{"id":314575,"date":"2025-10-01T08:35:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T08:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/314575\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T08:35:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T08:35:22","slug":"kawhi-leonard-appears-unfazed-by-scandal-ive-been-through-times-like-these-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/314575\/","title":{"rendered":"Kawhi Leonard appears unfazed by scandal: ‘I’ve been through times like these before’"},"content":{"rendered":"

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – For the first time in several seasons, the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> are entering training camp with a healthy Kawhi Leonard. However, that has been overshadowed by a scandal involving allegations of salary cap circumvention related to the superstar.<\/p>\n

During NBA Media Day on Monday, the six-time All-Star broke his silence. As expected, reporters fired off questions about the accusations as the Clippers prepare for training camp for the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Leonard denies all allegations, welcomes any investigations<\/p>\n

What they’re saying<\/p>\n

The two-time NBA Finals MVP said the scandal won\u2019t be a distraction and that he won\u2019t allow the allegations to rattle him.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s easy for me. I don\u2019t read headlines or do conspiracy theories or anything like that. So, it\u2019s about the season and what we\u2019ve got ahead of us right now,” Leonard said.<\/p>\n

“None of us did any wrongdoing,” he said. “We invite the investigations.”<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s not going to be a distraction for me or the rest of the team, he added.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s nothing to hide, there\u2019s no wrongdoing. We\u2019re going to just keep going as any other season. My name might pop up, but it is what it is,” he said.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ve been through times like these before’<\/p>\n

He then spoke about how what he\u2019s going through now doesn\u2019t compare to returning from injury last season as the devastating Los Angeles wildfires<\/a> first erupted.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve been through times like this before, just going through the year last year with going through the fire,” he said. “As soon as I came back, that first game, my house and my community caught on fire, so I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be harder than that.”<\/p>\n

Leonard’s community was impacted by the Palisades Fire.<\/p>\n

SUGGESTED COVERAGE: Paris Hilton, Jamie Lee Curtis, Billy Crystal among celebs who lost homes in LA wildfires<\/a><\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Leonard comments on his health\"<div>Kawhi<\/p>\n

Kawhi Leonard #2 of the LA Clippers. (Photo by David L. Nemec\/NBAE via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

(Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“It was exciting to be in an offseason not going through rehab, so I was able to push my body to the limit of what I wanted to do without repercussions or dealing with a [physical] therapist or anything.”<\/p>\n

He said he remains focused on “trying to win a championship” and “to play as many games as possible.”<\/p>\n

The backstory<\/p>\n

The NBA continues its investigation after Pablo Torre accused Leonard of receiving $28 million in a secret deal that allowed the Clippers to evade the league\u2019s salary cap.<\/p>\n

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has also denied all allegations, and the company in question, Aspiration, filed for bankruptcy in March.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Source<\/p>\n

This story was reported using direct quotes from Kawhi Leonard’s interview on NBA Media Day on Monday, Sept. 30, 2025, as well as previous FOX 11 reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGLEWOOD, Calif. – For the first time in several seasons, the Los Angeles Clippers are entering training camp…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[9524,7,50565,559,50564,529,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,7289],"class_list":{"0":"post-314575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-allegations","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-billy-crystal","11":"tag-clippers","12":"tag-jamie-lee-curtis","13":"tag-kawhi-leonard","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-la-clippers","16":"tag-laclippers","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-losangelesclippers","21":"tag-nba","22":"tag-nba-finals-mvp"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115297997630619787","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}