Leonard and the Clippers Yin-Yang contract revealed: Both parties have a criminal record, pointing to a strange 21-year contract renewal

On September 4, the NBA entered the offseason. Earlier today, famous journalist Pablo Torre broke the news on a podcast show that Clippers star Leonard was suspected of signing a yin-yang contract with Clippers boss Ballmer. Later, TA famous reporters Joe Vardon and Sam Amick jointly wrote an article to report on the matter, and many inside stories were mentioned in the article.

Joe Vardon and Sam Amick pointed out in the article that this is not the first time that Leonard's team has been accused of asking for improper salary compensation. As early as 2019, Leonard's uncle Dennis Robertson asked several teams for overcapacity compensation for violating labor-capital agreements, and the things they asked for include but are not limited to: team equity, private jets, real estate, off-site endorsement fees, etc.

It is reported that after Leonard joined the Clippers in 2019, the league investigated the matter, but at that time, no evidence of using additional benefits to attract franchise was found. But Xiao Hua said that if new evidence appears, the alliance will restart the investigation.

Meanwhile, Joe Vardon and Sam Amick pointed out that Ballmer had previously experienced similar violations. It is reported that as early as August 2015, the Clippers were fined $250,000 for recruiting free agent Jordan Jr. It is understood that the league found that when the Clippers made a quote for Jordan Jr., it also provided a third-party endorsement agreement with Lexus, which would provide Jordan Jr. with an endorsement fee of $200,000 per year. In the disclosed incident, Aspiration, the company involved in the incident, received $50 million in funding provided by Ballmer in September 2021. A few weeks later, the Clippers and Aspiration reached a 23-year sponsorship agreement with Aspiration for a total of $300 million. In November 2021, Leonard registered his own company KL2 Aspire. In April 2022, Leonard signed a $28 million endorsement contract with Aspiration, but the job is actually a nominee position.

And in 2021, Leonard could have signed a 2-year, $82 million 1+1 contract with the Clippers. By the next summer, the Clippers will have his bird rights. By then, he could seek to renew a 5-year, $242 million super contract, but he chose a more secure and team-friendly plan and directly signed a 4-year, $175 million contract, which not only allows the Clippers to maintain the flexibility of their cap space, but also ensures that Leonard will play for the Clippers for many years to come.

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