Before Kawhi Leonard signed with the Clippers in 2019, the Lakers were among the teams interested in the star forward. That was until Leonard's uncle, Dennis Robertson, made multiple requests for Leonard that would have violated the NBA's collective bargaining agreement and turned the Lakers away.
Reports from Pablo Torre emerged earlier this month that the Clippers circumvented the salary cap by having Leonard sign a no-show endorsement deal with a now bankrupt company, Aspiration, with ties to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. Amid this reporting, which has prompted an investigation by the NBA, The Athletic resurfaced reporting from 2019 that detailed Leonard's many requests for Los Angeles in free agency.
Per The Athletic, Leonard was not only requesting a max deal, but unlimited access to a private plane, a house, guaranteed off-court money from endorsement deals and part ownership in the Lakers. The Lakers, who were baffled by Robertson's audacity, told him multiple times that those requests all went against the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, but he kept asking for them on behalf of Leonard.
Robertson made similar requests of the Clippers and Raptors, but an investigation at the time concluded that there was no evidence any illegal requests were granted for Leonard. The Clippers signed Leonard to a max contract, and appeased him by trading for Paul George.
In an updated report on Robertson from The Athletic, Thursday, league sources note it's not necessarily unusual for players' representatives to ask for things outside the CBA, it's the persistence and lavish requests that have set Robertson apart.
Other league sources add that Robertson shouldn't simply be the fall guy for Leonard.
One league executive said, “Part of this is on Kawhi. He allows [Robertson] to operate. There’s a vacuum. The lack of communication creates this void and he just fills it.”
“They never went against each other,” another league source told The Athletic. “They’re one in the same in my mind. But Uncle Dennis doesn’t mind being the bad guy.”
While Leonard might not have been initially granted the requests in he was seeking in 2019 as a free agent, he and the Clippers are now under fire for allegedly circumventing the cap later on in his Clippers' tenure. As the fallout and investigation unfold, the actions and tactics of Leonard and Robertson over the years are falling under greater scrutiny.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kawhi Leonard's Request for Lakers Ownership Stake Resurfaces Amid Clippers Scandal.
