Could the Los Angeles Clippers really be angry enough with five-time All-Star forward Blake Griffin to show him the door?

News of the Clips perhaps being willing to deal their superstar forward has been percolating ever since the team confirmed he will be out beyond the All-Star break after suffering a broken hand when he punched out a team equipment staffer.

Such madness, coupled with the fact the team has gone 14-3 with the oft-injured star out of the lineup since December and are now 23-9 without him over the last two seasons, hasn't done much to slow the chatter.

Even among other league execs, it's been widely speculated that if Clippers general manager and head coach Doc Rivers had to deal one of his big three of Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan it would almost certainly be the former Oklahoma standout.

ESPN reports Rivers previously admitted one more first or second round flame-out in the postseason might have him ready to do just that. And now, Griffin has given him even more to consider.

In the wake of it all it all, Griffin has been sure to say all the right things, endlessly expressing remorse and taking full responsibility for what he knows was a colossal error in judgement.

That kind of attitude appears to be scoring at least some points with Rivers in mending fences.

"You have to forgive people at some point," he told ESPN. "I believe that. We built Richard Nixon a library. I mean, my goodness. You forgive people. You really do. You kind of move on, and you build it back."

That's not to say all is forgiven just yet. Rivers admits he couldn't do that even if he wanted to, adding the team will defer to the league on any punishment that's to be handed out to his star forward.

"Both parties will get together," he said. "Usually the league leads on that stuff."

More recently, Paul sought to temper all the success the Clips' are now experiencing without the veteran star.

"We can win games, but we need [Griffin] to win championships," he warned.

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