The LA Clippers reportedly have been accused of circumventing the NBA's salary cap by paying $28 million to Kawhi Leonard for a "no-show job."
Pablo Torre, a podcaster and former ESPN contributor, reported Wednesday that the Clippers paid Leonard through a now-bankrupt company owned by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.
Citing legal documents purportedly involving the tree-planting service Aspiration, Torre reported that Ballmer paid Leonard without requiring the Clippers star to do any marketing or endorsements for the company.
An unnamed employee who purportedly worked for Aspiration told Torre that the payment to Leonard "was to circumvent the salary cap."
There is no additional reporting beyond what's in Torre's podcast but ESPN has found it newsworthy enough to highlight the story, putting it at the top of their front page with a bright red "Breaking News" banner in the graphic.
Edit: The article was previously a short brief with no credited author, most of which was quoted here. It's been updated to be a much longer article now, featuring more surrounding details and is now credited to ESPN reporter Baxter Holmes.
29 comments
Skirted is one way of putting it
Didn’t Minny lose 5 firsts when they did this with Joe Smith? Clippers could be fucked
I declare all Clippers picks should be void including the ones the Thunder have.
Everyone gangster until ESPN brings out the bright red “BREAKING NEWS” banner
Thats what you get for taking advice from Uncle Dennis.
Think it’s fucked up they used kawhi’s deal against Paul George while knowingly paying him like this
28 million is so much money. That’s way too fucked up and unfair to the rest of the nba.
I see now why the owners wanted this new cba and why they dislike ballmer.
Even clippers players weren’t all getting along that year. Trez Harrell did not like kawhi and made it known.
Kawhi was getting ridiculous treatment from the clippers. This is bad for the sport and a harsh punishment needs to come down on the clippers if this turns out to be true with evidence.
I know it’s harsh but:
* Balmer should realistically be forced to sell, and face expulsion from the league, this isn’t the first time he’s tried to do something like this. In 2015 he was fined for trying to give extra endorsement money to DeAndre Jordan.
* Kawhi should be suspended for the season with his contract voided but still counting against the Clippers salary cap. He’s old enough and has been in the league long enough to know he can’t be doing this. HOWEVER, if this was done unknowingly to him (since I know he has some let’s say “shady” associates aka Uncle Dennis), then he should be allowed to play but still face a massive fine and be forced to remove all the culprits from his management team before he can step foot on a court.
* The Clippers should be forced to give up their 2027, 2029 and 2030 picks, Stepien rule be damned. The T-Wolves lost 3 first rounders for the Joe Smith scandal so I believe it’s fitting here as well.
This to me feels like a fair punishment given the circumstances and sets an example to both the players and the owners about not doing this in the future. Does that mean I think these punishments will happen? No probably not, this is just my opinion on what I would be pushing for if I was the NBA commissioner.
Trying to skirt the salary cap in this manner and with a star player no less should be treated like gambling. I get why gifting a player a house to live in for the season, a car to drive to games, rides on a private jet or putting his “guys” on the team payroll can be ignored (even tho I might not agree with it) but $28 million? Thats just far too much and if the penalty is not harsh and if the hammer is not struck down, you bet your ass that more teams around the league will start doing it to that extent and all hell will break loose with the CBA.
This is Adam Silver’s opportunity to earn back a good name as commissioner after years of slowly losing his reputation that he built up from the Donald Sterling scandal. If he squanders it, he may never get another opportunity again. I truly believe this will be a defining moment for him as NBA commissioner.
It would be the most Sixers thing ever to somehow lose their picks because of this.
The only logical punishment should be sending zubac to Miami.
I checked the Clippers sub a little bit ago and even they were like “Oh shit, if this is true we fucked up”. Honestly, respect.
Imagine if kawhi didn’t file this as income and gets nailed for felony tax evasion too
They should punish Kawhi by making him play 82 games.
The 2nd Apron was pretty much designed to go after Ballmer and now this comes out.
The other owners are going to be turbo pissed.
Such an egregious violation, expect the punishment will be steep. Clippers should be forced to vacate all Western Conference/NBA finals titles.
I really hope there’s serious punishment for this but my expectations are low
Pablo Torre is a menace. But the good kind of menace. One of the few guys out there still doing real journalism.
They should lose multiple draft picks and have to pay back the $28 million to the league. Do your job Adam!!
This is not the first time the Clippers were accused of using money/benefits to improve their roster. A friend of Uncle Dennis was promised 2.5 million to deliver Kawhi to the Clippers if Uncle Dennis got a home and travel expenses. He sued the Clippers but the case was dismissed. Probably got a payout to stop talking about it. The same will probably happen now.
LFG Pablo Torre!
Give the Raptors their reparations
Getting Kahwi to do some minimal pretend endorsements would have been incredibly easy. Just get his social media guys to do a post every now and then, then let him make a physical appearance like once a season.
I feel so fucking vindicated and also at peace knowing our split was inevitable.
Pablo Torre is a legit source and sports reporter. Everyone tried to clown him for his accurate story about UNC Bellichick and his lil baby gf, but he’s been putting out some of the biggest sports stories this season.
So Mizzou gets the Death Penalty then?
they gotta cut Harden’s beard for this
What’s the NBAs version of the death penalty
To be fair his job with the clippers has mostly been a no-show job
Everyone is focused on the clippers side of this, but I’m pretty sure the league has to hit kawhi too in this. Because it was reported when he signed to LA Clippers instead of Toronto that he had asked Toronto for stuff outside of his contract too in order to stay. So this isn’t necessarily a “clippers did this to avoid the salary cap” this might be a “kawhi asked this of teams and the clippers were the ones willing to do it”.
Edit: article clip from 2019: https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/report-kawhi-leonards-uncle-advisor-dennis-robertson-asked-lakers-for-illegal-inducements