The Biggest Question Amid Blake Griffin's Trade To Detroit: Will He And Kendall Jenner Make It?
On Monday evening, the Los Angeles Clippers traded star forward and face of the franchise Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons. The deal, as first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, involves eight other players and two draft picks. The merits of this trade will be dissected and discussed for months. Is this a last-ditch effort by GM and head coach Stan Van Gundy to stave off the inevitable hot seat coming his way? Is this the Clippers setting up for the end of the Doc Rivers era in L.A.? Is this the first of many big moves to open up cap space to bring in LeBron and other free agents this summer? All valid questions.
But you don’t care about that. The question on your — and everyone else’s — mind is will Blake and his Kardashian family girlfriend, model Kendall Jenner, make it?
Detroit to L.A. is a five-hour flight, and Kendall and Blake both have the means to travel back and forth as their schedules allow. The life of an NBA player is spent primarily on the road, so maybe this will be like an extended road trip for the couple? Kendall is a successful fashion model and lives a lot of her life on the road as well. This may not be a big deal.
But this is all speculation. There’s a much easier way to know if their relationship will work. Let’s look at the history of the Kardashian women and famous athletes. You know, the family that dates athletes together ... or something like that.
Big sister Kim has been previously involved with Reggie Bush, Miles Austin, Cristiano Ronaldo, and was married to Kris Humphries. These were just her relationships with athletes. Throw in models, rapper/musicians, and other entertainers and it took Kim a while to find her soul mate, Kanye West.
Sister Khloe dated Rashad McCants, Derrick Ward, Matt Kemp, James Harden and was married to Lamar Odom. She is now dating Tristan Thompson and pregnant with their child. We are not counting her relationships with rappers and entertainers, either.
Using our very advanced formula and statistical models, accounting for a variety of factors, the Kardashian sisters seem to need to date, on average, at least two athletes during their lifetime.
Kendall has been linked to Jordan Clarkson, which we’re all but certain was a real relationship. Counting Blake, that’s only two athletes. Given Kendall’s age and her known dating history, things are not looking too good for Blake.
Blake is surely the highest profile athlete Kendall has dated, but there is a level she needs to get to. Khloe dated James Harden and Kim at least went on a couple dates with Ronaldo. Blake is an all-star caliber player but not on the same level as Harden.
Kendall is also a bit of a “wildcard.” Of all the Kardashian women, she is the most likely to strike out on her own and diverge from the family path. Remember, when she landed her first runway show, she didn’t want her family to attend. Something about being taken seriously as a model. Hey, maybe there’s hope for Blake?!
NBA All-Star weekend will be in L.A. in a few weeks, perhaps Kendall will use the weekend to make some new baller friends. In addition, this summer the Lakers and Clippers will be pitching free agents to join their respective squads. The L.A. teams will have some new faces, maybe Kendall will wait to see who lands in Hollywood.
Jarod Hector is a New York City born-and-raised sports and pop culture enthusiast. A multimedia journalist & host who enjoys nuanced discussions of the intersection between sports, culture, and society. He believes My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the greatest album of the past 20 years and says if you root for billionaire owners over millionaire athletes you're part of the problem. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram @jshector
