Of the five players made available to reporters at the Clippers’ media day Monday, Kawhi Leonard was the last one up. He slipped into a sweatsuit, sat down at the dais, and said, “I’m ready,” as Law Murray of the The Athletic detailed. This was the first time that Leonard faced questions from the press since the revelation of an apparent scheme to funnel him millions of dollars outside his NBA salary, in violation of the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
It had been nearly a month since Pablo Torre first reported on the financial relationship between Leonard, the Clippers, and the fraudulent carbon-credit company Aspiration, which signed Leonard to a $28 million endorsement deal and seemingly asked nothing of him in return. The no-show job looked like cap circumvention at the time, and details reported in the weeks since—like a suspiciously timed $2 million investment from a Clippers minority owner in Aspiration, soon followed by the completion of a delayed $1.75 million payment from Aspiration to Leonard—have only made it look sketchier. The NBA has since opened an investigation into the Clippers.
