Clippers Hire NBA Writer Lee Jenkins to Front-Office Role

The L.A. Clippers are hiring Lee Jenkins, a longtime and prominent NBA writer, to a newly-created front office post of executive director of research and identity.

Jenkins spent the past 11 years at Sports Illustrated, and will now work alongside Clippers president of basketball of ops Lawrence Frank and GM Michael Winger.

Jenkins says the Clips “have a plan to create the ultimate environment for their players.”

Per ESPN:

“As a reporter, I can ask a hundred questions to a hundred people, but I could never know what really goes on behind the curtain,” Jenkins told ESPN on Monday night. “The deadline. The draft. Free agency. All the strategy and gymnastics and prep work that goes into those events, but also the every day of an organization. On a personal level, I came to the realization that no matter how many player profiles I write, I still have a ton to learn about the NBA, and the best way to learn it is through immersion.

“In our line of work, we ask questions from different angles, assemble information in different ways. We try to put it together like puzzles until we’ve formed a portrait of a person. I’m going to try to bring that same process to the Clippers in hopes it will complement what their incredible group of evaluators already accomplish. This team is interested not just in what players do, but who they are — how they’re wired, how they’re motivated — and that’s an area I love to explore.

“But I have to be honest with myself. This is all very new, and there will be trial and error. All I know for sure is that the Clippers have the tools to build one of the great sports stories, and I’m excited to contribute.”