After a whirlwind of a rookie season, AJ Griffin of the Hawks is looking to find himself and where he fits among this new group. So he took a couple of weeks away from basketball, as well as the team, and he has returned with fresh frame of mind.
Griffin has been inactive for the past eight games after the team ruled him out of its matchup against the Raptors on Dec. 13 for personal reasons. Then, they ruled him out and kept designating him as inactive for the next couple of weeks before his return Thursday, which raised questions of why the 20-year-old had missed so much time.
This season alone has brought up so many questions regarding Griffin, who has averaged 10 minutes per game after he became a key part of the team’s rotation his rookie season. He has averaged only 2.5 points on 32% shooting on 3-point shots in 12 appearances, so far.
It has left many fans wondering why the second-year wing has not had more playing in the team’s typical nine-man rotation, even with injuries piling up.
But Griffin has had a lot going on even sharing some of his struggles publicly in an article for The Christian Post.
He declined to go into detail about what led to his absence, but after taking some time to reflect, he’s gotten himself back into a better space.
“Yeah, I would say I’m glad to be back,” Griffin told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The team has been great to be able to support me through that time stepping away for a little, just for personal reasons. I definitely want to keep it brief and not put it all out there, But I have a great staff, great teammates here, checking in on me just to make sure everything’s good. And just really walking in today, just, it’s always good to see your loved ones too, your family and stuff like that, to be able to reconnect and so I just had a great time today and moving on from there.”
During his time away, he leaned on his family and friends, while also staying in contact with his teammates. He received plenty of words of wisdom from veterans such as Dejounte Murray and Wesley Matthews, who have shared their experiences from their years in the NBA.
“I mean, the biggest thing is a lot of people don’t understand when we throw a jersey on they think we’re somebody else than when we don’t have this jersey on and we’re humans,” Matthews said. “We’re people at the end of the day, first and foremost, and most important, a lot of us are fathers, obviously sons and all that kind of stuff.
“So, it was ‘just take care of what you need to take care of. Basketball is basketball.’ It’s a blessing. It’s fun. It’s amazing, but it’s a game at the end of the day. Yeah, it provides and all that, but hell, your mental is what keeps you going and what’s most important. So (if), you got to take time away, you got to take time away because that’s what’s most important.”
Griffin also continued to lean heavily on his faith to help relieve his stress and get his joy back.
“One thing that spoke to me was, one story (in the Bible) of Peter, he was on a boat and he took his eyes off Jesus,” Griffin said. “And then that’s when you start seeing the storms of life and instead of keeping your eyes on him to where like, that’s where your joy comes from despite any circumstances or anything you may be going through, in life. And so, I think that’s where I had to reconnect, just refocus and yeah, it feels great to be back.”
His teammates and coaches could feel his excitement upon his return to practice Thursday. For Griffin, it felt like a little more.
“I think it’s kind of like opening a present for Christmas Day,” he said. “Just that joy of coming back you, doing what you love and knowing the people just love being around you.”
