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Blake Griffin is now an unrestricted free agent. It can be tempting, but the Wizards shouldn’t make a move for him.

Griffin will likely sign with a championship contender. But even if he does sign with the Wizards, he’s likely a half year rental.

By Albert Lee
Detroit Pistons v Washington Wizards
Blake Griffin has been one of the NBA’s top stars of the last decade. He has more years to play though he’s no longer at his peak.
Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images

In our last SB Nation NBA Reacts survey, one of the questions directly asked Washington Wizards fans whether the team should make a playoff push or focus more on young talent. Our respondents were split 50/50 on it.

So in a way, I think it’s fitting that the NBA has a new unrestricted free agent on the market. The Detroit Pistons agreed to part ways with Blake Griffin earlier today.

Griffin isn’t playing like he did in his early years with the Clippers where he made five of his six All-Star Game appearances. This season, he’s averaging 12.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in 20 games. However, Griffin has sat out most of Detroit’s recent games by design and he missed most of last season due to injury and much of his tenure in L.A. was injury-ridden as well.

There are teams looking to get a boost in the frontcourt and Griffin could find his spark right away. The Wizards can use Griffin for a playoff push and he’d be a better option in the frontcourt than any center they have right now which could allow the team to get into some smaller lineups.

But ultimately, I don’t see Griffin being a good fit in Washington. While he still has something left in the tank, he would probably want to go to a league contender. And even if he came to Washington, it would be as a half-year rental with no realistic guarantee of a postseason berth.

While the Wizards are just 1.5 games out of 10th place in the Eastern Conference, they are still 14-20 with a tough second half schedule ahead.