biggest reason I’m disappointed is what (Amazon reporter) Chris (Haynes) said,” Griffin said, referencing Haynes’ report that Lue would not meet with Paul. “No communication with Ty Lue. And even more than that, no communication with — (and) I talked to CP Wednesday, I talked to him yesterday, I talked to him today — no communication with (governor) Steve Ballmer.”

“I’m disappointed for Chris Paul.”

An open and honest @blakegriffin23 on his former teammate Chris Paul parting ways with the Clippers.#NBAonPrime pic.twitter.com/Yk9dQ8firW

— NBA on Prime (@NBAonPrime) December 5, 2025

Clippers president Lawrence Frank said the decision to move on from Paul “had nothing to do with one incident or one meeting that did or did not happen.” The Athletic reported that the Clippers’ coaching staff was “known to be at wit’s end” with Paul, while some teammates had grown tired of his “disparaging tone.”

But Griffin was most critical of Ballmer, who purchased the team from Donald Sterling in 2014.

“You can build a new arena. You can be at games. You can cheer on the team. You can have all this high energy,” Griffin said. “But at the end of the day, an organization is built on a foundation of respect and how you treat people. I don’t think that, in this situation, Chris was treated right.

“I’m sort of at a loss for words a little bit.”

Griffin’s own history with Paul and Ballmer is noteworthy when considering his comments. He admitted he and Paul “didn’t always see eye to eye” as teammates, in part due to Paul’s leadership style. The Clippers won nearly 66 percent of their games during their six-year tenure as teammates, the most successful stretch in franchise history. Their teams during that era were known as “Lob City” because of the combination of Paul’s pristine passing and the aerial exploits of Griffin and teammate DeAndre Jordan. But the Clippers failed to get past the second round in any of their playoff appearances, including collapses in 2014 against the Oklahoma City Thunder and 2015 against the Houston Rockets.

Time has healed those wounds, though. The day after the Clippers announced their decision, Paul shared an Instagram picture of a three-way FaceTime call with Griffin and Jordan. Griffin acknowledged that Paul was instrumental to his development as a player.

“Chris Paul was a guy who came to the Clippers when DeAndre and I were first- and second-year guys. He taught us how to operate in the NBA and how to take every game seriously, how to take your body seriously, that there was no detail that was too small,” Griffin said. “We weren’t perfect. We didn’t ultimately win a championship. I know that. I’m reminded of it every day. And CP3 and I didn’t always see eye to eye.

“But I’m disappointed because we got to a franchise that was synonymous with jokes. You heard the Clippers, and you heard ‘cursed.’ Again, we didn’t win a championship, but we did create a culture and an environment that people respected.”

Griffin also has a checkered history with Ballmer and the organization. The organization traded him to the Detroit Pistons in January 2018 just six months after he agreed to a five-year maximum contract extension. After their free-agent pitch meeting with Griffin that summer, Clippers staffers wore a T-shirt that included Griffin in a Clippers jersey alongside Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi and Albert Einstein.

When Griffin returned to L.A. as a member of the Pistons, Ballmer attempted to shake his hand during pregame warmups. Griffin instead ran into the tunnel in what turned into a viral moment. Griffin reiterated that he was simply engrossed in his pregame routine and “I meant nothing by that” when the clip resurfaced.

As Blake finished his warmup, Steve Ballmer was on the sideline watching and waiting. When Ballmer saw Griffin finish, he started walking towards him. Blake saw Ballmer and sped up, running away to the Pistons locker room as Ballmer yelled “Blake! Blake!” with his hand out.

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) January 12, 2019

“Our experiences always shape how we see everything,” Griffin said Friday. “… I’ll say the same thing now that I said then: He has my number. It could’ve been a situation where he just reached out (and said), ‘Hey, I want to talk.’ It doesn’t change what happened. It doesn’t change how it happened. But it does give me a certain amount of closure.”