The Los Angeles Clippers have been embroiled in a huge controversy regarding star man Kawhi Leonard in recent weeks. Things have only grown more concerning due to the involvement of the Klaw’s uncle and lead representative Dennis Robertson, against whom the NBA had previously launched an investigation back in 2019.
Now, it has been claimed that apart from being heavily involved in the entire Clippers-Aspiration saga, Richardson also made problematic demands to multiple teams during Leonard’s free agency tenure after the 2019 season, including the Los Angeles Lakers. Kawhi eventually signed a three-year deal with the Clippers.
However, Richardson told the Raptors during this time that “they needed to match at least $10 million per year in extra sponsorships income,” per The Athletic. Richardson also told the Raptors that Kawhi “didn’t want to do anything for the money,” despite this being a clear violation of the collective bargaining agreement of the NBA.
However, the same demand was not made to the Lakers during the team’s discussions with the player. Instead, Richardson demanded a specific amount of off-court money that could be promised in advance, which is also against CBA rules.
Simply put, the accusation is that Dennis Richardson demanded money for Kawhi Leonard’s ‘no-show’ jobs from the Clippers. They accepted, and a subsequent $1.75 million payment to Kawhi Leonard has even been directly linked to the Clippers’ part-owner Dennis Wong by Pablo Torre.
However, he made the same demand before to the Raptors, and a similar demand for a promise of “off-court endorsement money” to the Lakers. The player, of course, ended up signing for the Clippers instead.
After the initial three-year deal ran until 2021, Leonard then signed a four-year, $176 million extension in 2021, followed by a three-year, $149 million deal that now runs until the end of the 2026-27 campaign. While the latest update, the fact that Richardson made similar demands in the past does not prove the accusations as far as the Clippers are concerned, it raises some interesting questions.
Among them is this: What is the standard of proof required for the NBA to aptly conclude that some amount of wrongdoing did indeed take place with respect to Kawhi Leonard and Aspiration?
