From the Clippers’ release:

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin underwent successful surgery on his left knee Wednesday morning at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Center in Los Angeles.

The two-part procedure, specifically termed a left patellar fragment excision and a patellar tendon repair “couldn’t have gone better” according to Dr. Neal ElAttrache who performed the surgery. Dr. ElAttrache was assisted by Dr. Steven Shimoyama, the Clippers’ Team Physician. Dr. ElAttrache went on to say “the expectation is that Blake will undergo a sequential rehabilitation program that should have him back in action in four to six months.”

As the clock expired Saturday night on the Clippers’ dramatic 102-101 loss to Cleveland, LeBron James was gracefully playing the role of NBA statesman. After he embraced teammate Mo Williams in victory, he strolled over to a disappointed Eric Gordon.

“[James] told me to keep on playing hard,” Gordon said. “He said I’m getting better and better each year he sees me play and just keep it up.”

Earlier in the evening, James offered Blake Griffin some “words of encouragement,” according to the Clippers’ rookie.

I make it a matter of personal policy not to speculate on James’ whereabouts post-June 2010. His circle of confidantes is notoriously small and most of the guesswork at this point amounts to nothing more than a high-grade parlor game.

This much we know: If the Clippers take on no major salary commitments between now and summer, they will have the cap space to compete with the teams you hear most frequently mentioned as potential suitors for James’ services. Whether or not James would consider the Clippers is another matter, but J.A. Adande thinks he should:

The Clippers are committed to $39 million in salary for next season, and would be willing to clear up a little more room under the salary cap to offer James a contract worth about $100 million over five years. That’s about the same amount he could get with any of the other cap-space-clearing teams such as New York, Miami and Chicago.

What none of them could provide is as talented and deep a surrounding lineup as the Clippers, who could send out Baron Davis, Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon and Griffin for the opening tip alongside LeBron. There would be All-Stars, former All-Stars or potential All-Stars at every position…

The bottom line is James will get paid a lot of money to play basketball no matter where he does it. The true variables are talent and market, and L.A. offers as good as he can hope for in both cases…

It could be an easy fit.

James has been enjoying the L.A. scene since he was hanging at the ESPY Awards the summer he graduated from high school. This city already loves him. He pulled more than 19,000 fans into Staples Center on Saturday night, a number only Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade have been able to match this season. There were all varieties of LeBron James jerseys (the Cavaliers have more outfits than Lady Gaga) in the stands.

James has the showmanship Los Angeles craves. He was flipping shots in over his head in pregame warm-ups; he’s ready to break out that huge grin at a moment’s notice, or scowl for effect after a fear-inducing dunk…

LRMR, the talent agency that represents James’ corporate profile, has defined as its mission to make the superstar a “global icon.” On the website, the company’s logo reads, “LRMR: Innovative Marketing & Branding.”

It strikes me that signing with the Clippers would present James with one of the great rebranding challenges in the history of pro sports, if not the broader landscape of corporate imaging. Fair or not, the Clipper brand doesn’t command much respect in the marketplace — though it’s important to note the Clips are a healthy franchise financially. Adding James could make the Clippers one of the most potentially sophisticated rebranding stories since Tylenol, nuclear energy and John Mayer.

I’m not naive enough to believe that rebranding challenge is anywhere near the top of the list of criteria when James ultimately chooses his next home. But if he wants to truly gauge the impact of his personal brand in the consumer marketplace, signing with the Clips would be the utmost test.

From Jordan’s Journal at Clippers.com (registration required):

The news spread so quickly that I honestly found out about it because somebody had posted it on Twitter before I had a chance to even talk to him. I was like… huh. So I called him up and he confirmed he was going to have surgery. I’ll be honest, I thought when I talked to him that he was going to be all heartbroken, and he was, but he’s keeping a positive attitude and he really just wants to hurry up and get the surgery so that he can start rehabbing and get ready for next year. That’s Blake…

This road trip has been really weird. We all found out about Blake not long before our game against the Hornets, but that’s not what tripped us up in New Orleans. That was just Chris Paul. Again. I can’t explain it. Oh my goodness. He is awesome. It’s tough playing against him. All eyes are always on him. He can see the whole floor, he’s a great passer and he just makes everybody on his team better…

We let the win in Memphis get away from us on Tuesday. That game was just plain crazy! For those of you who didn’t see or hear about it, the game was delayed about 40 minutes because of a water main break. I have never seen anything quite like that in my life. We didn’t know what the problem was at the time; all we knew was that somebody made an announcement that everybody had to leave the building. Baron was shooting free throws, and he went up to take a shot but then he stopped. He saw everybody get up and run. He said he thought the fans were getting ready to do the wave, but then once he saw everybody start to run out the building he just left the ball and took off. We had to leave the building, so we all got on the bus and waited for about 10 minutes. Then we went back in the building and waited for about five minutes, but then security told us we had to go back outside. So then we were outside for another 15 minutes. Finally we resumed the game and there was about 10 minutes left on the clock. So we played, and then we lost. We should have won that game. No excuses.

I’m scheduled to be an in-studio guest today on KSPN 710 AM at around 5:30p PT. We’ll be talking Lakers and Clippers. Tune in on your drive home or listen live online.

Blake Griffin was available to the media today at Playa Vista. He was in generally decent spirits for the cameras and microphones. Among the prevailing themes of his remarks was his acceptance that, in the back of his mind, he always knew that surgery was a possibility. That resignation made the news that he’d miss the remainder of the season a bit easier to swallow.

From my ESPN Los Angeles story:

The possibility of surgery on his fractured kneecap was always in the back of Clippers forward Blake Griffin’s mind, even as he slogged through the rehabilitation process with every intention of getting back on the floor before the All-Star break.

Once he experienced serious discomfort this week, that prospect became a reality. Griffin will undergo surgery Jan. 20 in Los Angeles. The current prognosis is for him to be off the court for between four and six months.

A stoic Griffin addressed the media Wednesday at the Clippers’ training facility. The rookie expressed disappointment that he won’t be able to take the floor this season, but he also conveyed a calm resolve at his misfortune.

“I don’t think of it as season-ending, because technically I haven’t started,” Griffin said. “I guess you could say it’s a debut-prolonging injury.”

…  As difficult as the decision has been, Griffin noted that shutting it down for the season ends the waiting game, which was almost as excruciating as the rehab.

“It relieves any expectations for this season,” Griffin said. “Now I’m looking forward to next season.”

By not logging a single minute during the 2009-10 regular season, Griffin will officially start the 2010-11 season as a rookie. He’ll be eligible for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award, but other issues surrounding his status remain uncertain.

“Hopefully next year I won’t have to get doughnuts or wear a backpack or anything like that,” he said. “I’m going to sit down and have a meeting with the veterans, so we’ll see.”

I really lucked into my first car.

I was just a punk sixteen year old, and as such I was definitely not deserving of the beautiful automobile that was handed down to me. In addition to being a punk I was also pretty damn dorky, so when I first leaped behind the wheel of my new ride I couldn’t help but think my social status was changing for the better. This was going to be my lucky break.

I’ll never forget the first few spins. Pushing down on the gas and feeling my head whip back into my headrest for the first time was quite the rush. Before long I was heading down the 101 every night just to drive. For a sixteen-year-old kid, there was no greater freedom.

But not long after I started these journeys, something went astray under the hood. The initial prognosis was that it was going to be an easy fix.

Of course, it wasn’t.

The car ended up out of commission until I could save up a ridiculous of money to get it fixed. I remember being terribly depressed at first, but I jumped to the acceptance stage pretty quickly.

These things happen. Cars break down. Such is life.

When we saw Blake Griffin perform in those initial test drives called preseason games, he was nothing short of stunning. He played at a hundred miles per hour. There were the crazy hustle plays, the out-of-nowhere blocked shots, and of course those breathtaking dunks. He absolutely looked like the real deal. He was going to inject life into a floundering franchise. He was the panacea. He was the Clippers’ lucky break.

But then the freak injury happened. That was followed by the initial blue-sky diagnosis, the eventual delays, and now the definitive word that Griffin won’t see the floor until next season. My reaction when I first heard the news that Griffin would be out for the remainder of the season was not unlike the reaction had eight years ago when I got the news about my car. There’s the pit in the stomach feeling, and then there’s the acceptance that follows.

These things happen. Athletes suffer injuries. Such is life.

I guess I’m just not much for believing in curses. I’m willing to acknowledge that the franchise has had an unlucky go of it, but I’m unwilling to say the future is damned because of some bad ju-ju that hovers around the team. I’m much more comfortable in believing that you make your own fate. The Clippers can either fold and throw away the positive momentum they’ve built, or they can band together and try to make a run. Either way, they collectively have a choice. Their immediate fate rests on that choice, not a curse.

Blake Griffin is an amazing talent, but the fact remains that the Clippers have been flirting with the No. 8 seed without his ever stepping foot on the floor. It’s a painful blow, but the main pieces remain intact. Pardon me for being optimistic at a time like this, but this season doesn’t have to be chalked up as lost quite yet. The music is still playing, so the Clippers should keep dancing.

As for my car, the long wait was excruciating, but eventually it was fixed and came back as good as new.

I can only hope the same happens for Blake Griffin.

From my piece at ESPN Los Angeles:

Blake Griffin would never admit it, because entitlement isn’t part of his mental makeup, but he deserves to be playing professional basketball right now.

When prognosticators said he’d be a lottery pick after his freshman season at Oklahoma, Griffin bucked the current one-and-done trend and stayed for his sophomore year. The millions could wait because there was work to be done on his game.

When he was chosen by the Los Angeles Clippers with the No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft, Griffin adamantly rebuffed any and all suggestions that he was going to be playing for a cursed franchise — not because it was the company line to debunk superstition, but because he deeply believed that whatever ailed the Clippers could be cured with commitment.

When he was told that 12-foot range wasn’t going to cut it for a big man in today’s NBA, Griffin spent his entire spring working on his stroke from long distance. By the time Summer League rolled around, Griffin was knocking down 15-footers with ease and even draining bombs from beyond the arc.

When Griffin wasn’t in the gym refining his skills, he was running up sand dunes at dawn in a workout routine teammates describe as “crazy.” He’s one of those guys who subjects himself to the rigors of exercise not because he’s obligated to, but because he actually enjoys it.

When he fractured his left kneecap in the Clippers’ final preseason game, Griffin pushed his body even harder to recover. Even though the rehabilitation process was excruciating and monotonous, Griffin never missed a session and never voiced a complaint.

When the schedule for his return got pushed back beyond the team’s initial prognosis of six to eight weeks, he kept at it.

His reward for that diligence?

Griffin will have to undergo season-ending surgery on that left kneecap. The new timetable for his return is four to six months after that surgical procedure.

For the entire read, please go to ESPN Los Angeles.