Sports Illustrated writer Lee Jenkins to join LA Clippers' front office

The Los Angeles Clippers hire Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Lee Jenkins to a newly created position as Executive Director of Research and Identity.

The Clippers are confident that Jenkins, one of the most prominent sports journalists in the industry, can translate his talent, ethics and storytelling instinct and his unique study of people into the franchise's ambitious basketball activities. .

Jenkins, 41, will work alongside Clippers basketball president Lawrence Frank and general manager Michael Winger in the franchise's revamped front office.

Jenkins has worked at Sports Illustrated for the past 11 years, with assignments that include eye-opening stories and feature stories about the biggest stars in the NBA.

"As a journalist, I can ask a hundred questions to a hundred people, but I could never know what's really going on behind the curtain," Jenkins told ESPN on Monday night. "The deadline .The draft.The free agency.All the strategy and the preparation work and gymnastics that go into these events, but also every day of an organization. I realized I write, I still have a lot to learn about the NBA, and the best way to learn it is immersion.

"In our line of work, we ask questions from different angles, gather information in different ways, and try to assemble them as puzzles until we are a portrait of a person." try to bring the same process to the Clippers in the hope that this will complete what their incredible group of evaluators has already accomplished. This team is not only interested in what players do, but who they are – how they are wired, how motivated they are – area that I like to explore.

"But I have to be honest with myself – all of this is very new and there will be trial and error, all I know for sure is that the Clippers have the tools to build it. one of the great sports stories, contribute. "

Jenkins said he had never considered working for a professional sports team and had not considered the possibility of making the media jump before Frank and Winger approached him with the idea a few months ago. .

"I grew up shooting for the Clippers on KTLA – Gary Grant was my guy – but it would be dishonest to say that's why I do it, "Jenkins said," so much about the sport comes down to the market and the owner. "They have the most attractive market of the league and if they do not have the most committed owner, I do not know who's doing it.I mean, who else would Steve Ballmer do something like that? "I constantly write stories about winning teams, and when you go back to the beginning, the end seems almost inevitable.

"The Clippers are in Los Angeles with Steve Ballmer and Jerry West, Doc Rivers and Lawrence Frank, they could have the best league negotiator Michael Winger and two of the top scorers Trent Redden and Mark Hughes, they have a plan to create the The ultimate environment for their players, I think it's inevitable. "