LOS ANGELES -- Blake Griffin's first season with the Los Angeles Clippers is over before it even began.

Griffin will have surgery on his broken left kneecap, keeping the No. 1 draft pick out for at least four more months, the eternally star-crossed Clippers announced in a statement Wednesday.

Griffin hasn't played a regular-season game yet for the Clippers after injuring his kneecap in their final preseason game Oct. 23, wincing in pain as he landed after a dunk. After resting the stress fracture for several weeks, the former Oklahoma star recently increased his workload in rehabilitation by running on an anti-gravity treadmill.

The power forward developed pain in his knee, and an examination Tuesday revealed his recovery wasn't progressing properly. The Clippers said more details would be announced soon.

After a loss in Memphis on Tuesday, the Clippers will play at New Orleans on Wednesday night before returning to Los Angeles for a road game against the Lakers on Friday.

Griffin was the consensus college player of the year with 22.7 points and an NCAA-best 14.4 rebounds per game last season for the Sooners, and the Clippers eagerly chose him in last June's draft.

Griffin averaged 13.7 points and 8.1 rebounds during the preseason, and coach Mike Dunleavy and his new teammates all expected him to be a major part of their comeback season. Instead, Griffin has never been fully healthy in Los Angeles, even straining his right shoulder during summer league play in Las Vegas.

Griffin's woes sadly can't be surprising to fans of a team with just two winning seasons in the last 30 years and just one playoff series victory since moving to town in 1984.

The Clippers also have a long history of disappointing draft picks, including a pair of No. 1 overall choices that didn't dazzle.

Danny Manning played just 26 games in his rookie season in 1988-89 after tearing his knee ligament and undergoing surgery, though he eventually became an All-Star before fleeing town. Michael Olowokandi, the top pick in 1998, played just 45 games in his rookie season, and he wasn't much help even when healthy during five underachieving seasons.

while i understand and definitely appreciate the hilarity in this douchebag, i find it more sad

i don't give a shit about the clippers but as an NBA fan, i want to see him play and see what he can do. it's been a pretty impressive rookie class this year even without him, but seeing those glimpses of him makes you wonder what could have been. to me it's sad that we already have Redd, Oden and now Griffin all gone for the year. now i get to see DeAndre Jordan play C for them? ugh

It's official. No one should ever draft a post player #1 in the NBA draft.

Call it the Oden/Griffin rule.

To be fair Oden sucks, injuries or no injuries. Forget the Blazers. Watch the Thunder.

how can you say that? the guy hasn't had hardly any actual playing time in the NBA. i want to see a full season of him playing

In 21 games this season:
23.9 MPG, 11.1 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 2.29 BPG, 60% FG, 77% FT

That's pretty damn good for limited duty

Exactly. Oden might become a pretty good Center if he can stay healthy. Obviously a HUGE if.

Count me among the people upset by this. The Clippers would probably be a playoff team with a healthy Griffin.

It's official. No one should ever draft a post player #1 in the NBA draft.

Call it the Oden/Griffin rule.

I don't know what an anti-gravity treadmill is but it sounds damn cool.

You can't be serious.... it was Mike

Mike who?

you're right. How about Olawakandi then?

Mike Gminski. All-American badass.

Shouldn't we call it the Bowie/Ogden/Griffin rule? I mean, Bowie is the epitome of the busted draft pick.

Shouldn't Oden be a 15 & 12 guy?

Oden was better this year than last, and I'll attribute that to injuries. Forget the numbers and watch him play, whenever that happens next. I've watched him play about 30 games, 3 in person.

- He is tremendously slow at everything and makes the fundamental mistake of bringing the ball down when grabbing a contested rebound.

- He is always out of position on defense; good post players eat his lunch. Joel Przybilla is a much better defender, and he's not that good. To be fair, he doesn't get a lot of help. LaMarcus Aldridge plays PF like a SF on both ends of the court.

- You know why he has some limited minutes? He can't stay out of foul trouble, which stems from his terrible defense.

- His FG percentage is misleading because he dunks so much. He cannot make a shot more than 6 feet away from the basket, except for free throws.

- He doesn't have a thick skin. Not that he gets irritated with people, but he sulks and withdraws, and even takes criticism from beat writers to heart.

- It's almost somewhat unfair to him that he'll be held to the No. 1 pick standard. Especially because Kevin Durant was available. Oden could be the center on a championship team, but so was Luc Longley.

I don't know what an anti-gravity treadmill is but it sounds damn cool.

That's pretty lofty expectations for a player with about a season under his belt right now. If he ever figures out how to stay healthy, he will be a good player. Everyone thought Z would never stay in the league, that turned around.

could be another pervis ellison

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