Kawhi Leonard’s Legacy on the Line: Culprit or Victim of the Clippers’ Scandal? | THE ODD COUPLE

Kawhi Leonard’s Legacy on the Line: Culprit or Victim of the Clippers’ Scandal? | THE ODD COUPLE

All right, guys. Yeah. So, big story coming out of Los Angeles today, and that is because Pablo Tori finds out. They’ve been doing some great work with that podcast. A lot of investigative reporting. Can I tell you this? Really? For people who don’t know, there are a million stories if you’re willing to read lawsuits. They When I worked at the Cincinnati Inquir, we had a guy, a reporter. His job was to read through lawsuits. Like, you know, you go to public records. You beat me to it. Those are public. Those are public records. Rob G. And if you’re willing to read through them, names come up, all kinds of This is how you break stories. But a lot of companies don’t invest in that. But investigative, you that’s how you get Absolutely. And so, shout out to Pablo and his staff for reading through the lawsuit as it relates to this company called Aspiration. All right. One of their co-founders, Joseph Sanberg, plead guilty to defrauding multiple investors. In the filing, they noticed a list of creditors to which the company still owed money. Listed among them was something called KL2 Aspire LLC, a corporation that shows Kawhai Leonard as its manager. The filings show that Aspiration still owes Kawawaii $7 million. What’s interesting about that is that according to the reporting, Kawawaii did not have a single endorsement or mention of aspiration during the lifetime of his quote unquote deal. And in fact, in the document, which is signed by Kawawaii Leonard, which they uncovered, it shows that Kawhai was paid or to be paid $28 million over a course of four years. Here’s the kicker, though, only if he was still paying playing for the Clippers. Now, Pablo went on to interview several people who worked for the company. And one of the employees in the finance department said on the podcast, quote, “The deal was to circumvent the salary cap.” So, here it is in summary. Allegedly, Steve Balmer and the LA Clippers paid Kawhi Leonard $28 million under the table to circumvent the salary cap to get him to Los Angeles. But they also found out that Balmer had put $50 million into that company that went under. So, there’s the con. That’s the connection. He put money in there. He’s tied to it all of a sudden. And we all wonder, you bring it up all the time. You and I have the Kawhi Leonard conversation like he didn’t go to the Lakers. You know, everybody thought he could go play with a But I I still don’t think he wanted to be a part of that. I don’t think that had, you know, the money of course sweetens the deal. But to be I don’t I don’t think cuz he would have had an easier life going there. Could have won a lot of championships. LeBron, AD, and Kaiwalk and and Kawhai. You know what I’m saying? But go ahead. What? What? Just $28 million is crazy. I want to say that the more I think about it and after this case comes out and both of us are fans of Kawawaii when he’s healthy. He’s one of the best. He ain’t never healthy, but the silent killer, he has been the silent assassin that has been getting away with murder. He’s just lay low in the cut. Don’t say much. Don’t speak up. doesn’t necessarily if it’s social justice, if it’s this, if it’s NBA, if it’s beef, if it’s drama, he stays out the way. And for most parts, we kind of okay with that. We like that because he stays out of the drama. He stays out of the fray. But the silent assassin has been getting away with murderous little things. Like for instance, with the Spurs, that has been one of the most tight-knit groups in all of sports the last 25, 30 years. But Kawhai’s there, finals MVP. Things get a little rocky. Him and Uncle Dennis going at it with the comp with the organization. There’s beef, there’s drama. We don’t know who’s lying. He’s saying he’s injured. They’re saying you should be back by now. Eventually they trade him. They don’t get anything for him. And then he goes and he leaves. He goes to Toronto. They had to give up Demar and now he’s there and they win. But he’s like, I’m out. Other people we might have said, dang, why would you leave this team? You got something going on. It might have been more backlash. But it’s Kawawaii. We let it roll. It’s no big deal. You know what the taxes are in Canada? I just want you to know. Do you know? No. Very high. Are they high in Canada? Most people don’t want to play there. Very high. All right. So then now he’s back to the States, goes to the Clippers, and now we have a large reason why. That’s $28 million. Oh, and mind you, if you look up the dictionary, go ahead, look it up. Go look up low management. Kawhai is there. So between Load Management, the way he left the Spurs, who left the Raptors, now we find out 28 million with the Clippers. I’m like Kawawaii the silent assassin which it pays to stay out the freay to be quiet has been getting away with a lot Rob and I again this whole we’ll see how this works out this happened again with Minnesota some years ago back in the 90s with Joe Smith and the league find him five first round picks and all that we don’t know what’s going to happen with this obviously investigations have to ensue blah blah blah but more so for me on Kawawaii it’s like all right Kawhi I see you there’s a lesson to be learned be quiet shut up I’ll stay out the out the the press and all And you can get away with a lot because anybody else, Rob, who’s done some of half of the things I’ve named, we would they would be getting blasted for said thing. I disagree. I totally disagree. This has not this is not a Kawawaii deal. Kawawaii can’t write that deal in contract. If he if his people approached Steve Balmer and the Clippers with this could be like, “Hey, we got to abide by NBA rule.” He didn’t write the contract for himself. They were willing to do it. It’s like a guy cheating with a married woman, right? I’m single, she’s married. Who’s the onus on? The one who has a commitment with the husband, right? You’re married. You made a commitment. I’m just How many times you done did this? No, no, no. I’m just trying to say, Kawhai, you can go ahead. The Clippers are here. They’re They know the rules. They they’re circumventing a cap that’s set up for the teams to be able to sign players to put this on Kawawaii. Now, I’m not saying he’s without blame that he, you know, knew this was going on and all that, but this has to be he can’t make the deal and force the Clippers to break the rules and circumvent the cap. They have to be willing to be a participant in it and be able to fund this other company. This is on the Clippers, not on Kawhai. And the stuff you, you know, you’re giving him a hard time about what went on in San Antonio. It’s obvious he’s been hurt and he didn’t buy into what they were doing. I don’t think Kawhai won two championships, right? Mhm. Had his whole career. You think he doesn’t want to play? I don’t buy I don’t buy for one second Kawhai doesn’t want to play or has faked any of his injuries or anything. I think the guy has really suffered and had issues uh athletically cuz it makes no sense when he plays. He’s tremendous. There’s no reason. He’s a young guy. So, I don’t buy into that. I don’t buy into what went on in San Antonio. I don’t buy into this. This is not on him. This is on the Clippers. You know what you’re not in right now. And I And I love that Kawhai did not go to the stack team when he had a chance. I I am I right now that showed me a lot. You are not at Ross right now cuz if you were at Ross, you would be buying up everything. You clearly you don’t want to buy the fact that I’m not saying Kawhi Leonard has been injured. We all know that. But other guys, what would we be saying, man? You got to man up. You got to push through. He was criticized big time by by uh Tim Dunk. Now, who was it? Uh Tony Parker and Mano Genobi came out publicly and questioned his health, which you know that’s a code against players. Okay. You don’t know my pain. That’s be That sounded like about to be a negro spiritual. You don’t know my pain. What what I’ve been through. You don’t know how I feel underneath my skin. Who are you to tell me? This is an amazing blues song right now. I’m just saying this is No, I’m not done with you. You You’re not buying anything. Again, we know that guys are injured. We know that guys are hurt at times. Kawhi Leonard plays when he wants to play. He’s gotten away with it. Not mad. That’s why we said it. Kawhai lit it again. The Spurs have been tighten it. We don’t hear nothing really coming from it. Demar Rosen left the team still singing their praises. Everybody leaves and sing the praises. Kawhai the only one that has issues. Kawwai, you let me get back to you his $28 million. You do know he’s in an NBA PA, right? He’s a part of the player association, which means he has to buy by the CBA, which means he have to buy it, brother. You can’t get $28 million on the side without He can’t sign his own contract. Come on now. What do you mean he can’t? He literally signs it. No, he can’t. The team has to be willing. Stop it, Kawhai. The the onus is on the onus is on the Clippers. They get some of the smoke of it. They get all of the smoke because all they have to do is if that was the way it was presented, they could have said, “No, no, no. We This is against the cap. That’s not what we present. I’m not saying they didn’t present it. I’m saying they go to him and say, “Hey, man. We found a way around it. Here’s 28 million for this wink wink company.” He says, “Cool.” All right. Signs on. Dude, you think you think this is the only person that been circumvented in a cap in pro sports? Oh, no. I just gave you an example. Minnesota. No, no, no. No, no, no. You talking about two that you caught. There are other teams and other players that they No doubt no doubt about the only reason you know. The only reason you know about this is because of the the the documents that are public record. The only reason you knew about Barry Bonds is because of Belo. And when they uncovered the records, if you didn’t know that the same thing, you wouldn’t know. What is that? I wouldn’t know anything until I know it. Right. No, but I’m trying to say that this is goes on. This is not a You think this is a Kawhi Leonard? No, I think this is a Clippers just got caught. Okay. Kawhi Leonard was the guy. Could have been Chris Paul. Could have been anybody, but it’s Kawhi Leonard. And all I’m saying is Kawhi, do we not bring him up enough? All right. 87799 on Fox 8779966369. How much blame does Kawawaii deserve uh for the salary cap scandal? Uh do you think uh he keeps getting away with murder or is this on the Clippers to me? Uh we’ll continue that conversation next with you. It is the Odd Couple. All right, Brian from Vegas. You’re on the Odd Couple Fox Sports Radio. What’s up, B? What’s up, guys? Look, Rob, I was with you on the whole counting shrimps thing, man. But I can’t go with you on this one right now. Look, look, Kawaii. Look, your old analogy was if a dude sleeps with a married woman, it’s on her. Well, I mean, yeah, I guess you’re right. But what do you mean? You guess I’m right. That dude, don’t you look at that dude a little bit differently and be like, man, you really took that? Really? Is that No, I’m not saying. But I’m saying he can’t make that deal itself. The Clippers have to be willing to break the rules. He still signed it though. He still signed it though. On the dotted line. Yeah, I I I still think the onus is What a smile. All right, Brian. Thank you. That’s what he said. Alex, I sound pretty close. That’s what he said after he got the deal, right? He said that’s what he said. Like a diabolical villain. They said, “Is this legal?” Monty, were you there when he signed that deal? Kevin in Culver City, you’re on the odd couple Fox Sports Radio. What’s up, Kevin? I’m a fun guy. What’s up, buddy? Good. All the all the time, Kevin. Yeah. Um, Rob has been covering the league since 1987. Look, Rob, you’re right here, but here’s my couple factors really quick. Kawhi Leonard did nothing wrong. He did nothing wrong with the Spurs. Luca Dawkins in his camp was pushing back against the Mavericks about not wanting to play, not want to come back early from the calf and he got traded. It happens with players. Players push back when they don’t want to play. And look at what happened with Kevin Durant in the finals. He to lose Achilles when the the Warriors rushing back. So there’s that. The thing for the Clippers is if they really wanted to get really dirty with this, they should have could have just got one of his homeboys and gave him the $28 million and funnel the money that way. players and teams have been doing this for years and this is not new Johnson is Magic Johnson. I give him all the credit as a businessman but Jerry Bus was the biggest developer one of the biggest developers in LA and helped him get in the business foothold after his career when he was with the Lakers. LeBron James is an other Wait, what did that have to do with anything? Because that was the deal. He’s right. Kevin’s right. Like do this but that’s not illegal. No, but that’s work on some things. No, that’s a way of circumventing the cap. You do this for me, you take this and I’m going take care of you. I caught I caught it, Kevin. And Kevin, you know good and well ain’t nobody saying it ain’t happening, but when he he got caught, we got to talk about it. Nick from New York, you’re on the couple Fox Sports Radio. What’s up, Nick? Rob, long time caller. You’re my favorite sports personality. I will say that. Well, thank you, Nick. I appreciate that. I’m going to respect your opinion. I’m proposing to my girlfriend this Friday night. Okay, that’s awesome. Congratulations. Okay. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I didn’t expect that, but I appreciate that. Um, it’s going now. I I don’t like the where we are. We She wanted to go to Atlantic City this weekend. Not a fan. Not a fan. Cuz it’s a lot of You never know what’s going to happen down there. And the other problem with Atlantic City now, uh, Kelvin, what’s that? Is that you might get hit with a tumble weed as you’re standing out front there? Ain’t nobody there. Hey, just come on over to the west side. Come to Vegas or something. All right. Go ahead, Nick. So, what do you got? You want to plan or or plan on what you’re doing? So, I um yeah, I I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to drag her away um from because we’re going with a couple of her friends. I’m going to drag her away. And I told her that on Labor Day I did nothing. We didn’t spend the day together. And she’s like, “That’s so weird of you that you didn’t do anything. So, I’m going to come up and tell her. I’m like, “Hey, I was actually out doing something I shouldn’t have been doing or something I didn’t tell you.” And then I’ve been making this creating this ring for the last like week and a half. And um I’m you know I’m very hopeful that you can say yes. It’s been three and a half years. I’m not nervous, but um I’m excited. You should be. You should be, man. And you know what? Three and a half years. I can’t believe she’s going to say no. That’s awesome, Nick. I’m just a little worried. Two things, Nick. Nick, I’m a little worried. One, you already you already set up the lie like, “Oh, I was doing this.” You got a little She’s a little nervous like what’s going on? This is This is a little weird. Also, Nick, you’re talking about it with us. What if this is the day? What if this is the day she said, “I know my You know what? I’m going to learn more about my man. He listens to Foxitz radio. I loves the odd couple.” What if she’s listening? She’s not. Come on, Nick. She’s not listening. See, she is not 100% listening. Um, she’s my best friend. We We get I’m away from each other, right? Very healthy. Like, we’re very good about that. She might be hanging with her girls and like you need to learn more about your man. All I’m gonna say to you, Nick, is go have fun with it. Congratulations. Make it about her, man. Exactly. And I tell you what, she knows 7:00 to 7:40. I’m locked in on on the odd couple. There you go, my man. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Nick. That’s what I’m saying. She knows what he listening to. Hey, let’s squeeze these uh two more in here. Jabari from Michigan. You’re on the odd couple Fox Sports Radio. What’s up, Jabari? Hello. How’s it going, guys? We’re doing great. How are you? Good. Hey, God is good. All the time. All the time. All the time. The time. Hey. Hey. Uh but I’ll make it quick for y’all. But uh for me uh about this whole situation, coming from a person who has followed the Spurs for a long time and you know usually will follow others who are like who who are outside of the Spurs when they leave leave the Spurs and whatnot. I would admit this. It does kind of like feel kind of weird when you’re hearing this about the Kawi letter like just how the ending went for the Spurs with him and then hearing rumors that he went like he created unrealistic expectations. Like I said, it’s a rumor that he created unrealistic expectations for him when he was with the when he tried when he was trying to possibly go back to Raptors. But hearing this about the Clippers, if this turned out to be true, then it’s like then it almost kind of make me feel like one, like like I said, I’m not going to give most blame to Kawhai, but I do believe that he’s not blameless. That’s number one. Number two, it kind of makes me feel like dang, like is this what he always does like with every team? Like he he it’s like something that’s very suspicious every single time this happens. Like I don’t know. Like you know what I’m saying? Well, I don’t I don’t see the suspicious in Toronto though. He was there for one year. He did he won a championship. He’s saying the way he was set up like what what the idea of him coming back was unrealistic. Like I come back this he come back. I never thought. Thanks Jabari. Real quick low and last one. Drew in New Jersey. You’re on the odd couple Fox Sports Radio. Drew, what’s up? Hey guys. I think that this is pure cheating. I think this is legitimately just trying to find a competitive advantage to field a better team and I don’t know how you cannot fault Kawaii. He directly benefited from that circumnavigating. I’m not saying it’s as bad as Spygate, but he’s definitely his hands are not clean on this and this. Yeah, but he also didn’t make the deal. Like the Clippers have to be even if he suggested it, they have to be the ones they draw up the deal. I don’t even know who you are. This is not Steve Balmer has to go put the 50 million into this other company. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff there that they can’t act like. But even if you want to argue that that other teams do it, well, no other team got caught. No, I’m not that. No, no, no. I’m not that dude. They got caught. I’m not trying to act like uh it was like the Brady thing and spy game and deflate game. I don’t know who’s sitting next to me more right now. Yes. This man is cheating is cheating and all that. be going crazy on him. Now he’s okay with it. I’m not okay with it, but I’m saying the organization I hold more respons not not so just like you like the Patriots the Patriots. Well, you go down the Patriots, Robert Craft, Bill Bich, and Tom Brady all get the smoke. Now we parsing out the smoke. No, they all You know what? I’m dealing I’m dealing with you. You know, Rob G’s the biggest uh Clippers hater cuz he’s the biggest Laker homer. So, what do you got for Kawawaii? Well, first off, good riddens, Kawawaii. That’s what you get for shutting down Clutch Sports and LeBron James. That’s what you get. But no, quickly guys, obviously he gets caught with the $28 million hand in the cookie jar. Let’s not forget it was reported back then in 2019 that during his recruiting during his recruiting pitch that uh he and Uncle Dennis asked for a myriad of things from a lot of different teams including ownership stakes in the team, real estate property, access to the private plane, and guaranteed sponsorship money. Obviously, they settled on the sponsorship money. Do you think he would have been better off or more likely to get away with any of the other items? Oh, yeah. I mean, private plane that a lot of people do that all these college football coaches, they got all that stuff in everything else you just named houses. What did Lincoln Riley get a house? They they bought his house, his old house, paid three times the value of it. That’s how they You know what I mean? They bought his house. Yeah. In order like stuff like that. So that’s the way that he gets Oh yeah. How much is the house? 2 million. You said 6 million. Exactly. And they pay 6 million and he gets that money. Yeah. Just Oh, here’s a $4 million. Yeah. Right. That doesn’t count against Right. Or there’s some sort of tax they go. Yeah. Listen, they they’re going to find people to make it make sense and what we can do and and be habitual line steppers. Where they went too far was again we talked about See, start first of all the quantity. My gosh. Rob G, I Who’s more Who’s more to blame? The wife cheating or the single guy who’s having sex with the wife who’s married? I mean, I’m dead serious. In that scenario, it’s the woman. Yes, it is. Am I wrong? I just don’t think that that scenario applies to this much more of a I offer you this, you sign on for this. Not Not quite the same, Rob. It’s the same exact thing. That’s all I’m saying to you is like you made the commitment with your husband in front of God, all your family and friends. You’re the one. I know that point looked a little too like you to this like you had a flashback. You was pointing at her. No, no, no. Not at all. That was not our issue. Yeah. Thank you. No, not you and her. Oh, no. No, no, no. I’m just saying you were Yeah. You were the the guy that you were sleeping with. I’m not going to do that. I’m not that kind of a guy. But if I was, it wouldn’t be my fault. It wouldn’t be my It wouldn’t be her fault. All day it would be her fault. I’m mommy.

THE ODD COUPLE: Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington go toe-to-toe over the explosive Pablo Torre report that alleges the Los Angeles Clippers funneled $28 million to Kawhi Leonard through a third-party deal — possibly to skirt the NBA salary cap. Kelvin argues the “silent assassin” may have quietly been getting massive side benefits and that this looks like getting away with murder. Rob pushes back hard: he says the responsibility lies with the Clippers/ownership, not Kawhi himself.

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