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, league sources told ESPN.
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, general manager Michael Winger in the franchise's reshaped front office.
Jenkins has worked at Sports Illustrated for the past 11 years, with assignments that included revelatory cover stories and features on the biggest stars in the NBA.