Leonard was accused of reportedly being paid $28 million by the Los Angeles Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer.
ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith slammed Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard over the alleged ‘No-Show’ scandal. Smith addressed Leonard in one of his latest rants in a recent episode of First Take and said that the player has spent years doing nothing. Notably, the two-time NBA champion was accused of reportedly being paid $28 million by the Los Angeles Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer for a ‘no show job’ as a way to circumvent the NBA salary cap.
Speaking on his show, Stephen A. Smith said, “This is a man who did New Balance commercials, and the kids spoke, the kids, and he didn’t say a word. I’ve seen them go up to him and need him to sign autographs and fraternize with the public when he was sitting on his behind on the bench collecting about $40-plus million, and he wouldn’t do it.” Smith added, “He has spent years… Years! Doing absolutely nothing.”
Leonard signed a three-year $152.4 million contract extension with the Clippers in 2024. While he played 68 regular games that season, the six-time NBA All-Star appeared in only 37 games in the recent-past season. Overall, in his eight years of NBA career, Leonard has missed 290 games but has earned a whopping sum of $325 million.
Smith has always been critical of the number of games he missed due to work-load management. Apart from him, what bothers him is that the ‘Claw’ rarely make an effort to interact with fans and promote the team unlike other stars. Addressing the same, the broadcaster said, “This man is a walking absentee on the ballot. This brother will check the absentee ballot as much as he possibly can throughout his career.”
He added, “So when I saw this report and it says money for doing nothing… I said hmmm. That’s what made me pause. Not because of Steve Ballmer. Not because of the Clippers. ‘Cause of him! Because if there’s a way for this brother to get money, guaranteed, without working!? That’s what this brother has done.”
Recently, podcaster Pablo Torre dropped a bombshell report alleging that the Los Angeles Clippers paid Kawhi Leonard a $28 million deal for a ‘no-show job’ in an attempt to circumvent the NBA salary cap. As per reports, an anonymous former employee of the financial department of the now bankrupt company Aspiration told Torre that employees were told not to ask questions about the deal.
Notably, the company was financially backed by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. According to the deal, Ballmer paid Leonard for working for Aspiration without involving in any marketing or endorsements.
Torre laid out the allegations on his program “Pablo Torre Finds Out”, and accused Ballmer of paying Leonard more than his contract, which is a direct breach of the NBA rules. According to him, Aspirations signed a $28 million legal agreement with a company owned by Leonard, KL2 Aspire, LLC. There were a few clauses on the contract, including the one that would allow Leonard to “decline to proceed with any action desired by the Company.”
In addition to this, another clause stated that Leonard would be paid only if he remained a part of the Clippers. Not only this, but Torre laid out several other allegations and explained the entire alleged scandal on his show.
In a lengthy statement, the Los Angeles Clippers responded to the accusations and alleged scandal. “Neither the Clippers nor Steve Ballmer circumvented the salary cap,” the Clippers’ statement read. “The notion that Steve invested in Aspiration in order to funnel money to Kawhi Leonard is absurd. Steve invested because Aspiration’s co-founders presented themselves as committed to doing right by their customers while protecting the environment.”
“There is nothing unusual or untoward about team sponsors doing endorsement deals with players on the same team. Neither Steve nor the Clippers organization had any oversight of Kawhi’s independent endorsement agreement with Aspiration. To say otherwise is flat-out wrong.”
While the franchise has released a statement, reports by The Athletic suggest that the NBA had launched an investigation into the situation.
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