When it came to recruiting Kawhi Leonard back in 2019, the Lakers made it clear they weren’t going to cross any lines.
They say closed mouths don’t get fed and it seems Kawhi Leonard — and perhaps, more specifically, Uncle Dennis — unhinged his jaw back in 2019 and dared someone to pump him up full withgluttonous levels of riches.
With Pablo Torre releasing multiple podcasts revealing a suspicious three-way relationship between the Clippers, Aspiration, and Kawhi that implies he was paid millions for a no-show job, it has led other journalists to dig into how Kawhi ended up in Los Angeles in the first place.
The Lakers were one of the teams involved in the Kawhi sweepstakes back in 2019. Despite having the appeal of LeBron James and Anthony Davis as teammates, Leonard opted to sign with the Clippers.
The move was a shock when it happened, but most chalked it up to Kawhi wanting to play with Paul George and a desire for him to have his own team.
Recent reports have revealed that Kawhi and his uncle, Dennis Robertson, made some outrageous, bordering on illegal, requests to any team considering him back then, including an ownership stake and guaranteed off-court endorsement money.
The Lakers had interest in Kawhi as a player, but no desire to make promises that would violate NBA rules.
Now, we have more information regarding what Kawhi’s camp was asking for back in 2019, and, shocker, it’s even more ridiculous than previously thought.
Dan Woike, Sam Amick, and Mike Vorkunov collaborated on a piece for The Athletic where Kawhi’s demands were outlined and the Lakers were emphatic on none of that happening.
Leonard didn’t just want a max deal. He wanted unlimited access to a private plane, a house and guaranteed off-court earnings from endorsements, The Athletic previously reported. He also wanted a slice of the team itself — just like the Lakers had given Magic Johnson 25 years earlier after HIV forced him into early retirement.
The asks — all considered circumvention of the salary cap in the eyes of the NBA — were turned down by the team.
But Robertson asked for them again. And again. And again.
The Lakers repeatedly told Robertson that his requests were against the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. Outside of the negotiations, team sources said, the Lakers laughed at Robertson’s audacity. And to Robertson himself, team president Jeanie Buss underscored the outrageousness of the requests by saying he should attempt to get other teams to agree to his terms in writing.
How glorious it must’ve been to be in the room with Jeanie when she heard these requests. Buss mentioning getting it in writing, knowing such a deal could never be official norwould it pass through the commissioner’s office, is all you need to know about how unreal this is.
Kawhi and Uncle Dennis really tested how much they could get from teams in free agency. With the Lakers, they got their answer, which was anything within the rules, but beyond that, forget about it.
It’s also kind of wild that Kawhi even thinks he’s worth all this. Magic got equity in a different time and, you know, he won five titles for the Lakers. Kawhi is an all-time great, but it’s not like he’s ever been the clear best player in the NBA.
His Finals MVP was while he was a Spur and arguably the fourth most important player on that team. And yes, he won it all with the Raptors, but it took two superstars from the Warriors getting hurt for that to happen.
And hey, respect for getting it done, but that’s a factor to consider when thinking about what you’ll do for him moving forward.
The case could be made that Kawhi would’ve been the third-best player on the Lakers in the 2019-20 season and he wanted the world and the stars just to join the team.
This will certainly not be the last time we hear about this saga, so we’ll see how it concludes following the investigation and if more information comes to light regarding how the Lakers avoided this disaster.
Seeing how the Lakers won a title since then, the Clippers and Kawhi have not, and now the NBA is investigating this situation, it seems Jeanie and the Lakers can keep on laughing.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
Category: General Sports
