This Situation Just got Even More INSANE…
This situation just got even more insane. As we know, the NBA is currently investigating the LA Clippers due to some backdoor deals done with Kawhai Leonard and the organization to get him some extra money in order to recruit him and keep him long-term with the LA Clippers organization. And now some even more crazy details have dropped in recent days which has really taken a major turn in terms of the Raptors fans perspective on this whole entire situation including a lot of stuff that involves the Toronto Raptors 2019 free agency now what the NBA is doing in regards to their plans to combat this with Kawhi Leonard including his contract getting voided with the LA Clippers and that has led to a lot of speculation and reports about other teams getting interested in bringing and Kawhi Leonard if his contract is nullified with the LA Clippers. And that has not stopped Raptors fans from holding on and rebringing up this dream of bringing Kawhi Leonard back to the city to the team that he won an NBA championship with. So, we’ll break down whether or not it’s a real possibility whatsoever, what’s going on with the latest details and latest reporting on the situation and how this whole saga just got even crazier. But before we dive into that, folks, I want to thank each and every single one of you that has been tuning into the content that we’ve been putting out over the summer. I’ve been on vacation for what feels like the past month now at this point. So, appreciate you guys still checking out these vids here and there, but we are ready to ramp things up with the season just around the corner in a Raptors year. That should be very, very exciting. So, if you guys are part of the 53% that have not hit that sub button just yet, make sure you guys hit that sub button because we have a lot of things in store for this upcoming season. But let’s dive into this madness because frankly there is a lot of craziness going on with this whole Kawawaii Leonard saga. So I broke a whole video on this. I won’t repeat everything in that I just said in the last video, but basically a report came out from Pablo Toré saying that Kawi Leonard has reportedly signed a $28 million endorsement deal with a fraudulent tree planting company funded by LA Clippers owner Steve Balmer to circumvent salary cap rules. And this was a whole ordeal. the NBA’s, everyone’s been on this like crazy. And we got some details about how this impacted the Toronto Raptors negotiations and everything like that because the Raptors were of course a team that were trying to, you know, incentivize Kawhi Leonard to stay. The entire city was getting involved and basically there were some high demands from uh the from Kawhai’s camp, specifically Uncle Dennis to bring him back. And now on the day of the original reporting, I already brought this up on the channel, but basically this story, this has come from John Gamodoro. I’ll repeat this, but essentially said that when Kawhai signed with the Clippers, uh, the Toronto Raptors owner, Larry Tanibum, was beside himself because he believed he bent over backwards for Kawhai, including calling three sponsors to meet Kauaii’s demands of an extra $15 million in endorsement money. This is brought uh brought to the attention of Adam Silver as a concern over the cheating going on with the league being out of control, but no action was taken as it was thought Tannon Bomb didn’t truly understand the rules, only a promise to get more serious about things in the future. So, uh, basically wanted extra, uh, you know, some incentives out there from, uh, from Kawaii after winning a championship in order to stay. Got Larry Tanabomb to use his connections to get him sponsors. Not nearly as bad as actually funding a shell company and a tree planting organization to give Kawaii a bunch of money. And it’s new reports. I don’t have the screenshot of coming out right now, but basically Steve Balmer took all the blame. He did one of these interviews, did one of these softball uh qu questionnaires with Ramona Shelurn from ESPN and he said, “Oh, I didn’t have anything to do with this. It was all this tree planting company. They defrauded me. What am I doing as one of the richest men in the world not having my army of lawyers, you know, get finessed by these guys?” Whatever. Right? He came out and said all the things that he’s going to try to say to weasel his way out of the situation. But reports are coming out now that Kawaii Leonard because they did have some big advertisers for this tree planting agency as well. you know, guys like Robert Downey Jr., some other big A-list actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and stuff, and apparently Kawhi Leonard was paid a landslide more money than even some of the biggest names out there, not just sports, but entire entertainment. So, that seems very far-fetched that an organization like this tree planting company would be willing to do this, especially where Kawhi Leonard did zero promotion for this actual organization. So, things get sketchier by the day, but what’s the new stuff that’s going on? How’s the league cracking down on all this whole entire situation? Because essentially news has come out that voiding Kawhi Leonard’s contract with the LA Clippers is on the table according to Sam Emik. I’ll bring up the full quote here. Basically, voiding of a player’s contract and executive suspensions are on the table. If they can prove that Kawhi Leonard was incentivized to not only stay but assign a teamfriendly deal that gave them more flexibility, this runs counter to what Adam has tried to build and cuts the fabric of the NBA. So essentially Kawhi Leonard, there is a very very real possibility of his contract getting voided by the LA Clippers. And this is something that is very crazy to think about. Now, a lot of Raptors fans specifically, their brains have been going a couple of different places. Firstly, which we talked about a little bit in the most recent video about how what could the Raptors be given? Basically, his compensation for being a great party this whole mess because Kawhai was on the Toronto Raptors, won a championship. It’s crazy that he left and it’s clear as to why. One of the reasons was because of this extra money coming in. And could the Raptors get some compensation? Now, we looked at previous contexts of this happening out there in the NBA, and it’s unlikely that uh the Raptors are going to get anything in regards to anything back because of uh this whole massive tampering. And as you can see, the punishment wasn’t uh when this whole Chris Smith drama happened, the Minnesota Timberwolves. The punishment was the T-Wolves getting suspensions, getting draft picks removed. You can read the whole block of text, but nothing going back to the Golden State Warriors. And I don’t project anything going back to the Toronto Raptors after this whole entire situation happened. And Josh Loomberg gave some good context here. Uh well illustrated some stuff saying that. It’s also worth noting that allegations from Pablo Torey report in reference to Kawi’s 2021 extension with the Clippers, not the contract he signed with the Raptors in 2019. So that’s all stuff that should be taken into account when expecting, hey, could the Raptors get something here? Well, it’s unlikely they’re getting something from the league, but other eyes have been, you know, they see this going on here. The contract could be voided. That means Kawhi Leonard would be out there on the open market. I’m not saying there’s any real strong likelihood here. I’m not saying, hey, if he’s contracts voided. We do have to be brought up in the conversation though after the mess the LA Clippers have been in over the past what six years, seven years since Kawhi Leonard has left. He wants to go, he might want to go back to a situation, an organization that you you baser would have been even more likely there at this point, but we have to at least be on the list. Of course, he wants to be on the west coast being LA close to San Diego and stuff. So, the Lakers and Warriors are two teams you have to bring out. But we’re having fun here midepptember speculative because you look at Kawhi Leonard. Yes, he’s always dealing with injuries and stuff, but still last season 22 points per game, six rebounds, three assists. And the thing about Kawawaii, 34 years old, yes, ton of injuries and stuff, but if you can get him on a, you know, contract because his contract’s voided, he has to get the minimum, what whatever the the specific context of this whole situation ends up being. If you insert Kawaii Leonard on this team, man, we would be the most f like I I’d pick us to win the championship. I don’t care. I don’t care what it is. We would be one of the deepest. We would be one of the most nasty. We would be absolutely terrifying for the entire NBA. Kawawaii doesn’t even have to play a bunch. We’re so deep. This team would be so deep with this team would have so many guys like you have RJ Barrett Grady Dick Jacobe Walter out the wings and yes I know whenever I bring these positional graphs up. Scotty could be the one. Scotty could be the two, three, four, whatever it is. Brandon Ingram this would be like a positional like positional basketball where you know Scotty Kawhai Ingram they’re all interchangeable out there on the wings. You have CMBB Obabaji James Abal Jaba all those guys out there on the you know the forward spots coming off the bench. You have RJ Grady Dick, Jacobe Walter, the nastiest shooting guard bench rotation maybe in league history. And then at the PG spot, right, you have Scotty that can slide down there, but of course Emanuel Quickley, Jamal Shed, guys that are really locked in. Like defensively, this team would be ferocious. You have Scotty Barnes and Kawhi Leonard out there on the wings ready to go. Yaka Purle ready to anchor the paint. That team would be nasty. And then off the bench, you could slot anyone in. You know, CMB, Oi, Abaji out there in the wings with those dudes. I mean, if you ran a lineup of Scotty Barnes at point, Kawhi at the two, right? Or Ochai at the two, Kawhai at the three, CB at the four, and then Yakabo at the five. Like, I don’t think a team would score. I don’t think a team would score in the Toronto Raptors here at that point. So, I don’t know. There’s definitely a lot of people that are soured by Kawaii. They look at this whole back door situation, question his character, and all those types of things. But, basketball-wise, we could have a little pipe dreams here and there. I don’t think it’s going to happen. I don’t think there even if the contract is voided, but it’s something that I do want to keep my eyes on because basketball-wise, this team would just be absolutely forocious. But let me know what you guys think about all this in the comment section down below. Would you in theory I’m about to say like this is hypothetical now. Would you in theory want to see Kawhi lettered back with the Toronto Raptors? Let me know in the comment section down below. You guys the best. I’m signing out. Cheers.
The Toronto Raptors were robbed of their star player in 2019, and now even crazier details have been revealed on the situation, which has also led to some speculation on a potential return to the Raptors. Ben Rogers breaks down the reports and what they mean for the team.
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27 comments
Y r we surprised. They cheated the raptors from day one. Steve Francis would have been a Raptor but they changed the rules. The following yr after, they changed the rules back. So don't believe that the league knew nothing. Look at Luka's situation. The NBA is only good for gambling and corruption
kawhi coming back? ur nuts lol
His hey days are way past. I would be shocked if he was offered $50 m by another team. He is everything wrong with the league. Coddled and spoiled super stars that dictate their play and when they return from injury.
Glad to have you back buddy! I've been missing all the pure speculation videos. I'm totally over Kawhi. The Clippers with all their advantages for attracting talent, with much better star-studded rosters couldn't get over the hump with Kawhi Leonard. …And that's with all the coddling and "load management"! What makes anyone believe that he could do that for anybody else? He's still a good player, but no longer a top ten player in the league. He is one injury away from medical retirement. A team would be foolish to roll those dice at the max/super max salary he would demand.
No interest in having him come back. Raptors got the short end of the stick compared to Thunder on how it played. So if Raptors can be given a few Clippers firsts, that would be great, but would never happen, so just a pipe dream, off season almost over, 3 weeks to Media day
There’s almost zero chance Kawhi comes back. Also, the Clippers should be forced to get Paul George back and re-sign Ben Simmons to a max deal.
F* Kawhi! Let's roll with what we have
Big pass for me
Don’t want him back
Kawhai is like a Bentley GT with no wheels on it
Voiding his contract with the Clippers would be helping, not punishing them at this point. And no, Kawhi is no longer worth investing in.
KL could have easily won a second ring with Raptors and sold us out for 28mil plus the chance to help defraud investors of over 200mil through a fake green corp?… NO THANKS
KL better go to China after this… and that owner needs to be banned
Hes not coming back, lmfao
Fuck getting kawhi back, give us a couple of those clippers draft picks which will be ultimately forfeit
Yo bro what part of degenerative knee condition do you not understand? Kawhi is cooked as the type of player he was even as far back as 2019. Age plus his condition is like the worst depreciating value for a max player like him right now. Like it would be for a hell of discount to play for Toronto but again we're trying to move off of RJ just to make the budget work so how are we paying for Kawhi … another tree planting shell corp? Stay far away from this car crash is my opinion for roster construction. I also think the Clippers are Pablo's source man because moving away from Kawhi's toxic contract is actually going to help them not hinder them. I think the Clippers are the leak because they are seeking a way to void this contract and they know Silver is going to give them a slap on the wrist … probably the new CBA league minimum of a $4.5 million fine and a warning in addition to a voided contract. In general I don't think Clippers are going down for the wrap on this because they kept themselves far enough distant from it … yes it's corruption but legal enough corruption we know the NBA pretends not to see. It's just obviously now smothered on their face but it remains still the league is motivated to sweep these kinds of things under the carpet; that has sadly not changed. I can see as part of an integrity and credibility branding issue they want to combat that they make tighter set of rules to close off some of these salary cap loopholes that perpetuate the legalized corruption aspect.
K… u smoking some strong strong if you'd ever think kawhi could Ever return here, and us want that drama… lol
Even if kawai wanted to come back. Hell no
We need our training staff / medical staff focusing on Ingram, we don’t need them worrying about scammer kawai
Clippers management have always been suspect
If I am managing the Raps, Kawhi comes back as a bench guy – his body doesn't have 31 mins per left in him. He can be effective as the 6th, spot starter – playing against second units would help keep his 21 pts per intact. But he'll go to the old dying Dubs (I don't think Kawhi likes the Lakers) … maybe Denver?
We dont want em..
I don’t want a guy that left for more money
I don't want that mute momma's boy back. He's selfish and his uncle is a nuisance. Forget it.
Kawhi + Luka in LA i bet..
I’d welcome him back with open … untraceable bank accounts.
If his contract is voided he would just go to the Lakers or another California team. Kawhi’s decision for leaving the Raptors had nothing do with winning or losing. He simply wanted to be closer to his family.
Nope