LA Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said Monday that “in no way” do the Clippers try to “downplay, diminish or condone domestic violence.” His comments came less than a week after the organization signed Kevin Porter Jr. to a two-year contract.
Porter missed the 2023-24 season after he was arrested last September and charged with assault and strangulation of his girlfriend, former WNBA player Kysre Gondrezick. Porter reached a deal with prosecutors in a Manhattan court in January, pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault and a harassment violation in the case. As part of the deal, according to the Associated Press, Porter must complete a 26-week Abusive Partner Intervention Program, abide by a limited order of protection, attend all court dates and have no further arrests. After a year, if Porter complies, he will be allowed to withdraw the plea, effectively clearing his criminal record.
Frank, who met with The Athletic on Monday, said the Clippers consulted with an independent specialist to perform an extensive evaluation on Porter.
“Based on the recommendations — and also, as we learned after the fact, the other teams who offered him a contract did the same sort of evaluation process — we thought that he was worthy of an opportunity,” Frank said. “He’s had an offseason personal-development plan that he’s been committed to. And then, based on our specialist recommendation, he’ll have an offseason and off-the-court personal-development plan that he’ll be held accountable to. With that being said … we thought, hey, look, positive change is possible, and here’s an opportunity for him.”
The league is expected to resume an investigation of the 24-year-old Porter, who has also played for the Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers, which could lead to disciplinary action. Frank said the Clippers were “obviously very, very aware” of that possibility and will abide by whatever the league decides.
“Kevin will abide by it,” Frank said. “He’s committed to doing the things we’ve asked him to do off the court. … We look forward to kind of, you know, seeing his progress.”
Porter is not the only player to have landed with the Clippers recently after off-court instances led to a falling out of favor with their original teams.
The Clippers signed San Antonio Spurs lottery pick Joshua Primo in September, shortly after Primo was suspended four games by the NBA. The Spurs waived Primo in October 2022, and the league said last fall that it conducted its own investigation and found Primo engaged in inappropriate and offensive behavior by exposing himself to women.
The Clippers waived Primo in the final week of the regular season. He played only 10 minutes with the NBA club, spending most of the season with the Ontario Clippers in the G League. Primo’s roster spot was taken by 2021 Charlotte Hornets first-round pick Kai Jones, who went viral on Instagram Live in early September for a clip in which he was seen sweating and speaking quickly, while appearing to say the Hornets would not trade him. He later denied being on drugs or intoxicated in a post on X on Sept. 11. The Athletic reported that Jones would miss training camp due to personal reasons, and he was waived by the Hornets in October. He signed a 10-day contract with the Philadelphia 76ers in March 2024 and was assigned to the G League but suffered a hamstring injury while playing for the Delaware Blue Coats. Jones was then signed by the Clippers on April 14, 2024 for the rest of the season. It is expected that he will be re-signed to a non-guaranteed contract to compete for a spot in training camp.
Frank, in describing the acquisitions of Primo and Jones last season, mentioned that the Clippers were open to signing players who were reclamation projects.
“With Kai [Jones], the way we looked at the roster building, especially because we don’t have an embarrassment of riches in draft picks, we have to take some swings on young players,” Frank said in May, following the Clippers’ elimination from the postseason. “Maybe right, maybe wrong, but we developed that kind of third line of players, not just our two-ways, for swings on young guys … guys that may have been lottery picks that showed in the NBA minutes that they can do it. … With Kai, similar to what we did with [Josh] Primo, there’s a development plan first off the court that supersedes anything on the court, and we’ll see.”
Frank said “it’s not one size fits all” when the Clippers consider to whom they may provide second chances.
“The thing is with it is, again, I go back to the beginning: In no way are we downplaying or diminishing or condoning domestic violence,” Frank said. “And we take these allegations very, very seriously. With that being said, we’re going to lean on people who are experts in the field to be able to advise us — whether it’s Kevin or anyone else — is worthy of a second opportunity and why. And we’ll just kind of look at every case and every individual on a case-by-case circumstance. But we’re very aware and respectful to the sensitivities that come with, you know, these allegations. And like I said, that’s why we’ve invested a lot in terms of making sure that there’s a personal-development plan where there’s a high level of accountability.”
Required reading
(Photo: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
