Clippers say ex-staffer sought millions prior to Kawhi claims - ESPN

The LA Clippers say a former strength and conditioning coach asked for millions of dollars from the team before filing his wrongful termination lawsuit in October and making tampering claims involving Kawhi Leonard, according to a court filing obtained by ESPN.

After they refused to pay Randy Shelton, who was fired by the team last summer, he sued the Clippers and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, saying he was punished for expressing concerns about the management of Leonard's injuries.

In the filing Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the Clippers asked that the dispute be settled by arbitration, as per the terms of the employment contract Shelton signed in November 2021.

After his termination in July 2023, the Clippers say they paid Shelton's salary through the end of his contract in June 2024.

«That should have been the end of the matter,» the Clippers said in their response. «But [Shelton] misperceived himself as a crusader and wanted attention. After cashing the last of the Clippers' checks, he demanded that the Clippers pay him millions of dollars for the imagined wrongs asserted in his complaint. When the team refused, he sued.»

Shelton joined the Clippers' performance team after serving in a similar role at San Diego State, where he worked with Leonard before the forward was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2011 NBA draft.

In his lawsuit, Shelton alleged that he was hired as part of a yearslong recruiting campaign to lure Leonard and said the Clippers «leapt well beyond the bounds of the NBA constitution» with respect to potential tampering violations. Shelton also alleged that the team's «mishandling of Kawhi Leonard's injury and return-to-play protocol has been mind-blowing»