The NBA’s investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers’ contract with Kawhi Leonard took an extremely weird turn on Tuesday when a new report outlined that Leonard’s camp asked for similar off-the-books payments in 2019 while negotiating with the Toronto Raptors.
Clippers and Leonard are coming under fire for allegedly arranging a $28M payment from now-defunct carbon offset company “Aspiration,” which seemingly required Leonard to do absolutely nothing. Journalist Pablo Torre dug into the company and has a source on the record saying that Aspiration had an understanding with the Clippers to pay Leonard yearly as part of a salary cap subversion scheme.
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Owner Steve Ballmer is running defense, with the team issuing two statements denying the improper payments, while Ballmer himself conducted a sit-down interview to defend Leonard and his team. Now it appears that one of the biggest reasons the Raptors were unable to retain Leonard after the NBA Championship 2019 season was that they were unwilling to arrange for similar payments in order to keep Kawhi in Toronto.
Our Ricky O’Donnell wrote that the NBA already has enough to punish the Clippers, and the league’s integrity is on the line.
Dennis Robertson, who is both Leonard’s uncle and a representative in his inner circle, reportedly asked the Raptors to give the NBA star an ownership stake in the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of his 2019 negotiations. Both the Raptors and Leafs are owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment — but Robertson was told a stake in the NHL’s most-lucrative team was off the table. Robertson then reportedly asked for an additional $10M a year in sponsorship revenue, which initially the Raptors took to mean brokering endorsement connections, before realizing that wasn’t what was being asked for.
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.
The new report is especially suspect because so much of what Leonard’s camp asked for in Toronto appears to have taken place in Los Angeles with the Clippers. At the time Robertson allegedly demand the team trade for Paul George as well, which is something the Clippers ultimately did as part of luring Leonard — when rumors at the time indicated that Kawhi was more likely going to join a far more prominent team like the Lakers.
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Aspiration’s bankruptcy filings were the only way Torre made the initial link between the tech company and the payments to Kawhi Leonard. If we assume the Clippers were willing to make the same deal the Raptors didn’t in 2019, then there’s still $3M a year to account for, as well as ownership stakes in companies that were demanded in Toronto. There remains a very real chance that more benefits remain off the books, and could be uncovered as part of the NBA’s investigation into the Clippers and Leonard.