The Countdown Begins

At 9:01 Pacific time, the league-wide moratorium ends, and Blake Austin Griffin is able to officially sign his 5-year approximately $95 million dollar extension, with ink on paper.

The Rookie of Year one who can perform a dunk contest in a game, an athletic freak of nature who your Los Angeles Clippers drafted back in 2009.

It's Lob City Eve, ladies and gentleman.

And Lob City is the place to be. The "DTS is cheap" and "little brother" associations are slowly (but surely) dying off.

In other news, Chris Paul looks like he is also going to sign an extension with us next year. See here and here.

2k Sports is going to live stream an interview of Blake Griffin very soon now off ON done. A very appreciative hat tip to Guyver423!

Its a great day to be a Clipper fan, so feel free to post your hurrahs and celebratory comments!

UPDATE: Marc Stein announces the Blake Griffin's five-year, $95M extension, contains an opt out after Year 4.

UPDATE 2: Blake Griffin tweets this:

Happy to officially sign my extension to #clippernation for 5 more years. Can't wait. Thanks for all the support.

— Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin) July 11, 2012

UPDATE 3: Here is the Clippers' Press Release!

UPDATE 3: The night just got sweeter for all you Laker-haters out there, as Orlando and Houston are making sure the Lakers can't get Howard:

Rockets remain strongly engaged w/ Orlando in direct talks for Dwight Howard, sources tell Y! They've spent little time on 3-way scenarios.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 11, 2012