Griffin is averaging 22.6 points — the second-highest scoring clip of his career — along with 7.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game, earning a nod from NBA head coaches as an All-Star reserve this season.

The Clippers are currently ninth in the Western Conference, and surpassing the Nuggets for the eighth seed would only ensure postseason doom at the hands of the Warriors, or possibly even Paul’s Rockets.

With the loaded 2018 NBA Draft just a few months away, winning games can only hurt Los Angeles’ odds at a successful rebuild in the post-Lob City era.

Moving Griffin now kills two birds with one stone: It takes an All-Star off the court and likely gets a first-round pick in a draft class GMs are salivating over.

Griffin doesn’t fit the mold of the traditional stretch-four Stan Van Gundy usually likes next to his big man, but if he can get the Griffin-Drummond pairing to work, the Pistons should be back in the hunt in no time.