Clippers’ Blake Griffin takes setback in stride

With little emotion or inflection in his voice, Blake Griffin said the dreaded thought already had been in his head.

One day after the Clippers said their rookie power forward would need knee surgery that would delay his NBA debut until next season, Griffin said Thursday that the decision was “the best choice” for his nascent career.

“This has been a possibility in the back of my mind that it might have to happen, so it made it a little bit easier to process,” he said.

In a nine-minute news conference at the Clippers’ training facility in Playa Vista, Griffin said he was “obviously disappointed” but that “it’s better to take care of it now and not have to deal with it in the future.”

The NBA’s No. 1 draft pick last June suffered a stress fracture in his left kneecap during the Clippers’ final preseason game Oct. 23.

He had hoped weeks of rehabilitation would fix the knee, enabling him to join the team in the second half of the season and provide an added lift to the Clippers’ quest for the playoffs.

But late last week while doing exercise drills, including bounding off one leg in a pool, Griffin said he could tell the knee was aggravated.

“I was doing just kind of some explosive stuff,” he said. “I’d been cleared that day to take it a step further.

“It’s not nearly the pain that I had when it first happened,” Griffin said. But it was “one of those things where I wouldn’t be able to have full strength, I’d be playing at 75% for the rest of the season.”

Now, “the only option was surgery,” he said. “From the beginning there were two options, to have surgery or to let it heal, and letting it heal would be the quicker option. So we had to give that a try.

“There’s nothing structurally wrong with my knee, you just have to take care of the problem,” he said. “I’d much rather get this done now and be able to play 100% at the beginning of next season.”

Griffin, 20, is scheduled to have surgery Wednesday in Los Angeles. He expects to be on crutches for about a week and for his full recovery to take between four and six months.

“Right now I’m shooting to be [in] full force sometime later in the summer,” he said. “It’s frustrating, but at the same time this is the best choice for me.”

Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy said Wednesday that the added time off still would serve Griffin well.

“He learned a lot off the court” so far this season, Dunleavy said. “He’s one of those guys who studies really hard. I think he’ll just continue to stay in that mode. I think he’ll come back next year even more prepared.”

Griffin said he discussed the injury with Dunleavy on Wednesday night and they agreed “I’m going to attack the rehab and turn it into something where [the knee] isn’t going to be a problem in the future.

“Injuries happen, they’re part of basketball, part of sports,” Griffin said. “I’m just going to deal with it and move on.”

The Clippers (17-20) lost on the road this week to Memphis and New Orleans and face the Lakers tonight.

james.peltz@latimes.com