Ex-Clippers employee sues team over 'unsafe and illegal treatment' of Kawhi Leonard

In the middle of October, NBA teams would like to be focused on the beginning of the regular season, not lawsuits from former team employees — but that's what the Los Angeles Clippers are now dealing with.

According to ESPN, former Clippers strength and conditioning coach Randy Shelton is suing the team in part because he believes he was terminated unlawfully for raising concerns about how the franchise handled Kawhi Leonard's injuries.

The lawsuit itself says that "Shelton complained to LA Clippers' management that they were subjecting the LA Clippers' star athlete, Kawhi Leonard ("Leonard"), to unsafe and illegal treatment, in disregard for Leonard's health and safety and known medical restrictions."

It also states that after Shelton complained, he was "swiftly retaliated against" by the team and fired, for "no stated reason for this decision." The Clippers gave a statement to NBA Insider Chris Hayes, saying that "Mr. Shelton’s claims were investigated and found to be without merit. We honored Mr. Shelton’s employment contract and paid him in full."

In the lawsuit, Shelton claims that Leonard has not been given proper recovery time for his injuries, saying the Clippers have demanded productivity from Leonard even while not fully healthy. Shelton also claims the Clippers disregarded him during the process, "excluding Shelton from pertinent information regarding Leonard's prognosis and care."

Former Clippers employee Randy Shelton says the team tampered while trying to recruit Leonard

Not only did Shelton claim that the Clippers used illegal treatments on Kawhi Leonard, he also alleges that the team tampered in order to acquire Leonard in the first place. "The Clippers public displays of desire to bring Kawhi Leonard to its organization-including Clippers' personnel reportedly personally attending 75 percent of Toronto Raptors' games during the 2018-2019 season-tip-toed the line of unconstitutional tampering. Privately, the Clippers' conduct and campaign to lure in Leonard leapt well beyond the bounds of the NBA constitution," Shelton alleges in the lawsuit. Multiple NBA teams have been punished for tampering in recent years and have lost draft picks or been forced to pay fines as a result.

Shelton and Leonard have known each other since Leonard was at San Diego State University, where Shelton was a strength and conditioning coach. He claims that Lawrence Frank and the Clippers used "efforts to pursue Leonard indirectly through Shelton" and assured him that if he helped bring Kawhi Leonard to the Clippers — Shelton and Leonard have maintained a relationship since their time at SDSU, according to Shelton — he would have a "bright future" in the Clippers organization, but that those promises did not come to fruition.

Shelton says the team stripped him of most of his responsibilities and "...Even in this role, the Clippers attempted to diminish Shelton's responsibilities and deliberately excluded Shelton from meetings and withheld necessary medical treatment and information that impacted Leonard's training and health."

As stated earlier, the Clippers deny all of these claims made by Shelton.