Pistons doomsday scenario: What if Blake Griffin can’t come back?

Dragging Blake to Tank City

It’s the casual Pistons viewer’s favorite path. If things aren’t working out, it’s time to blow it up.

In the event that the team can’t overcome Griffin’s nagging injuries, yet choose not to tough it out for the eighth spot in the playoffs every season, a tanking strategy may be the only answer.

Andre Drummond would have to go first. The Pistons in this scenario need to get immediate value for all of their tradeable assets.

Drummond would likely garner attention from teams looking for one missing piece to be a contender.

The reeling Golden State Warriors may look to retool as they rebound from their injury-riddled, Kevin Durant-less season thus far. That could be a destination for Drummond.

The Nets, Lakers, Clippers, and Celtics would all be suitable destinations for a center of his caliber.

Along with Drummond goes Langston Galloway and Reggie Jackson. Both guards are on expiring deals that teams would be willing to trade assets back for. The Pistons would be completely cleaning house.

The likes of Luke Kennard and Bruce Brown could also be on the move. In order to move other deals, the Pistons may choose to move these contracts while they’re cheap so to give themselves a completely clean slate ahead of their tanking plans.

Griffin may not want to stick around for such a strategy.

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If that’s the case, there is the chance he tries to force a trade. Whether that decision makes his value better or worse to other teams would depend on the specifics of the market by the time he decides he wants out.

At that point, the tank would be on. The team would be stripped of any and all talent and the gloomiest of doomsday scenarios would be realized.

This would likely be the worst possible outcome of Griffin’s injury troubles. Tanking is significantly more difficult than fans care to realize.

It could set the franchise back for the next decade if it isn’t done correctly every step of the way.

All three of these injury scenarios for Griffin are less than ideal. Perhaps they are unnecessary if he comes back and never misses another game.

He could turn out to be the iron man the franchise needs.