A former Clippers employee is suing and says he was fired over Kawhi’s concerns

The former Los Angeles Clippers strength and conditioning coach, who said he was hired in 2019 as part of a years-long campaign to hire Kawhi Leonard, has filed a lawsuit against the team and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, alleging the wrongful termination was due in part to raising concerns about management. For Leonard’s health and injuries.

The lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN, was filed Thursday in Los Angeles County by attorneys representing Randy Shelton, who joined the Clippers on July 1, 2019, as a strength and conditioning coach after serving in a similar role in San Diego. State, where he worked with Leonard before joining the San Antonio Spurs in the 2011 NBA draft.

Shelton said he was part of a years-long effort to recruit Leonard that “jumped well beyond the bounds of the NBA Constitution” regarding potential tampering violations.

His lawyers told ESPN that he is seeking “substantial” but unspecified damages at trial.

The Clippers issued a statement denying the allegations.

The team said: “Mr. Shelton’s allegations were investigated and found to be baseless. We have honored Mr. Shelton’s employment contract and paid him the full amount.” “This lawsuit is an overdue attempt to bring down the Clippers based on accusations that Mr. Shelton should know are false.”

The NBA said through a spokesman that it was not aware of the lawsuit.

Shelton said in the lawsuit that the Clippers first contacted him in 2017 after Leonard, who was under contract with the Spurs at the time, suffered a serious ankle injury in Game 1 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

That injury ended Leonard’s postseason, and he missed the first 27 games of the following season with a right quadriceps injury. Leonard’s injury and subsequent rehab led to a rift with the Spurs, leading him to seek a second opinion outside the organization.

Beginning in 2017, while Leonard remained under contract with the Spurs, Shelton said a Clippers executive contacted him seeking “private health information” about Leonard and expressed the need for “discretion.” The two sides spoke about 15 times by phone and held at least seven meetings, according to the lawsuit, as the Clippers sought to learn more about Leonard’s contractual obligations with the Spurs and his medical condition.

In June 2018, Spurs president RC Buford admitted that the team was willing to “explore all of our options” as Leonard became disgruntled with the franchise.

The Clippers were one of the teams that pursued Leonard, but he was eventually traded to the Toronto Raptors in July 2018 and brought the franchise its first title in 2019. Leonard became an unrestricted free agent after that season.

The Clippers executive “discussed bringing Shelton into the Clippers organization as a strength and conditioning coach, given the personal relationship and trust Leonard has in Shelton,” Shelton said in his conversations.

After Leonard left San Diego State, Shelton said he was hired by Leonard to help him prepare for the NBA and that they maintained the relationship through 2017 as Leonard’s stardom rose with the Spurs, where he won a title in 2014 and earned Finals MVP honors. .

Shelton claims the Clippers’ recruiting efforts were “in disregard of the NBA’s ban on tampering.” Section 35 of the NBA Constitution prohibits teams from trying to “directly or indirectly” entice players under contract with one team to join a different team.

Shelton said that he was “promised a bright future with the Clippers” and that at the time he “had a thriving business in San Diego” and a “respectable standing in San Diego State.”

Clippers staff attended several of Leonard’s games in Toronto during the 2018-19 season, and the team was fined $50,000 by the NBA in May 2019 over public comments by then-Clippers coach Doc Rivers that compared Leonard to Michael Jordan.

After the Clippers signed Leonard in July 2019, Frank said during an introductory press conference: “We haven’t had any conversation with Kawhi or any of his staff. We’ve always felt by doing that in front of us that we’ve been very transparent.” We know the rules, we follow the rules in terms of the way (Clippers owner Steve Ballmer) runs, his integrity is No. 1. We’ll always be above the line.

But in or around February 2019, Shelton said he met in San Diego with Frank, who “personally assured him” that he would have a role in the team’s strength and conditioning if Leonard joined the Clippers. Shelton said he met with the Clippers again during the Raptors’ playoff run regarding Leonard’s willingness to join the team.

The Clippers hired Shelton in July 2019. Shortly after joining the team, Shelton said his role was diminished, he was excluded from meetings and information regarding Leonard’s health was withheld from him.

Leonard suffered a torn ACL in his right knee in the second round of the 2021 playoffs, underwent surgery in July 2021 and missed the 2021-22 NBA season.

Shelton said the recovery goal for Leonard, who had “suffered numerous injuries in the past,” should have been 730 days, but the Clippers considered that timeline “unacceptable.”

He said that in an August 2022 meeting with members of the Clippers’ medical team, it was agreed that the team would apply load management principles to Leonard, prohibit him from playing at fullback and limit his minutes while he recovered.

Leonard returned to action in October 2022, 16 months after the injury, but complained of swelling and inflammation after two games. Leonard missed 12 straight games, returning less than a month later. Leonard then tore ligaments in his right ankle on Nov. 21, 2022, costing him six more games to start the season, Shelton said.

Later that season, Leonard tore his right meniscus in a playoff game against the Phoenix Suns. After that injury, Shelton said he wrote a complaint to Frank about his diminished role and how the team was managing Leonard’s health. In it, he said he noted that “the mishandling of Kawhi Leonard’s injury and return-to-play protocol was astonishing” and that “ignoring his recovery is unacceptable.” Shelton also said the Clippers focused more on Leonard’s production than his recovery.

The next day, Frank responded, saying: “We take your concerns seriously and will move forward with the investigation immediately.”

Shelton said his claims were baseless and that Frank terminated his employment without cause in July 2023. He said he was not compensated for wages owed, including expenses and refunds.

“We hope our client’s lawsuit serves as a wake-up call to the Clippers organization that their players are not just dollar value but human beings who need appropriate — not rushed — health treatment for the sake of their careers and their lives beyond.” David, one of Shelton’s attorneys, wrote in a statement to ESPN.

Shelton’s lawyers also said their client would cooperate with any investigation into the Clippers’ conduct.

Last season, Leonard played in 68 regular-season games — his most since 2016-17 — and averaged 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals while earning his sixth All-Star nod.

But his health remained a problem.

Leonard has missed 179 of a possible 435 games since joining the Clippers in 2019, and remains sidelined indefinitely to start this season while rehabbing inflammation in his right knee.