The Curious Case of AJ Griffin, and His Sudden Decision to Step Away from the NBA
September 21st, 2024
By Alan Lu
When Shams Charania announced that former Duke star and Atlanta Hawks forward, AJ Griffin was contemplating retirement at the age of 21 and stepping away from the NBA, it sent shockwaves that rippled through the NBA community. Recently, Griffin decided to step away from the game, and he and the Houston Rockets reached a buyout to waive him. He was a talented young prospect that had a solid rookie season, but personal issues combined with a lack of playing time and sudden struggles with his jump shot caused him to have a very disappointing sophomore season with the Atlanta Hawks.
AJ Griffin was a talented young prospect, but after having a solid rookie season, he struggled mightily in his second season with Atlanta, and he was traded to Houston shortly afterwards. A myriad of factors may have led him to step away from the game of basketball.
(Photo: Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
When Atlanta traded him to Houston for a pair of second round picks, it was thought that maybe they were selling Griffin at a low point and could’ve gotten more in return. But now, the truth was that Griffin already may have been disillusioned with the game of basketball, so logically, Landry Fields actually got a good deal for his team in return. Whether if it was ethical for him and the Hawks to have made the trade with Houston is another thing altogether, but if the Houston Rockets knew that Griffin had been pondering retirement, then Houston may have known what they were possibly getting into.
Rumors have persisted and floated around about Griffin since, citing that he may have stepped away due to mental health concerns or due to wanting to pursue other interests such as religion, or maybe he was disillusioned with how the Hawks and the NBA treated him in this league, especially with his playing time having suddenly dwindled so drastically in his second season under head coach Quin Snyder, along with being asked to come off the bench in the G-League.
I’ll admit, for all of last season, I blamed Snyder considerably for refusing to play Griffin that much last season, and while Griffin didn’t play well in the NBA last year, he had played well as a rookie, and some playing time and development can go a long way for a young player. I also felt that Snyder underutilized the Hawks’ team last season, and they fell below expectations and ended up missing the playoffs despite having a very talented star point guard in Trae Young as well as some other solid players such as Dejounte Murray, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela.
Regardless, Griffin was a talented player that had some tremendous games at Duke, and in some of the games he played, he had looked to be a prospect that had All-Star potential. But whether if Snyder or the Hawks were at fault for Griffin’s sophomore slump and stepping away from the game, if he did have All-Star potential and if that ended up going unrealized, or if he just really wanted to pursue other things in life, that no longer matters now, because he has decided to step away from the game of basketball.
Sometimes it can be very tough to predict the success of future players, and a player losing interest in the game or stepping away from playing at an early age are not really things evaluators may often consider. It doesn’t help that in the social media age, a player may have a bad night such as scoring 2 points on 1 of 7 shooting, and that person could end up hearing it from the fans, other players, and even his own coach when the player probably knows that he played poorly. While a fan may somehow think that insulting a player could motivate them, an insult could also likely have a long-lasting, detrimental effect that could negatively impact the well-being of a player.
Sometimes we may end up unintentionally piling on as a result, and a player performing poorly can result in circular arguments. People have the expectations of that players should perform well because they are professional basketball players and millionaires, but players may argue that the fans have never been in their shoes and are not professional basketball players or millionaires, and that they have no idea have tough the circumstances they are facing in this league. And then fans may argue that the players may be too defensive and stubborn on their stance rather than acknowledge that they should try to perform better the next time, and the back and forth could end up becoming a vicious cycle of abusive online behavior that could hurt the well-being of players. If anything, we as society need to be more understanding and courteous, especially in regards to the plight of other human beings.
In any case, I wish AJ Griffin the best of luck to his future endeavors, and while his NBA career wasn’t quite what I hoped it’d be, he has accomplished far more at his age than a lot of people have at that age. So good luck AJ Griffin, to whatever you plan to do in the future.