Former Clippers coach sues team, says Kawhi Leonard suffered illegal medical treatment

LOS ANGELES – A former LA Clippers coach has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the team, alleging he was fired for trying to stop what he said was illegal treatment of often-injured star Kawhi Leonard.

In the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court (Central District), Randy Shelton — who worked with Leonard at San Diego State where Shelton served as a strength and conditioning coach and was on the Clippers' training staff from 2019 to 2023 — said the Clippers are concerned about Leonard's health and Ignoring safety and known medical restrictions. The lawsuit also accuses the Clippers of taking Leonard into his free agency in 2019 and using Shelton's potential employment with the Clippers to encourage Leonard to join the franchise while the forward was with the Toronto Raptors.

In the lawsuit, which names members of the Clippers' front office led by president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, Shelton alleges the team repeatedly met with him and promised him a role within the organization. Shelton, who worked at San Diego State from 2010 to 2019, maintained a relationship with Leonard after he was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in 2011.

Shelton would eventually leave school to become a performance specialist with the Clippers. The lawsuit alleges that the Clippers not only pursued Leonard through Shelton while Leonard was in Toronto, but that the connection between the Clippers and Shelton began in early 2017 when Leonard was entering his final season with the Spurs.

Shelton is seeking unspecified monetary damages for lost wages, as well as non-specified monetary payments for mental and emotional distress from the firing.

The Clippers denied Shelton's allegations in a statement, saying, “Mr. Shelton's claims were investigated and found without merit. We honored Mr. Shelton's employment agreement and paid him in full. This lawsuit is a belated attempt to sway the Clippers that Mr. Shelton should know the allegations are false.”

The NBA acknowledged the lawsuit Thursday, but had no further comment.

Shelton was famous for working out with Leonard in the offseason, working specifically to strengthen Leonard's quad muscles. Leonard missed time in the 2012–13 season with a left quadriceps injury and was later diagnosed with right quadriceps tendinopathy in the 2017–18 season – his final campaign with the Spurs in which Leonard appeared in just nine games.

Toronto aggressively implemented load management with Leonard, preventing him from playing any back-to-back games that season to ensure that Leonard's quadriceps would remain healthy throughout the season.

The Clippers adopted Toronto's back-to-back strategy in Leonard's first season in LA, but Leonard played in back-to-back contests after the Clippers' disappointing postseason in the 2020 bubble.

Leonard's right knee problems began in June 2021, when he partially tore his right ACL. Leonard signed a four-year contract in the offseason that included a player option through the 2024 offseason. Despite Leonard missing the entire 2021–22 season recovering from ACL surgery, the Clippers failed to make the playoffs.

The lawsuit alleges that the Clippers' strategy for the 2022-23 season was to play Leonard, and that the two-time NBA Finals MVP participated fully in training camp while playing multiple preseason games. Leonard was again held out of the back-to-back, but he volunteered to come off the bench for the first week of the 2022–23 season. By Week 2, Leonard's surgically repaired knee flared up and he was out for 25 days. The lawsuit alleges that Leonard returned prematurely and in the third game of his return, Leonard suffered a serious ankle injury that kept him out an additional two weeks.

Late in the season, Leonard participated in two sets of back-to-back contests, with the Clippers trying to stay out of the play-in tournament without injured star Paul George. The Clippers clinched a playoff spot, but Leonard tore his right meniscus and missed the final three games of the postseason.

Shelton was fired the following offseason.

The Clippers' approach to Leonard changed for the 2023–24 season, as Leonard played in back-to-back contests and 68 of the team's first 74 seasons. Leonard missed four games in late December with a hip injury, one game just before the All-Star break with an adductor strain and one game on rest in five games in seven days in March. Leonard also missed a game in March with chest spasms, though he played the following game in Chicago.

But Leonard's right knee flared up in April and he missed the final eight games of the regular season and appeared only in Games 2 and 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinals. Leonard underwent a procedure to address right knee inflammation in May and was cleared to participate in Team USA training camp in July, but was later replaced on the national team by Boston Celtics guard Derrick White.

Before training camp, the Clippers announced that Leonard would be held out of practice to strengthen his knee, with Frank saying the swelling was “almost gone.” Coach Tyronn Lue said a month later that Leonard had another flare-up after leaving the national team.

Lue made it clear that Leonard hasn't had a concussion since the start of Clippers camp, and Leonard is going week-to-week as he continues to prepare for a season where he hopes to finish healthy for the first time since 2020.

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(Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)