The ever enigmatic “Fun Guy” Kawhi Leonard has always been an interesting player in the NBA. Outside of Tim Duncan, there may not be another superstar-caliber player who shies away from the limelight more than Leonard. He has cemented himself as a player who, when it’s all said and done, should be a first ballot Hall of Famer. But the flip side to his immense talent has always been his availability to his teams and his commitment to them off the court.
Is he, or isn’t Kawhi Leonard hurt?
Over the years, fans and commentators alike have endeavored to tread lightly in criticizing his injury woes. Every player has a different body makeup. Some players are more injury-prone than others, no matter how much they tweak how they train. The same has been true for the former two-time NBA Finals MVP. Leonard’s Achilles heel, so to speak, has always been his lower extremities, ironically enough. Foot and degenerative knee issues have become commonplace in his career, so much so that fans and pundits alike just don’t didn’t believe Leonard was a max contract-level player because of his dismal availability. That’s the gamble in professional sports.
With this in mind, imagine the collective eye roll as it gets reported by Pablo Torre that Leonard is the subject of a potential contract cap circumvention case. Leonard is being investigated for signing on to be a “no-show” ambassador for a company called Aspiration. Their function was to provide sustainable banking services. However, it was found that the company never really hit any stride.
The terms of the deal lead one to believe that Leonard was now in a position to make more money outside of his contract without doing any work. To further compound this, the opportunity was said to have been facilitated by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. The former Microsoft executive also invested in this company, which screams a conflict of interest to the NBA. This deal gave off the impression that this was a way to get Leonard more money in addition to his NBA contract. Being that this was by way of his team owner, it’s fishy. If proven to be the case, it violates the leveled playing field that all league owners are to abide by.
What is the truth?
To a casual fan, this just gives off that Leonard just wasn’t about the game as much as he’d like to lead on to be. Parts of the Torre report speak of Leonard missing games until certain money was paid by Aspiration to him. It’s really murky waters that we’re in. Sooner or later, we’ll have a better idea of the truth of this. But it is unfortunate that we have to question how genuine Leonard has been in his career.
As a two-time champion and two-time NBA Finals MVP, Leonard is in rarified air. He has all of the accolades, and he should be revered for his game. However, the type of professional he has been, unfortunately, has been in question, and it remains that way.
If it’s found that Leonard missed games due to the details of this deal, or any other chicanery on his part, it’ll certainly tarnish his legacy. The question would end up being, why? Why get involved in any of this for these reasons? When is enough enough?
We’ll spend more time in the twilight of Leonard’s career asking that rather than marveling at his talent. Talk about a cautionary tale. Honesty proves to continues to be the best policy.