Danilo Gallinari has sharply criticized Kawhi Leonard in the wake of the NBA salary-cap scandal involving the Los Angeles Clippers, arguing that the forward should pay the full 50 million penalty rather than a minor reimbursement. According to reports from Sky Sport Italia and Eurosport Italia, the league penalized the Clippers with five first-round draft picks, a 30 million fine, and a one-year suspension for team owner Steve Ballmer. Meanwhile, Leonard faced only a 700,000 repayment for improper benefits tied to shadow sponsorships, leaving former teammates like Gallinari to reflect on how the 2019 blockbuster trade upended their careers.
The 2019 Blockbuster Trade and Its Aftermath
The controversy stems from the summer of 2019, when the Clippers orchestrated a massive trade to satisfy Leonard’s conditions for signing with the franchise after he won an NBA championship with the Toronto Raptors. To land Leonard and pair him with Paul George, Los Angeles shipped Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to the Oklahoma City Thunder. At the time, Gallinari was coming off his most statistically productive NBA season, averaging 19.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 46.3% shooting from the field.
While Gallinari acknowledged that his subsequent stint in Oklahoma City proved to be a positive experience, he pointed out that the trajectory of his career was forcibly altered by another player’s demands. Speaking on his podcast “A Cresta Alta”—alongside his brother and Detroit Pistons staff member Federico Gallinari and journalist Simone Sandri—the veteran forward detailed his frustration with how accountability was distributed following the league’s investigation.
Gallinari Calls for Full Accountability on Podcast
The NBA’s recent findings revealed that shadow sponsorships channeled roughly 50 million to Leonard. While the league levied severe institutional punishments against the Clippers organization and Ballmer—who accepted the penalties without legal challenge—the financial sanctions directly affecting Leonard were comparatively light. The bulk of regulatory scrutiny fell on an intermediary uncle, who received a five-year ban.
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“Leonard should pay all of that 50 million,” Gallinari said on the podcast, as reported by Sky Sport Italia and Eurosport Italia. “He changed the trajectory of my career and got me into a mess by sending me away from Los Angeles. In the end, the ones who paid the price were me and Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander]. First of all, he shouldn’t give that money to me, but give it to charity. But he absolutely must pay it, given that ultimately the ones who paid were us.”
Gallinari added that his career path was dictated entirely by player leverage rather than traditional front-office management. “My NBA path did not depend on a GM or an owner, as it had with the Knicks or other things, but precisely on a player who decided that the team was not right and that he wanted something else,” he stated.
League Penalties and Next Steps
The disciplinary actions remain among the heaviest handed down by the NBA in recent history, stripping the Clippers of vital draft capital and benching their billionaire owner for a full season. As the fallout continues to reverberate across the league, affected figures like Gallinari remain vocal about the lingering personal and professional costs of the 2019 roster overhaul. The Clippers and league officials have not announced any further disciplinary reviews regarding the player penalties.
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