Los Angeles Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank says the Clippers operated under the league's rules in their pursuit of superstar small forward Kawhi Leonard.
Frank says the Clippers never had a conversation with Leonard or his camp during the regular season or before the free agency period started on June 30.
“We didn’t recruit,” Frank said, via Jovan Buha of The Athletic. “What we did is, we went to many games to scout and research. We never had a conversation with Kawhi or any of his people. We always felt by doing it out in front we were just being very, very transparent. We weren’t doing anything behind the scenes. We know the rules and we followed the rules.
“We feel very, very good about how we did everything.”
Like Lawrence Frank says, the Clippers sent scouts to watch Kawhi Leonard play last season when he was with the Toronto Raptors. There's no rule in the CBA which prohibits teams from doing that.
According to an ESPN report, the NBA opened an investigation centered on the timing of some of the earliest reported free agency deals on June 30. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Kemba Walker already had deals before June 30.
The Clippers are pleased with how everything turned out for them this summer. They were able to sign Leonard and trade for Paul George.
Now, for the first time in franchise history, LAC is title contenders.
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