Blake Griffin apologizes to Clippers fans, says he’ll make up for it on the court

Blake Griffin’s most recent article on the Players’ Tribune, posted Friday morning, surpassed 1,500 words in length.

But it could be summed up with two words: I’m sorry.

The start of the article, titled “To Clippers Fans,” reads, “I’ll just get this out of the way ... Last season sucked.”

From there, Griffin blends an apology for last season with his excitement for the upcoming one.

His regret is centered on an incident in January, when the Clippers All-Star forward repeatedly punched former assistant equipment manager Matias Testi in the face in a Toronto restaurant. Griffin broke his right hand, was suspended four games and had his pay docked $859,442. Testi suffered a swollen face and in July the Clippers said Testi no longer worked for the team.

Griffin also played just 35 regular season games due to a quad injury that also sidelined him after four games during the playoffs. His article Friday promised a much-improved performance this time around.

“I don’t want to dwell on it, but I think I owe it to Clippers fans to say it once again before the season begins: I’m sorry,” Griffin wrote.

“With everything that’s happened over the last few months, you have no idea how excited I am to play basketball again. It’s crazy to think about, but this is going to be my eighth year as a Clipper. I’m really proud of how far we’ve come in that time.”

The veteran recounted when he first got to Los Angeles in 2009, and saw only Lakers, Dodgers and USC gear in the airport. The only place he could find a Clippers logo, he wrote, was at the team’s practice facility.

Even when Griffin threw out the first pitch at Dodgers Stadium, he thought the light claps were for pity. He was the first overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft, but no one in the city paid him much mind because he was joining the city’s second-tier NBA team.

“It has been really cool to be part of a team that went from barely registering with people less than a decade ago to being one that people respect,” Griffin wrote. “We haven’t achieved our ultimate goal, but I hope we’ve changed the perception of the Clippers. At the very least, we’re worth hating now.”

In limited action last season, Griffin averaged 21.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. He figures to be one of the league’s premiere big men once again, and hopes to help the Clippers get back to where they were 17 months ago: Beating the Spurs in seven games, pushing deep into the Western Conference playoffs despite the insistence that that is where they falter every year.

“We have a first-time All-NBA center in [DeAndre Jordan]. We have a nine-time NBA All-Star in [Chris Paul]. We have one of the most efficient three-point shooters in the league in J.J. [Redick],” Griffin wrote.

“We have a three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year in Jamal Crawford. We have an owner in Steve Ballmer who has changed the entire culture of a franchise with his positivity, and a head coach in Doc [Rivers] who has led a team to the title before.”

And the Clippers have a star power forward who is sorry, and ready to get back on the court.

jesse.dougherty@latimes.com

@dougherty_jesse