Kawhi Leonard & Clippers Caught in $50M Scandal? | Could the NBA Throw the Book at LA? - video Dailymotion

Peter Klein

The Kawhi Leonard salary cap controversy has rocked the NBA — with reports suggesting the Los Angeles Clippers funneled over $50 million in hidden payments to their superstar.  In this video, veteran host Peter Klein break down: 🏀 Pablo Torre’s explosive reporting on the Kawhi/Clippers deal 🏀 Why the evidence points to cap circumvention 🏀 What punishments the NBA could hand down (draft picks, fines, salary cap penalties) 🏀 Why this scandal could reshape the Clippers’ future  Is this the NBA’s next “death penalty” case? Or just another rich owner finding loopholes?  Drop your thoughts in the comments — should Adam Silver throw the book at the Clippers?  📌 Don’t forget to like, subscribe & join the Couch Potato Diaries community for smart, no-hot-take sports talk.  #KawhiLeonard #Clippers #NBAScandal #SalaryCap #NBA

Transcript

00:00It is one of the weirdest situations we have seen in sports and it's a bit surprising it

00:04doesn't come up more often. What the hell is happening with the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard?

00:19So Pablo Torre just with an absolute bomb on social media this week

00:24saying that there is some cap circumvention happening with the Los Angeles Clippers.

00:30And so basically the Coles notes of this is that Kawhi with the second deal that he signed with

00:36the Clippers, it's not the one that got him from Toronto to be fair, but for the deal that was

00:42signed there's also maybe a bit of shenanigans going on because at around that time Kawhi signed

00:49up for an endorsement deal with a tree planting company that also had a very noteworthy investor

00:56in Steve Ballmer, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. And that payment comes to the amount

01:02of $28 million over four seasons. And there's quite a bit of evidence that there isn't that one

01:13absolute 100% like okay and that is where the collusion happened. But there are significant

01:20enough puzzle pieces that you can put together that you have to be just the most either optimistic

01:26or head in the sand or whatever person to believe that there wasn't something going on there. And now

01:33there are other reports from the the Boston Sports Journal I believe that there's more payments that

01:40have kind of been unearthed for Kawhi and it all kind of comes out to around 50 million dollars

01:45in cap circumvention from the Los Angeles Clippers to Kawhi Leonard. And so obviously there's a lot of

01:52different things at play here but the first part is like I said before there's obviously something

01:58happening here right like and Steve Ballmer credit to him I will say because he hasn't like one thing

02:05a quick aside one thing that I feel is happening way too often now in sports and in politics for

02:11sure is like this whole thing of don't ask the question or don't answer the question you've been

02:16asked answer the question you want to be asked. And there is an art form to doing that and people

02:20have kind of lost it and just lost the plot entirely. But I feel like in sports a lot of times

02:27when something like this comes up it's no comment we're going to let our legal team handle the matter

02:31or whatever and I don't think it's um I I don't think it's an accident that the all-star game stuff

02:38happening in LA all that got announced while this was happening either like I I think that was

02:43definitely on purpose so there is a smokescreen type of a thing happening here but to Ballmer's

02:47credit they are coming out and just full-on attack mode wasn't us didn't do it don't know what you're

02:54talking about whatever and even if he is lying he is doing so very convincingly but I I just feel like

02:58the evidence is stacking up to the point where it is obvious something has happened here and it would

03:06be like I said before quite a level of naivete to think that the Clippers were not involved in this

03:15in any way shape or form and so you are getting a couple of reactions to it one of them is uh they're

03:22gonna get the book thrown at them as Ty said in the chat and I I agree and we'll get to what that

03:27would could look like in a second here the other part of it is you're getting people saying whatever

03:31I'm sure every team does this thing and here is where I have the issues with it kind of comparing

03:38it to the steroids in in baseball back in the 90s where it's like oh man everyone was doing steroids

03:43so what's the what's the big deal and I for a lot of guys I come down on that yes like I if you

03:48didn't test positive for steroids I'm not gonna hold any alleged use against you if the league that you

03:55were competing in didn't catch you then who am I to hold you out of a hall of fame or a pound for

04:00pound whatever if it if we're talking about UFC they didn't get you so you were able to pass

04:05congratulations you were able to beat the game and make your way through and like I said same thing

04:10in fighting where oh well all these guys run PEDs just look at them okay maybe but the one thing we

04:15can go on is who gets caught right because if you start going by body type it's like look

04:20Bartolo Colon was listed in the Mitchell report with steroids right um you could like you can look

04:27at George St-Pierre and be like how but then you see the training regiment and stuff like that it's

04:30like well maybe um I feel like with this sort of a thing does it happen all the time probably yes I

04:38have no doubt in my mind that the Clippers are not the ones to invent this sort of a thing but the

04:43other teams just have the common sense to not get caught so is this something that a bunch of other

04:51teams across sports are doing goddamn right they are probably anyway right like I just I can't imagine

04:58they're not but if you're dumb enough to get caught then you deserve anything that happens to you and any

05:06repercussions that come your way you deserve it right um so like I looking at what the the penalty

05:15should be I think it has to be has to be severe right um and it's going to be an interesting test

05:22here for the NBA and for Adam Silver because like his first big win was against the Clippers but it was

05:27a layup right just get the racist guy out of the league cool yeah I can do that one that that seems like

05:34a gimme this one you have a team that has just built an arena a team that has worked its way into

05:39being not a marquee franchise but a noteworthy one that can draw attention at least and it happens to

05:46be in Los Angeles California so it's this isn't just an easy like oh well just throw the book at

05:53him and like this this could have repercussions on the league as well if the Clippers aren't great

05:57not that they're the Lakers or anything like that nor should that really matter but it is something

06:02that leagues would consider the one example that people are pointing to is with the Minnesota

06:07Timberwolves I believe with Joe Smith they signed him to a he had three years before free agency

06:12um or no it was three years and then you could sign him to a contract that would put you over the cap

06:16but you can keep him bird rights and all of that um and so they signed him to three one year very small

06:22contract and then overpaid him like you wouldn't believe in the last one and the NBA caught it and they

06:27took draft picks away that is bare minimum here with the Los Angeles Clippers um it is being called

06:34the death penalty um it happened in college football with SMU when they were paying a bunch of dudes which

06:39feels funny now but they limited scholarships recruiting classes national television all of

06:44those sorts of things um and so I would imagine like draft pick compensation is going to be taken away

06:52and that could be devastating for the Clippers um Zach Lowe pointed this out on his podcast like

06:58LA they traded away a bunch of draft picks right but they have done some work to keep the draft picks

07:04that they have in the next decade so they kind of just writing out whatever this is going to be

07:11and then hoping that they can kind of rebuild it quickly after Kawhi is done and Harden is done

07:17and all of that um they have their pick in I think like 29 30 31 and 32 like I think they have all of

07:23those but those are the next ones that they have the rest of them are off with the Oklahoma City Thunder

07:29and everything like that and so if you take away draft picks beyond that point then we're talking

07:35about like a full like decade of not controlling your own picks and everything there so I I think

07:42that would probably be it and fines are going to be levied a thousand percent they are going to be

07:48but Steve Bomber is one of the richest human beings on the planet so finding him is whatever right like

07:54they they were able to do what they're allegedly alleged of doing because Steve Bomber is a rich

08:01individual right like he can he can afford that one uh to just like funnel money through something

08:07else to get it to another guy um oh the other part of it too that kind of came out after

08:11is that like one of the termination clauses in a contract like a lot of them will have um if you

08:19do something that uh brings embarrassment on the company or anything like that right like um if you

08:23go through any contract that you sign there is something that is like if you do something untoward

08:29that is damaging to the reputation of this company by being associated with you then you're gone one of

08:33the clauses for termination for Kawhi Leonard is if he was no longer on the Clippers which is like

08:38come on um so there's all of this I don't think a fine would be enough and so if you are actually

08:49circumventing the salary cap the NBA isn't going to want that to feel like anything close to being okay

08:56so they're going to need to make a statement here and fines aren't going to do it draft picks might

09:04but I think the real way you could absolutely damage this team is put different salary cap

09:13restrictions on them than any team for x amount of years right um like if you put the same like

09:21second apron limits on them but just like move everything down a touch or something like that like

09:26really limit what they can do really limit what they can do that that's the deterrent and that sends

09:32the message I think so I like draft picks probably gone um people are saying terminate the contract

09:40whatever it the contract is there um I don't know what doing that like he would just try to find a way

09:45to sign back with the Clippers or something else right like um but I don't think like that one kind

09:49of feels like what's done is done um but I do think that actually limiting what this team could do

09:57in free agency to try to buy their way out of any traffic problems they may have that is really where

10:04you are going to make this seem like something you can't do ever again but I am so fascinated by this

10:12whole thing and a huge shout out to Pablo Torre for uh some of the best journalism we've seen in sports

10:18in uh quite some time so that is the wild story in the National Basketball Association right now um

10:26again for those of you who are listening um in podcast form or catching this after you can get

10:32these as early as possible by watching it live on the streams uh the next guaranteed live stream is

10:38going to be Monday at noon on Twitch kick and YouTube um that you can see all the places below uh where

10:44you can check us out there but uh that is going to be the reaction to everything happening on Monday

10:49and we got some combat sports we'll be getting ready for on that day as well

Kawhi Leonard & Clippers Caught in $50M Scandal? | Could the NBA Throw the Book at LA?

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