Kawhi Leonard’s salary cap situation has already cost the Clippers plenty, but the debate around his role in it clearly isn’t going away.
The NBA handed down its punishment after the offseason scandal, docking the Clippers five picks and fining and suspending the parties involved. Leonard’s penalty was much lighter: a $700,000 fine. That has led to plenty of questions about whether he really came through the mess untouched.
Former Lakers forward Markieff Morris didn’t buy the idea that Leonard was simply unaware of what was happening. After Shams Charania’s report, Morris fired off a blunt response:
“Cap! Too much money not to know!
Ain’t that much basketball in the world! Lol.”
Morris had already made his feelings clear when the league’s ruling first came down.
“Damn. That’s it? They got off easy!!”
The pushback on Leonard has only grown as more reporting has surfaced. Earlier accounts said the no-show endorsement deal with Aspiration was worth $28 million, but Pablo Torre recently said Leonard made almost $66 million in endorsements during his time with the Clippers.
Torre dug into that subject during an appearance on “ The Stephen A. Smith Show,” and he made it clear he believes the paper trail points straight at Leonard.
“I’m a big fan of treating adults like adults. Kawhi Leonard is 35 years old, and we have documents: the Aspiration contract- in fact, a $28 million contract in which his signature is on it.
We have the money flows. We have him actually in the NBA report, by the way, specifically.”
“This is not Dennis Robertson. This is Mr.
Leonard in the report, requesting that Aspiration flip how they were going to pay him. They initially were like, ‘We’re going to give you seven a year in stock and four to five a year in salary.
Mr. Leonard, according to the NBA, wanted it the other way - $28 million in cash, $20 million in equity.
That’s a Kawhi Leonard citation.”
Torre also pointed to Leonard’s own public image, saying the story doesn’t fit the idea of someone who was kept in the dark.
“That is Kawhi Leonard, laughing at the headlines in a music video that he made in China,” Torre added. “This is not the story of a guy who didn’t know it was happening. This is the story of a guy who found out at the end that, if he does certain things, the people who have to bear the brunt of the consequences do not have to be Kawhi Leonard.”
For now, Leonard is still in the clear while the Clippers and Steve Ballmer push back against the punishment. But if the investigation uncovers more, that position could change fast.
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