Our weekly look at four topics — players, issues, numbers, trends — that are impacting and, in some cases, changing the game.

First Quarter: Blake Griffin’s career on the brink?

The game is unforgiving.

The game can be unfair.

The game can go against the tenets of everything we say matters and how we want players to evolve.

Look no further than Blake Griffin in Detroit.

Last year he was playing MVP-caliber ball for a Pistons team that desperately wanted to get back into the postseason. He improved as a 3-point shooter, initiated the offense and was one of the most efficient players in the league.

He exemplified maturity and evolution as his body began to deteriorate and was no longer reliant on the athleticism that made him one of the game’s most entertaining players during his days with the Los Angeles Clippers.

View photos It's another surgery for Blake Griffin. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) More

Developing an outside shot and being a hub on offense was supposed to make him more valuable as he aged. He went from a guy who couldn’t take 3-point shots — much less make them — to someone who shot 36.2 percent from three last year on seven attempts a night.

But as he dragged his body up and down the floor last year, it came at a hefty price, and he played his final two playoff games on a balky left knee against the Milwaukee Bucks as the Pistons got swept.

Maybe he should’ve sat, but he had put in so much into getting the Pistons into the postseason.

The bill on his body is coming due as he underwent left knee surgery for the second time in less than a year, and it seems unlikely he’ll play again this season.

View photos (Yahoo Sports illustration) More

He labored through this season as the Pistons were careful with his recovery, but physical attrition is undefeated. His game didn’t necessarily fall off a cliff — and neither did his dedication to his craft — but the body did what the body does. And to make matters worse, Griffin, 30, is due $36.6 million next season with a player option for $38.9 million in 2021-22 — an option common sense would dictate he exercise.

Of course, no contract is untradeable, but it’s conceivable he doesn’t play contending basketball again, especially if the Pistons are headed toward a rebuild.

Would load management have helped him early in his career? After the 2014 season, his high-water mark was 75 games (last year) and injuries have been a main character in the Blake Griffin story.

Perhaps he was bound to have these issues regardless and no amount of extra care would’ve prevented it.

But to see someone develop and grow yet not have a meaningful chance to put those hours of work to use on the highest stage, it feels empty in some way.

It shouldn’t be like this, but the game can be heartbreaking and we know it doesn’t discriminate.

Second Quarter: The return of Chris Paul

Maybe if the Houston Rockets knew Chris Paul would be this good, this healthy and this consistent, they wouldn’t have sent him to Oklahoma City — along with draft picks — for Russell Westbrook.

Past the point of early returns, one can easily make the assertion that Paul has been the better player this season, and he has helped the Thunder get a jump-start on the future with the draft assets.

The Rockets would probably still complete the deal, considering Paul’s clash with James Harden and Westbrook’s friendship with Harden, but even the most ardent Rockets supporter can’t dismiss Paul’s performance this year.

Well over the pace to play more than 58 games this season (he’s played in all 36 games so far), Paul is looking every bit the “Point God” nickname he was given some time ago. The Thunder are the surprise of the West, solidly in the playoff picture and they won’t be an easy out should this roster stay together.

It was a mistake to assume Paul was washed because he had to take such a supporting role to Harden. In Oklahoma City, Paul seems reborn, refreshed by the youth around him and returning to the midrange game that’s made him so dangerously effective throughout his career.

Story continues