Blake Griffin brings The Stepback to opening night, a late-night show built on questions he still has
WhyNBA Sports Desk · Oct 19, 2026
The story
Blake Griffin starts his next career on the same night the NBA starts its season: The Stepback with Blake Griffin, the late-night sports show he will host each week, premieres on Tuesday, October 20, on Prime Video and YouTube.
The story
For a player who spent a decade as one of the league's most recognizable faces with the Los Angeles Clippers, it is the clearest sign yet of where he wants his voice to land now that his playing days are over.
The story
The timing is deliberate. Tuesday's opening night has three games, headlined by the Knicks hosting the 76ers at Madison Square Garden, and new episodes of Griffin's show will follow every Tuesday through the season.
Not a highlights show
Griffin has been clear that he is not building another nightly reaction program. Each episode takes one big subject and digs into it in front of a live studio audience, with jokes doing the work that graphics and hot takes do elsewhere.
Not a highlights show
The early list of topics reads more like a policy desk than a postgame panel: the economics of sports betting, name-image-likeness money in college sports, the growing reach of analytics, youth sports, officiating and the culture of instant outrage.
Not a highlights show
He told reporters he chose the late-night format on purpose, even while admitting that "late night is sort of a dying genre in a way." The draw for him was the room itself, a crowd that reacts in real time.
Not a highlights show
He also said the first season was planned to age well rather than chase the week's headlines.
Not a highlights show
What he does not want is a show about his own career. Griffin said he is hosting because he played and because "there's still questions that I have about all these topics", which puts the former No.
Not a highlights show
1 pick in the role of the curious fan rather than the retired star telling old stories.
A player-built production
The show comes from Mortal Media, the company Griffin runs with former NFL offensive lineman Ryan Kalil, in partnership with Amazon's Wondery.
A player-built production
It joins a growing group of athlete-led programs under Amazon's creator banner, and it extends a relationship that began when he took a seat on Amazon's NBA studio desk last season.
A player-built production
Episodes were taped ahead of the premiere, and the trailer went up on his own account a week ago.
A player-built production
Griffin has never hidden the comic streak that made his commercials and his 2011 Slam Dunk Contest win so memorable.
A player-built production
Asked by Bleacher Report for a Finals pick while promoting the show, he went with a rematch of the last two champions, the Knicks against the Thunder, and named the Spurs as the team most likely to crash that party.
What comes next
The first episode drops Tuesday, the same night Griffin's Finals picks get their first test: the Spurs host the Thunder in a conference finals rematch, and the Knicks raise their banner against the 76ers at 7 p.m. ET. Follow both in the WhyNBA Game Center: Thunder vs.
What comes next
Spurs and 76ers vs. Knicks.
Photo credit
Blake Griffin in 2016. File photo: Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0. {"source":"Wikimedia Commons","file":"File:Blake Griffin (31732743775).jpg","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blake_Griffin_(31732743775).jpg","license":"CC BY-SA 2.0","license_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0","author":"Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA","retrieved_at":"2026-10-19T16:14:55+00:00"}
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