According to Shams Charania, the NBA has started investigating the L.A. Clippers for allegedly circumventing the league salary cap rules by giving Kawhi Leonard a “no-show” $28 million endorsement to sweeten his contract.
However, while the investigation focuses on whether the Clippers or team owner Steve Ballmer knew about Leonard’s $28 million bogus endorsement, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith says it’s Kawhi himself who triggered the league probe because of his history.
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“To me, the biggest focal point of all of this is should be Kawhi Leonard. The number one reason this story has credibility is because it implies that Kawhi Leonard got paid for doing nothing. And that is what we know him to be…He is known as peeling out every perk he can, every dollar he can squeeze, and he doesn’t hesitate to take time off,” said Smith.
Kawhi is notorious for missing games while never missing a paycheck
According to Smith, Leonard is one of the best players in the NBA when he is healthy. However, he has not been. Kawhi has missed 45 percent of the regular-season games and 30 percent of the playoff games in his entire NBA career.
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Last season, Leonard played only 37 regular-season games, the fewest since he joined the Clippers. He missed the start of the season and was not load-managed until January 2025. Although his team stayed in the playoff hunt, they could not get a Top 4 seed and ended up losing in Game 7 to the Nuggets in Denver. Kawhi played in all seven games, but Stephen A. says that was a rarity.
“If this were LeBron or Steph or somebody else, something like this would be thrown to the wolves. Why? Because to imply that they would be paid for doing nothing, nobody would think of it, because they’re ambassadors for the league. They show up. They honor their commitments to their teams in every way,” said SAS.
“But since this is Kawhi Leonard, notorious for being absent from work, that’s why it raised eyebrows. Kawhi Leonard, $28 million, no responsibilities. Damn, that sounds like him. That’s why I guarantee you that’s probably one of the top two reasons the NBA is investigating this. They got to because of Ballmer, the owner, and there’s an accusation out there. But the other part is Kawhi Leonard, paid but not working,” he added.
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NBA insider claims Leonard also did this in Toronto
However, aside from Kawhi’s penchant to collect his salary in full despite missing so many games, the bigger issue here is that there is a precedent. In 2019, before he signed with the Clippers, Leonard negotiated with their cross-town rivals, the Lakers and his uncle, Jerome Robertson, reportedly made illegal demands to Purple & Gold owner Jeanie Buss.
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Also, that same summer, Leonard allegedly asked Toronto Raptors owner Larry Tanenbaum to line up $15 million worth of endorsement deals so that he would consider re-signing with them.
“This story is fascinating,” NBA insider Jonathan Gambadoro wrote on “X” about Pablo Torre’s exposé. “From what I know from sources, when Kawhi signed with the Clippers, the Toronto owner Larry Tanenbaum was beside himself because he believed he bent over backwards for Kawhi — including calling three sponsors to meet Kawhi’s demand of an extra $15 million in endorsement money.”
Gambadoro went on to say that the incident was brought to the attention of NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who let Tanenbaum off the hook but promised to take it seriously if it happened again in the future. Well, it has, and it happened to the same player. Stephen A. says that’s why the league commenced an investigation shortly after Pablo’s exposé.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 6, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.