The Kawhi Leonard case takes hold in the United States. Here’s what he writes Yahoo! Sport.
The Los Angeles Clippers and the owner Steve Ballmer are accused of paying the star Kawhi Leonard 28 million dollars for a “No-Show Job”, as a stratagem to get around the Salary Cap NBA. The journalist Pablo Torre reported it.
According to what emerged in the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” program, Leonard would have been paid 28 million dollars through Aspirationa company financed by Ballmer and now failed, in exchange for no actual performance. The agreement would have served to guarantee the player an extra compensation compared to the official contract, in violation of the NBA rules.
All this revolves around a legal understanding of 28 million aspiration and the KL2 Aspire, LLCa company owned by Leonard himself. Torre has not found any proof that the player has ever promoted or supported the company. In the documents, even a clause that allowed Leonard to “refuse any action requested by the company” appears, however guaranteeing him the payment, subject only to the fact of remaining a member of the Clippers.
Payments would have been sent to Dennis RobertsonLeonard’s adviser known as “Uncle Dennis”, already investigated by the NBA in 2019 for asking for not allowed benefits. At the time the investigation found no evidence of irregularities by the clippers during the free agency.
Some former aspiration employees, interviewed by Torre, confirmed that the agreement with Leonard had been structured “to get around the Salary Cap”. The accusations were summarized in a four and a half minutes video published in the program.
The Clippers replied with a declaration:
«Neither Mr. Ballmer nor the Clippers have circumvented Salary Cap or salesmanship related to aspiration. Any affirmation contrary is clearly false ».
Already in 2019, during the first investigations on Robertson, sources close to Commissioner Adam Silver had defined similar practices “a capital sin for the NBA”, warning that the investigation would have been reopened if new tests emerge.
At the moment the NBA has not released any comment
