This article originally appeared in , ’s new NBA newsletter. A loud thank you to those who have subscribed already. As an avid reader of newsletters, I’ve been eager to get into this biz for some time, and I’m thrilled is making the investment. Twice a week I’m going to dive into the biggest stories with fresh reporting and analysis, emptying out the notebook with insights from around the league. Just drop your email here, and you’ll get them delivered straight to your inbox.
Kawhi Calls Allegations ‘Clickbait’
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It was a few minutes before 1 p.m. when Kawhi Leonard made his way into the interview room inside the Intuit Dome, decked out in a powder blue sweat suit, prepared to answer questions about the alleged scandal that consumed the final month of the NBA offseason: If the Clippers, through a now bankrupt environmental company called Aspiration, funneled money to Leonard as a way to circumvent the salary cap. And right off the bat, Leonard was asked about the reporting.
“I don’t read headlines or do conspiracy theories or anything like that,” said Leonard. “It’s about the season and what we have ahead of us right now … the NBA is going to do their job, none of us did no wrongdoing. That’s it. We invite the investigation. It’s not going to be a distraction for me or the rest of the team.”
Right. You can see where this is going, of course. Leonard isn’t offering a defense as much as he is saying there is nothing to defend. By dismissing the reporting as fake news—or, at best, news—Leonard is shrugging this off as a media creation, one he would later describe as “clickbait.”
What Leonard do was offer up anything that would have helped clear any of this up. At the core of Pablo Torre’s investigation is that Leonard received $7 million per year from Aspiration to endorse the company … and did no endorsing. When Leonard was asked if that aspect of the reporting was accurate, he said, “I don’t think it’s accurate, but it is old,” before pivoting to Aspiration’s bankruptcy.
The follow-up question—one I wanted to ask, but never got the opportunity during Leonard’s brisk, seven-minute media avail—is if it’s not accurate, what is? An example of Leonard endorsing the company wouldn’t exonerate him, but it would give the Clippers some cover.
Indeed, the Clippers clearly prefer to keep the focus on Aspiration. In prepared remarks, Lawrence Frank, L.A.’s president of basketball operations, pointed out that this was a case of “widespread fraud” that had many victims, including Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. He said “the assumptions and conclusions that have been made are disappointing and upsetting” while vowing that Ballmer constantly reminds his staff “to stay on the right side of the rules.”
“The salary cap governs everything we do,” Frank said. “Our mission every day is to build the best team we can under the constraints of the cap. There is no gray area, there are no secret shortcuts. It’s clear what we are and are not allowed to do.
“The accusations made against us are serious, and they don’t line up with my experience, my reality. We will cooperate with this investigation and let this process play out, but we are eager for the whole truth, the whole picture to be revealed. We’re very confident in what it will show.”
Frank, like Ballmer, believes an NBA investigation will reveal the Clippers not as conspirators but collateral damage. “We expect the investigation will show that these allegations are wrong,” Frank said. Later, I asked Frank why he was so confident and, more importantly, if had learned anything about Leonard’s $7 million per year deal.
“I think the confidence is just seeing the entire truth and knowing the entire truth,” said Frank. “I can’t comment just due to the investigation of anything related to [the $7 million]. But I will say, which I think everyone gets, is that endorsement contracts are completely separate than player contracts. So what a player makes, whether it’s Kawhi or any of our other players’ endorsement contracts, I have no idea. But the confidence is breeding just from once the league sees the entire truth, we feel very confident.”
Clearly, the Clippers want this to go away. The team is well positioned to be competitive in a tough Western Conference. Leonard is healthy, saying he was able to “push my body to the limit” during an injury-free offseason. Bradley Beal is eager to reclaim his status as one of the NBA’s better scorers while rediscovering a defensive identity. James Harden said in L.A., everyone is “on the same page.”
“I’ve accomplished everything in this game individually,” said Harden. “It’s no secret what we’re trying to accomplish here … so many teams in this league it’s like, ‘We’re trying to win a championship.’ There’s only a handful that has a real opportunity. You got to be good enough and you got to be healthy. Those are the two things. We’re both of those right now.”
Threatening to derail—or at least distract—from that opportunity is the investigation. It’s unlikely any resolution will come quickly—Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the law firm that has become the NBA’s de facto investigative arm, is known to conduct monthslong probes—but it won’t keep the story out of the news. Torre’s investigation has continued and the subject will be front and center in February, when the Clippers host the All-Star Game. It’s a reality Leonard appeared resigned to.
“There’s no wrongdoing here, so we just going to keep going as any other season,” said Leonard. “My name might pop up, but it is what it is. I’ve been through times like this before, just going through the year. Last year, with going through the [Pacific Palisades] fire, as soon as I came back from that first game, my house and my community caught fire. So, I don’t think it’s going to be harder than that.”
