The Los Angeles Clippers did extra due diligence on Lance Stephenson before trading for him last June.
Doc Rivers didn't know Stephenson previously.
A normal background check would typically warrant 20 phone calls, but Rivers and general manager Dave Wohl made 61 inquiries researching Stephenson.
"I don't think we've ever made more (background) calls for a player in my life," Rivers said. "We had to make sure, but I've got to tell you that I'm really excited. It's one game (in the regular season), but I think he has a chance to be really disruptive to other teams. And what I love is he gives us another ball handler, and you can see that with the first group."
"As soon as we made that acquisition, (Stephenson) actually (called) me and said, 'I'm like this, I ain't like what people say,'" Chris Paul said. "But I think for me, it was more about getting to know him myself. Think about it, in this league, there's going to be some people who like you and some people who don't. I bet if you go to some guys in this league, they're probably going to say certain things about me, you know what I mean? It's one of those things. You can only go from your own experiences."