The Los Angeles Clippers are prying one of the world’s best sports writers away from his publication to join their front office. Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins, king of the NBA feature, is now Lee Jenkins, executive director of research and identity for the Los Angeles Clippers. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news:
The Los Angeles Clippers are hiring Sports Illustrated senior writer Lee Jenkins to a newly created front-office position of executive director of research and identity.
The Clippers are banking on the belief that Jenkins, one of the industry’s preeminent sports journalists, can translate his talent, ethics and instincts as a storyteller and his unique study of people into the franchise’s ambitious basketball pursuits.
Jenkins, 41, will be working alongside Clippers president of basketball of operations Lawrence Frank and general manager Michael Winger in the franchise’s reshaped front office.
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“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.”
Jenkins confirmed the news of his career move via Twitter:
As usual, I’m late on news. After 11 years @SINow, I'm joining the front office of the @LAClippers. Official title: Executive Director of Research & Identity. Unofficial: valet for Jerry West. This doesn’t mean I won't write again. But when I do, I’ll know more about the subject.
— Lee Jenkins (@SI_LeeJenkins) September 18, 2018
I grew up watching the Clippers on KTLA, in the Benoit Benjamin era, a long way from Steve Ballmer. I believe in their people: Lawrence Frank, Michael Winger, Trent Redden, Mark Hughes. They are placing an unusual bet on me and I on them. May it go better than my Finals picks.
— Lee Jenkins (@SI_LeeJenkins) September 18, 2018
