SVG: Trading for Blake Griffin was 'worth the risk'

The Detroit Pistons understood the risk of taking on Blake Griffin's hefty contract from the Los Angeles Clippers, but his talent was too good to pass up.

Griffin is in the first year of a $173-million contract, and that could become a dangerous proposition for the club should the 28-year-old continue to be plagued by assorted injuries each year.

However, the Pistons clearly felt taking on a player of Griffin's immense talents was worth the gamble.

"Our thinking was this: The hardest thing to do in this league is to get a proven star," Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy told ESPN's Nick Friedell on Tuesday. "It's just very hard to do. It's hard to do in free agency. It's hard to do in trades. You get very few opportunities to do it.

"The guy's a five-time All-Star. He's been an All-NBA guy, (one of the) top 15 guys in the league. He's only 28 years old. We know the injury history - that's the risk on it. But that risk was worth it because of the talent we're bringing back."

Van Gundy, who also holds final say over basketball operations, explains the Pistons were only able to nab Griffin due to extenuating circumstances.

"If there were no risk involved, if Blake didn't have any injury history, he wouldn't be available," Van Gundy said. "So we take the risk to get that high-level talent. We just weren't in a position - we're not in a position even now, even with eight losses in a row, and we haven't been in a position even before I got here - to get draft pick one, two, three, four."

The Pistons landed a five-time All-Star in Griffin, who is currently averaging 22.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 5.4 assists and converting a career-high 1.9 threes per game. He played fewer than 40 games two seasons ago, and hasn't logged more than 70 since 2014, but a healthy Griffin is undoubtedly a game-changing player that would help any team, especially an attention-starved franchise like Detroit.

"It was that a guy became available who's a great player and we took the opportunity to do it," Van Gundy said.