Re-introduced the old story! Uncle Leonard and his team asked the Raptors and the Lakers for improper benefits

Translator's note: The original text was published in YahooSports. The data in the text were as of the time of publication (September 10th local time). The dates and times involved are all local time. The views in the article have nothing to do with the translator and the platform.

As the NBA begins investigating whether the Clippers circumvent the league's salary cap by arranging a lucrative "name" endorsement contract for superstar Kawhi Leonard in 2021, a new report says Leonard's uncle and representative Dennis Robertson had sought similar ill-fair benefits in 2019.

That summer, Leonard was at the top of the basketball world. He just led the Raptors to his first NBA championship in team history, winning his second Finals MVP trophy in the process, and is about to become a full free agent at the age of 28, ready to sign a new contract covering the peak of his athletic career. Leonard's battle ended up mainly between three teams: the Raptors, the parent team at that time, could provide him with the longest and largest contract in total; the Lakers and the Clippers, could provide this Moreno-local native in California, a player from San Diego State University, a chance to play back home in California.

The bid for Leonard became controversial. Alliance sources later told Adrian Wonarovsky and Zach Lowe, then-ESPN reporters that Robertson had “required benefits outside the salary cap” as part of the recruitment. It was a striking event in that turbulent summer that prompted the coalition council to vote for stricter regulations to combat illegal recruitment and evade wage caps. In the end, Leonard chose to sign with the Clippers, who also made a big deal with the Thunder and got All-Star wing partner Paul George, with the chips traded with a large number of draft picks and a budding young defender named Shay Gilgers Alexander.

According to TheAthletic reporter Sam Amike, the NBA later "had a formal investigation into the Clippers after receiving a complaint about Robertson's demand for improper interests in the free agent process," but found no evidence that the Clippers approved any such request in the process of signing Leonard. However, multiple sources did tell Amike that Robertson had made these requests to Lakers boss Jenny Buss and Raptors senior executives. In addition, on Tuesday, Toronto Star reporter Bruce Arthur quoted "multiple sources who know the 2019 contract negotiations between the Raptors and Leonard" in the report, pointing out that Robertson's request to the Raptors "almost exactly matches" with journalist Pablo Torre's report last week's compensation Leonard received from Aspiration. Aspiration is the now bankrupt former Clippers sponsor and the center of the controversy.

The following is from Arthur's report:

According to these sources (who were allowed to be anonymous in order to talk freely about the negotiation process), Robertson's list is long and ridiculous. One of these included a deal that was proposed by Paul George, but the deal was too expensive. It also includes partial ownership of the Toronto Maple Leafs (AH League team), which Robertson was told was impossible.

But in retrospect, there are two details that are particularly prominent. First, Robertson asked for ownership shares in an external company: not only the Maple Leafs (which he seems to think is independent of MLSE), but also other companies that have partnerships with MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment). Second, the Raptors were told that they needed to provide at least $10 million in additional sponsorship revenue per year. Although the team was allowed to introduce players to sponsors, they could not participate in specific negotiations, which MLSE also knew very well.

But that's not over yet. As one source said, when told that Toronto has many sponsor companies willing to ask Leonard as the spokesperson, his camp responded: "We don't want to do anything." Raptors representatives said that any sponsor would like to shoot advertisements or arrange for attendance; Robertson reiterated that Leonard didn't want to do anything for money.

At that time, the Raptors realized that what Leonard asked was not to be introduced to Toronto's lucrative business community, but to ask those companies to arrange a name-based job and investment opportunities that did not require his own investment. MLSE rejected both proposals. Neither Robertson nor Leonard's agent Mickey Frankel responded to a request for comment.

Back in 2019, when asked about reports that his uncle asked interested teams to provide benefits beyond the scope of the labor agreement, Leonard revealed little.

"I haven't read it. I don't know how reliable that story is," said Leonard, according to the then USA Today reporter Mark Medina. "I know nothing about it. People make up stories every day." Last week, Pablo Torre reported on his podcast "Pablo Torre's Great Discovery" that Leonard signed a four-year, $28 million endorsement agreement with Aspiration. Aspiration, described by many parties as a "sustainability-as-a-service" organization, "fintech companies" and "green banking companies", claims to provide carbon credit by raising funds for tree planting to offset consumers' carbon footprint. However, the agreement does not require the six-time All-Star player to make any actual endorsement for his products and services. Boston Sports Log reporter John Caralis later reported that Leonard actually had a second agreement - "a private agreement with Aspiration to obtain an additional $20 million in the company's stock...will be paid in four years from (Aspiration co-founder Joseph Thunberg's personal holdings in the company", which brought the total compensation Leonard could receive from the Aspiration transaction to $48 million.

Leonard agreed to an early renewal with the Clippers in August 2021. The next month, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration, and the Clippers announced a partnership with Aspiration, which is worth more than $300 million and will continue until 2043. Two months later, Leonard registered a limited liability company called KL2Aspire. In April of the following year, Leonard's $28 million endorsement agreement with Aspiration took effect. In March 2025, Thunberg was arrested by the U.S. Department of Justice for a federal criminal lawsuit accusing him of colluding to defraud two investment funds of at least $145 million. Meanwhile, Aspiration also filed for bankruptcy. Last month, Thunberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud.

In an interview with ESPN reporter Ramona Sherburn last Thursday, Ballmer denied any misconduct related to evading the salary cap. He said Aspiration had asked the Clippers to introduce Leonard to Leonard that the team did so in early November 2021, but the team did not participate in any subsequent transactions between Leonard and Aspiration. He said he was "scamd" by Aspiration, adding that his original investment accounted for less than 3% of the company.

When Shelborn asked Ballmer if Leonard's uncle and representative Robertson had ever asked the Clippers for any benefit beyond the rules, Ballmer replied: "They know the rules - 'they' refer to Kawhi and his representative, including his uncle. We know the rules. If there is anything unclear, we will remind ourselves what the rules are. We are absolutely clear that we will follow these rules, and they understand them. It is important for them to follow these rules, and they did it." Last week, the NBA hired Wachtell, Lipton, and Rosen Katz to investigate the situation surrounding Leonard, Aspiration and the Clippers. The firm previously led the league's investigation into allegations of misconduct by then-Clippers boss Donald Sterling in 2014 and then-Suns boss Robert Saffer in 2022.