The Clippers are hiring Lee Jenkins, a longtime journalist at Sports Illustrated, to be their Executive Director of Research and Identity, a role that exists nowhere else in the league, or probably in sports.
This is a fascinating move. When sports writers have been hired by teams in the past, it’s usually been analytical writers who go into basketball operations departments, or straight translations into teams’ communications and writing departments. This is something entirely different. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowksi, who broke the news, put it well:
Jenkins has been one of the preeminent sports journalists and storytellers of this era and Clippers are banking that his talents can significantly impact a front office's basketball operations.