“Michael Jordan is the only person who can make Kawhi Leonard cheese like this”: Former Jordan athlete was all smiles at NBA 75 celebration with the Bulls legend

Kawhi Leonard was cheesing hard when hanging out with Michael Jordan at All-Star weekend during NBA75 celebrations. 

Kawhi Leonard came into his own during the Spurs’ final runs to the Playoffs in the mid-2010s. His All-Star appearance came in the 2015-16 season with him becoming the best two-way player in the NBA. The Michael Jordan brand recognized his potential immediately after being drafted, signing him to a deal that paid him $500k a year. 

Of course, with Kawhi coming into his own with 2 Defensive Player of the Year awards, a Finals MVP, and multiple All-Star and All-NBA appearances, wanting a better deal was to be expected. Unfortunately for Leonard and his camp, they received an offer that they thought to be underwhelming.

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Jordan brand, at the time, never paid any of their athletes over $10 million a year. The deal Kawhi received was worth $5 million a year for 4 years. Given that guys like LeBron James and Kevin Durant were earning around $20 million from Nike, Kawhi backed out from the deal and signed with New Balance. 

Leonard and Michael Jordan brand would get into a legal battle over the ‘Klaw’ logo as well, with both trying to claim that they came up with the idea first. 

Kawhi Leonard and Michael Jordan link up at NBA75. 

Having just gotten back from Daytona to be at NBA75, Michael Jordan was in extremely high spirits. He hugged everybody from Luka Doncic to LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard was no exception.

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Despite the falling out between Jordan and Kawhi, Michael Jordan didn’t seem to have a care in the world showed love to the 2x Finals MVP. Given that Kawhi is rarely pictured smiling, seeing him crack one with MJ was a great sight to see.

Allen Iverson is another legend who got Leonard to cheese. This was to be expected however as AI was the Clips superstar’s favorite player growing up.