Sam Amick

USA TODAY Sports

So Blake Griffin is staying put in Los Angeles, according to Clippers president of basketball operations/head coach Doc Rivers.

“We’re not trading Blake,” Rivers told reporters at the team’s practice on Tuesday.

But even with this declaration that Rivers will be giving this Clippers core another try amid so much speculation before Thursday’s trade deadline, the internal dynamic as it relates to Griffin is worth monitoring in the wake of his Jan. 23 fight with an assistant equipment manager. That confrontation resulted in a four-game suspension (with his pay from a fifth game seized as well). The mere fact the Clippers were even remotely open to trading Griffin, that this became a topic of conversation not only in the media but also among rival teams and their executives, speaks volumes about how things have changed the past seven weeks.

The five-time All-Star has been out since Dec. 26. A partially torn left quadriceps sidelined him, and then the right hand fracture suffered in the fight made matters even worse. Meanwhile, the Clippers (35-18) have won 18 of 23 games while climbing to fourth in the Western Conference without him amid rumblings that the locker room vibe has never been better.

Blake Griffin suspended four games by Clippers for fight with team offficial

Specifically, the improved synergy and increased production between point guard Chris Paul and center DeAndre Jordan that is a ripple effect of Griffin’s absence is playing a part here. Their numbers with and without Griffin are eye-opening: Jordan’s scoring has spiked (11 points a game in the first 27 games to 13.8 in the next 21), as has his rebounding (13.2 to 15.3); Paul’s scoring has also increased (17.7 to 21.1) along with his assists (8.9 to 9.9). The personal tension that we would always hear about between these two, it seems, is nowhere to be found.

There's the always-relevant contractual landscape, too: The 26-year-old Griffin and the 30-year-old Paul can opt out in the summer of 2017, while the 27-year-old Jordan is signed at least through the summer of 2018. None of which means Griffin should be seen as the eventual odd man out – not even close. One executive with knowledge of the Clippers’ current stance deemed him nearly untouchable even before Rivers’ latest comments. What’s more, trading him now wouldn’t be wise considering there’s a chance, however slim, he could become part of a sign-and-trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder this summer if free-agent-to-be Kevin Durant decided to come to the Clippers. Outside of Griffin, the Clippers are known to be very active on the market at the moment.

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But in terms of the relationship between Griffin and his Clippers co-workers, he has two factors working against him: They’re winning without him in the kind of way that would make anyone wonder about the chemistry and fit of the Paul-Griffin-DeAndre Jordan-J.J. Redick core, and there’s a natural frustration among his teammates regarding the nature of his latest injury. Griffin, who told reporters on Tuesday he was “truly, truly sorry” about the fight in what were his first in-person comments with the media, surely knows this.

It’s one thing to get hurt while on the job, but quite another to add nearly two months to your already-extended absence because you were violent with a young man who is very well liked within the organization. Griffin may be there to stay -- for now -- but the mending of fences will need to continue when he returns to the floor.