Report: Kawhi Leonard Was Allegedly Given A “No Show” $28 Million Dollar Endorsement Deal As A Way For The Clippers To Circumvent The Salary Cap In Free Agency

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Back in the summer of 2019, the entire basketball world was on Kawhi Watch. Fresh off his Finals MVP where he backpacked the Raptors to their first ever title, everyone knew he was leaving Toronto and heading West. The question was more if it was going to be the Lakers or the Clippers, which of course led to the famous SGA/Paul George Clippers/Thunder trade, which then ultimately led to the Thunder winning their first-ever title this past season while the Paul George experiment in LA was nothing short of a disaster.

At the time, most people were under the impression that the Clippers were able to land Kawhi because they ponied up and did what they had to do to land George, which was Kawhi's request. Steve Ballmer had the money to spend, he didn't give a shit about their future and at the time I don't think it was all that crazy given who both Kawhi and George were as players.

But what if there was actually more to the story? What if the Clippers were able to land Kawhi not just beause of the George trade, but for some other, more shady reasons? 

Allow Pablo Torre to explain

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh holy shit?!?!??

I dunno about anyone else, but I thoroughly enjoy Pablo Torre Finds Out. I would argue he's the best investigative sports journalist in the media game. From going deep in the weeds with the whole Bill Belichick/UNC fiasco to this, the man is on a heater. While some in the space just go off vibes and hot takes, what I appreciate is Pablo Torre has the receipts to back up his claims. He does the work, so why should I have any reason to doubt his reporting?

Now, for the sake of legality, let me stress that this is all ALLEGED. But I'll tell you what, all those documents sure as shit make it seem more than plausible that this is about as real as it gets and if so, oh boy. I'm pretty sure you can't be doing this as an NBA team when it comes to signing players and working within the salary cap. That's the whole point of having a salary cap. If you want to go over it and pay the luxury tax penalties, fine. That's normal. But handing out $28M for free in a way that doesn't have to go on your books and is maybe a sweetener to landing the biggest free agent on the market and one of the best players on the planet at the time? I feel as though Adam Silver wouldn't love that.

As fans, we joke all the time about stuff like this. Give a player some extra cash under the table or something to convince him to stay or join your team. Buy him a house or two. I remember there was that whole Tom Brady/Robert Kraft land deal controversy way back when that at the time people suggested was something along what we're seeing here with the Clippers and Kawhi. For it to potentially be something that actually happened in the NBA? Yikes.

And frankly, the Clippers can deny it all they want, but who is believing that statement? The documents clearly showed Kawhi's signature. If there's no way to show he actually did anything to earn that money, how else would you describe it other than finding a shady way to get around the salary cap and give Kawhi some additional cash as a sweetener to join the Clippers? If there's one thing we know about Steve Ballmer, it's that he wants to win at all costs. I'm to believe super rich people don't operate this way all the time? Loopholes, bending the rules, shady backroom dealings etc. I feel like that's pretty standard operating procedure in that world, so I see no reason to think this would be any different. I'm sure he never thought in a million years something like this would be uncovered. Whoops! 

My question is, what's the penalty for something like this? Do they void Kawhi's contract? Rob them of 1st round picks for the next several years? A fine won't mean shit, Ballmer is rich as hell. And you know if he's doing it, then there are most likely other teams operating in the same way too.

Again, this is all alleged, but boy Adam Silver has to be pissed