Kendrick Perkins Believes The NBA World Is Overreacting To $28 Million Kawhi Leonard Controversy

The $28 million scandal involving Kawhi Leonard and the bankrupt firm Aspiration has shaken the NBA. Rival executives are calling for punishments, fans are demanding answers, and the league has launched a full investigation into whether the Los Angeles Clippers and Steve Ballmer circumvented the salary cap. But not everyone is buying the outrage. 

Former NBA big man turned analyst Kendrick Perkins believes the situation is being blown out of proportion. Speaking on Road Trippin, Perkins put the allegations into perspective. 

"Underhead deals happen all the time, not just in the sports world, but in America. The agent’s job is to make sure, one, they protect you, and two, get you the max amount of dollars. Now Kawhi signed on the dotted line, right?"

"Pretty sure it was like, hey, we're gonna add this extra incentive, we can't max you out, we need to keep this money, this is how we're gonna do it. Kawhi is doing nothing else that nobody else in the league does as far as when they sign their paperwork."

"All I'm saying is, look who's running the organization outside of Steve Ballmer. Here we go, Lawrence Frank once again. Right, I've been on here, no one trusts this Lawrence Frank, all of a sudden this s**t comes out."

"Okay, cool, but the Clippers need to be getting more heat about this than Kawhi Leonard does. Big picture, no one has ever gotten ahead by being f**king honest. You can't make me believe that s**t, no one. It's always something."

"Whether it's, I'm not saying they're cheating, I'm not saying they're doing nothing illegal, but you can't get ahead without the relationships people take for granted when they say, oh yeah, it's who you know, not what you know. Well, no s**t, no s**t."

"Even when you look at it in the media landscape, a lot of personalities are represented by the top dogs. Top dogs, relationships matter, right? So it's not like, let's not, everybody who got something to say, the Kawhi Leonard scandal, no. Side deals, s**t goes on all the time in the United States." 

Perkins’ central argument is that Kawhi Leonard isn’t doing anything radically different from what other players have done for decades. Off-book incentives, handshake agreements, and connections between owners, sponsors, and players have always been part of the NBA ecosystem. For him, the only difference here is that the deal has been dragged into the spotlight.

While Perkins does not deny the existence of the $28 million “no-show” deal, he believes the Clippers front office should be getting more scrutiny than Leonard himself. Big picture, Perkins views the controversy as a reflection of how business gets done in America. 

He even compared the NBA’s structure to the media industry, pointing out that top figures often benefit from “relationships” that others don’t see. In his eyes, the outrage over Leonard’s deal ignores that reality. 

Still, critics argue that this case is different. If Kawhi’s alleged $28 million payout from Aspiration is proven to be tied to his Clippers contract, then it’s not just a relationship perk, it’s a direct violation of the salary cap rules. 

As some have pointed out, if left unchecked, owners could theoretically pay superstars $1 on the books and funnel them massive endorsement deals on the side, destroying any sense of parity in the league.

That’s why the NBA is investigating so seriously, and why rival executives are furious. Perkins, however, isn’t buying the moral outrage. To him, this is simply the business of basketball, messy, complicated, and full of gray areas that have always existed.

Whether the league agrees with him or not, one thing is certain: the Kawhi Leonard-Aspiration saga is far from over, and the Clippers will remain under the microscope until the NBA renders a verdict.