Kawhi Leonard met with the media on Tuesday, a day ahead of his LA Clippers’ big game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas. The reigning NBA Finals MVP, who is in his first season with the Clippers, was asked to address a report by Sam Amick published Monday that stated the NBA investigated alleged illegal demands made by Dennis Robertson (aka “Uncle Dennis”), who is one of Leonard’s representatives, during free agency.
Leonard responded to the query by questioning the accuracy of the report and saying he has “no knowledge” of any improper requests.
According to the report, Robertson asked teams for perks beyond a standard contract, including part ownership of the team, a house, a private plane on constant stand-by, and guaranteed endorsement money. All such perks would be a violation of the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Clippers were cleared of wrongdoing.
We had heard back in July that Robertson was making these outlandish requests of the Toronto Raptors, which the team took as signs that Leonard was not genuinely interested in a return to the team.
It’s hard to say whether the Clippers did anything wrong, but all signs pointed to Leonard just wanting to play for the Clippers, and that he was using the Lakers for leverage all along. In other words, as long as the Clippers got him another quality star — and they did with Paul George — he was going to be joining them.
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