The conversations surrounding the Kawhi Leonard-Aspiration controversy have dissipated as of late but Pablo Torre hasn’t stopped digging, leading to new revelations. Torre spoke to a former general manager who revealed to him the alleged lengths the team went to ensure Leonard’s happiness.
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Back in January, Torre dropped a massive bomb shell revealing that the Clippers were allegedly circumventing the salary cap to pay Leonard. It became a huge talking point across the league, even resulting in investigations by the NBA.
A month and some change has passed since then, and it seemed that the situation was swept under the rug. The Clippers began to win, and Leonard was playing amazingly and the news kind of died down.
Then Torre had a conversation with the Clippers’ former general manager, Michael Winger.
“I want to start with a quote from Michael Winger, who was the Clippers GM at the time, which I’ve confirmed from multiple sources inside the building. ‘How many side deals have we made with Kawhi?'” Torre said on Pablo Torre Finds Out.
This quote implies that Aspiration wasn’t the first nor the only tool utilized to potentially pay Leonard additional money outside of his salary. Torre suggests that this entire saga with the Clippers and Kawhi could date back to 2017.
At that time, Leonard was still a member of the San Antonio Spurs. However, the Clippers were seemingly planting the seeds.
“Aspiration is just the tip,” Torre claimed. “[The Clippers] go and get Randy Shelton, who was Kawhi’s trainer. In 2017, they told him, we’re going to hire you if Kawhi comes to this team.'”
Torre hypothesizes that Shelton is associated with the side deals that were signed to bring Leonard to the Clippers. People may say that’s just a coincidence. However, Leonard’s Uncle Dennis is the one who acted as Shelton’s agent. Fast forward to today and Shelton is suing the Clippers organization.
It should, however, be noted that as great as these reports are for the fans, they won’t replace an official verdict from the league. Unfortunately, there’s no timetable for when the NBA will reveal the results of their investigation.
