Trust is the invisible currency of the locker room. Without it, nothing works, not the plays, not the chemistry, not the conversations players are never supposed to have in public. Blake Griffin understood that. Which is exactly why what happened during one quiet afternoon on his Manhattan Beach balcony hit so differently.

Griffin recently sat down on the Friends Keep Secrets video podcast alongside hosts Lil Dicky, Kristin Batalucco, and Benny Blanco, and got unusually candid about a moment from his Clippers days that didn’t make headlines at the time, but probably should have. A moment that didn’t involve a bad trade, an injury, or a locker room blowup. Just a conversation. And the person who wasn’t supposed to repeat it.

“I put my phone in the charger, took a shower, came back, and I see a missed call from him in a voicemail,” Griffin told the hosts. “So, I clicked the voicemail and it’s him and he goes, ‘Hey, coach. Just left Blake’s house. We had a good talk. Some really interesting things.’”

The accidental voicemail provided undeniable evidence that the psychologist was leaking highly personal information from these sessions to the Clippers staff. The immediate revelation completely put off Griffin from the entire profession.

“First of all, I can’t believe he f—– up that bad cause that’s really f—– up,” Griffin recalled. “And second of all, I was like, ‘Well, f— that. But I’m never seeing another sports psychologist ever again.’”

This was the Lob City era – DeAndre Jordan alley-oops, Chris Paul orchestrating everything in the half-court, Griffin himself turning poster dunks into a personality. From the outside, the Clippers were appointment television. But glamour has a way of papering over dysfunction, and behind closed doors, the franchise had its fractures.

Griffin stuck to that decision for most of his career. But he does admit to the hosts that his stance has changed since retirement.

Blake Griffin found his own mental health resources

Perhaps it was for the better that Blake Griffin didn’t have to worry about the staff finding out deeply personal details anymore. 2012 was when he emerged as the high-flying pillar of the Lob City era alongside Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan, and Jamal Crawford.

Mental health professionals responded to his story with shock. While they confirmed that the professionals hired by the team would most likely report to management, it should’ve been made explicitly clear to players like Griffin before the session began.

They acknowledged that they work for a team and report to them, not the player. However, from the sounds of it, Griffin didn’t have the full details for informed consent. It was purely by accident that he found out these sessions are not confidential.

Though his trust was broken, Griffin clarified that his negative stance is strictly limited to team-hired psychologists.

When asked by the podcast hosts if he currently avoids mental health resources entirely, Griffin confirmed that he has been seeing a private therapist in recent years. He avoided it during his playing career but has found standard personal therapy good for his mental health.