Full story here: https://www.thestar.com/sports/raptors/inside-kawhi-leonard-s-bizarre-list-of-secret-demands-from-raptors-and-how-they-line/article_9f1b0398-0ebd-4193-bc06-798efda95023.html

Key passages:

But multiple sources with knowledge of Toronto’s contract negotiations with Leonard in 2019 told the Star that Leonard’s uncle and representative, Dennis Robertson, made demands that line up almost perfectly with what Leonard reportedly got from Aspiration. According to those sources, who were granted anonymity in order to speak freely about the negotiations, Robertson’s list was long, and absurd. It included a trade for George, which featured an exorbitant price tag. It included a slice of ownership of the Toronto Maple Leafs, which Robertson was told was impossible.

But two details stand out, in retrospect. One, Robertson asked for ownership stakes in outside companies: not just the Leafs, which he seemed to believe was separate, but with other companies with whom MLSE had a relationship. And two, the Raptors were told they needed to match at least $10 million per year in extra sponsorship income. Teams are allowed to introduce players to team sponsors; teams cannot negotiate deals, and MLSE was aware of that fact.

But it didn’t end there. As one source put it, when told about all the corporate sponsors in Toronto who would be happy to have Leonard as a pitchman, his camp said, “We don’t want to do anything.” Raptors representatives said any sponsor would want to shoot ads or arrange appearances; Robertson reiterated Leonard didn’t want to do anything for the money.

That’s when the Raptors realized Leonard wasn’t asking to be introduced to Toronto’s lucrative corporate community; they were being asked to arrange no-show jobs, and arrange no-investment investments. MLSE rejected both proposals.

29 comments

  5. Honestly, that’s fucked up. I wonder if this was a counter after the Clippers offered what they did or the Clippers were the only ones that accepted it.

  6. It’s crazy how brazen Kawhi was with asking teams for these “no-show” deals. If he simply did something for these endorsements, it would make them seem way more legitimate and incur much less risk on his end.

  7. I’m not going to clutch pearls and cry for these billionaires, because they’ve undoubtably done hundreds of shady deals. At the same time I’m not going to act like Kawhi is innocent and his uncle is running everything.

  8. Asks for improper shares and no-show jobs from the Raptors

    Got shares and no-show jobs from the Clippers

    All just one big coincidence

  9. Hahaha is this why he didn’t go back after winning a ring? Because he might have another season of actively playing basketball?

  10. The “no-show” aspect of the endorsement deal is troubling enough, but the most damning part to me is that Aspiration never even announced that Kawhi was an endorser. That would require zero work on Kawhi’s behalf, and the company would get at least some benefit from it.

    The only reason not to announce the deal is because they didn’t want anyone to know about it (because it would raise red flags) — which is incredibly damning for an endorsement deal.

  13. People who work in the Spurs FO are notoriously tight lipped, but I’m really curious now to what he asked Peter Holt. Not like they had Balmer money, but I’m laughing thinking of Peter Holt countering 10 M no show job with something like a free CAT Bulldozer.

  14. You people were acting like he was a saint when he stabbed the Spurs in the back. He and his uncle are pieces of shit.

    Fuck Kawhi Forever.

  15. That just shows how oblivious he and his camp are, asking for shares in the leafs is hilarious.

    Was never going to happen and shows a complete lack of intelligence for even asking for it

  17. He doesn’t need a no-show job, with how much time he misses with injuries NBA player is his no-show job

  20. worth keeping in mind that just because the 2021 deal when he was resigning and presumably not actively shopping for another team is the only agreement we know about, doesn’t mean there wasn’t a 2019 one too, that we don’t. Especially since the only reason we know about the 2021 one was the unforeseen bankruptcy and federal investigation.

  22. I really wish Kawhi and “Uncle Dennis” would’ve faced consequences for this shit back in 2019.

  23. If the league had any integrity they’d perma ban Kawhi, Balmer, and anyone else involved

    They should also still count Kawhi’s contract against the clippers cap until it ends

  24. Not only was Uncle Dennis’ ask about the Leafs egregious, it was just stupid negotiating. You could easily just google and see that MSLE owns it haha.

    I wish Kawhi had stayed and we had another title, but honestly, good riddance.

  25. So, he asked Toronto for illegal benefits. They said no.

    He asked the Lakers for illegal benefits. They said no.

    He signed with the Clippers, and is now being accused of taking illegal benefits, from an owner who has done so before. This is as clear cut as it gets.

  26. imagine you’re Kawhi Leonard and you’re the superstar that finally brought a championship to Canada. Tim Hortons would G L A D L Y pay you millions a year to do 5 second ads drinking their hot catpiss they call coffee but you choose The Sopranos route. truly remarkable.

  27. This is absolutely crazy first of all.

    But also the Thunder might need to build a Kawhi and uncle Dennis statue. They gave Sam Presti an insane amount of leverage on the PG deal.

  28. I love this Kawhi story. It keeps getting better and better. Uncle Dennis needs to be banned for life. Kawhi deserves a significant suspension since he’s actively working to undermine the salary cap and competitive integrity of the league. Clippers deserve the death penalty for going through with it. 2nd apron. Removal of picks through 2040 (at least). Kawhi’s cap hit stays on the books. Take some second round picks also so they can’t trade around. They need to be both harsh and creative on the clippers.

  29. This isn’t just one company – it’s going to get way worse for Kawhi.

    There are a bunch of KL2 LLCs in California, and I cannot stress how amateurishly they were created (LegalZoom lol). Not in the sense that LegalZoom is garbage (LegalZoom is fine for normal people), but his legal representatives are an actual law firm that would never LegalZoom an LLC – the only explanation I can think of is that Kawhi had not been listening to legal advice and Dennis is just trying to do everything himself and their legal team is accommodating.

    I understand why – most competent people (Uncle Dennis) can figure out how to keep business filings on the level and everything with the state, so spending $60 or whatever on LegalZoom makes more sense than paying your $1500/hour lawyer to do the exact same thing. It truly isn’t rocket science.

    But when you are dealing with the wealth that Kawhi has amassed and the cash flow he is receiving from these deals, the “do-it-yourself” attitude is moronic and leads to these obvious mistakes, and you really need to just let experts work. The literal purpose of these shell LLCs and privacy trusts is to make them non-identifiable to the public. Naming them all KL2 is just giving forensic accountants a map with exact coordinates to start digging, and literally 30 seconds of my own research presented a ton of questions that a journalist could dig deeper into. I highly doubt his attorney signed off on structuring his business interests like this, and I’m sure there are mistakes EVERYWHERE once you start pressing more.

    Fun fact: 99% of people doing shady shit don’t do a shady shit exactly one time lol. I highly doubt all of these KL2s are on the level (especially since they’ve all been created since he came to the Clippers 👀).

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