Blake Griffin learned he was traded with the rest of us ... on Twitter

Social media — Twitter in particular — has been a public relations equalizer for athletes.

Where athletes before depended on TV, radio and newspapers to deliver their messages through whatever filter those media chose, they now have a direct line of communication with fans.

As with all things social media, there is a downside for athletes. Blake Griffin learned that that the hard way this week.

Griffin apparently found out that he was traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Detroit Pistons the same way the rest of us did. He sounded upset about it when talking with ESPN.

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“Basketball is a business, the NBA is a business, and they made a decision,” Griffin told ESPN. “The only thing I just wish I had known or had the opportunity to talk to somebody beforehand. Finding out through Twitter, through other people is a tough way to find out when you’ve been with a franchise for so long.”

That nugget of info certainly provides some context to Griffin’s trade-night Fresh Prince tweet when news of his trade took over social media.

Griffin alluded to being caught off guard by the news during his introduction with the Pistons on Wednesday.

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“Shocked is a good way to put it,” Griffin said.

But being shocked about a trade and learning about that trade through social media instead of from the Clippers are two very different things.