The Detroit Pistons announced on Tuesday that six-time All-Star forward Blake Griffin underwent left knee surgery and there's no timetable for his return.

"When your body says you're ready to come back, you're ready to come back. Blake's a smart man. He'll know when it's time. There's no rush on our part or his part. The most important thing is his total health," said Detroit's head coach Dwane Casey.

When Griffin was traded to the Pistons on January 2018, it all seemed a fresh new start for him: for the first time, he became the only franchise player of the team; the Motor City finally had an exciting player for the fans since Grant Hill; the five-year maximum deal of Griffin was insurance for both the player and the team.

What about now?

The Pistons are open to negotiations over trading Andre Drummond, not because they want to find new help for Griffin, but because it's simply too hard to trade Griffin. Having played 18 games for the Pistons this season, Griffin averaged 15.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.2 turnovers per game. His field goal and 3-point rates are 35.2 and 24.3 percent respectively.

By the way, he only finished five dunks.

Is this the monster who dropped 22.5 points, 12.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and presented 214 dunks in 82 games of his rookie season?

Unlike today, Griffin used to have bones of steel. He played over 80 games in three of his first four seasons and finished 784 dunks. Multiple giants – Timofey Mozgov, Pau Gasol, Kendrick Perkins – became his poster backgrounds.

However, too many performances in the sky and the opponents' ferocious fouls on him soon turned on Griffin's health. He had to work more on the floor and learn to do more than rattling the rim. Griffin tried and added more weapons to his arsenal but, unfortunately, he unlocked the wrong talents.

When you are a big man and your teammate is Chris Paul, the last thing the team needs from you is to orchestrate. Nonetheless, that was what Griffin invested the most efforts. As for other more important skills like perimeter shooting, 3-pointer, finishing ability, and posting-up moves, to be fair, Griffin made improvements in them but they were not enough.

His performance on the court was not the only reason that Griffin was traded by the Clippers only six months after he signed that five-year, 173-million-U.S.-dollar-contract. It only took Jerry West less than six months to decide to get rid of him. Griffin's heal aside, something else must have made the Clippers' front office realize that they could not build the team around him.

Perhaps what Jared Dudley, who used to be Griffin's teammate in the Clippers in the 2013-14 season, said could give us some clue.

"Least favorite teammate. Wow. I don't get along with Blake Griffin now. When I was with him I didn't have a bad relationship with him. That team was the most toxic team. It was weird because it was a bipolar type team. We were somewhat cool off the floor; we weren't cool on the floor," said Dudley to Sam Amick of The Athletic.

"I just don't like his personality and attitude. I think he's a great basketball player and I think you can differentiate the two. It's easy to be the greatest teammate when you're winning. How about when you're losing? How about when you're down 20? And that's the biggest thing with that team. It was the biggest front-running team. You're up 20, everything's good, throwing lobs. Down 20, people want to fight, bickering. I don't want to say my least favorite… That's a teammate right now that I don't talk (to), don't get along (with), words aren't exchanged on the court, yada yada."

We don't need to believe everything Dudley said, but if you consider Griffin's relations with Paul, that ridiculous injury he suffered by punching Clippers' working staff, it's hard to defend that Griffin is a good teammate.

Griffin wanted to change, he tried to lead the Pistons and he almost succeeded. In the 2018-19 season, he averaged 24.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.4 points; he buried 189 3-pointers; he made it back to the All-Star Game and the All-NBA Team; his contribution even helped the Pistons get 4.4 more wins.

However, all of this fell apart by the end of the season because Griffin was caught up by knee injury. The team made the playoffs as No. 8 in the Eastern Conference and they met the Milwaukee Bucks led by Greek Freak Giannis Antetokounmpo. No one expected the Pistons to create miracle and there's no point for Griffin to return carrying the injury.

But he chose to return. In Game 3 and Game 4, Griffin put down an average of 24.5 points, six rebounds and six assists. Though his efforts did not stop his team from being swept, at least Griffin tried and fought like a real leader, until he fell down again.

Unfortunately, this time, he might not be able to get the best version of himself back, a consequence he had to carry after forcing himself back to the court with a knee injury.

It's a pity that Griffin had to say goodbye to his career peak at 30, but at least he used to be one of the shining stars of the league.