Randy Shelton, a former power and conditioning coach for the Los Angeles Clippers has sued the franchise and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, alleging wrongful termination partially for elevating considerations concerning the administration of Kawhi Leonard’s well being and accidents.
Shelton joined the Clippers on July 1, 2019 after serving in an identical function at San Diego the place he labored with Leonard.
Shelton mentioned he was a part of a multiyear effort to recruit Leonard that “leapt properly past the bounds of the NBA structure” with respect to potential tampering violations.
He’s looking for “vital” however unspecified damages at trial, his attorneys advised ESPN.
The Clippers denied the allegations in a press release.
“Mr. Shelton’s claims had been investigated and located to be with out benefit. We honored Mr. Shelton’s employment contract and paid him in full,” the workforce mentioned. “This lawsuit is a belated try to shake down the Clippers primarily based on accusations that Mr. Shelton ought to know are false.”
Shelton mentioned the Clippers first contacted him in 2017 after Leonard suffered a extreme ankle harm through the 2017 Western Convention Finals.
Starting in 2017, whereas Leonard remained underneath contract with the Spurs, Shelton mentioned a Clippers government contacted him to hunt “personal well being info” about Leonard and expressed the necessity for “discretion.”
Shelton alleges that the Clippers’ recruiting efforts had been in “disregard for the NBA’s prohibitions on tampering.” Article 35 of the NBA’s structure prohibits groups from “immediately or not directly” trying to entice gamers underneath contract with one workforce to hitch a special workforce.
