Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog
Kawhi Leonard: Where do I begin?
I suppose with a heartfelt “Thank You” from Raptor Fans coast to coast. But, this thank you is just for your work in 2018/2019 with the Raptors. That’s it.
Thank you for reluctantly coming to Toronto and doing your job. When you were traded here from San Antonio in 2018, you didn’t complain (or at least publicly complain).
We knew Toronto wasn’t your first choice, or your second choice, or your tenth choice for that matter.
But, as a true professional, you put your head down, got to work, and performed at the highest level. Your on court professionalism was exceptional. This is remarkable, because it could have gone pear shaped rather quickly. But, you didn’t let it get to that. Instead, you led the greatest single Toronto Raptor season of all time cumulating with an NBA Championship, a Finals MVP, a First Team All NBA Selection; and you were by the time the season ended the consensus best basketball player on then planet…and you were a Raptor!!! I can’t think of another Toronto pro sports athlete who had a high as great as the one you ended on in 2019.
And then you left for Los Angeles.
While it was sad to see you go, we accepted it. You owed Toronto nothing. You had delivered for Toronto as a true professional and now it was time for you to go. You had a choice as a free agent to work and live where you wanted, and you chose to be close to home and your family in California. You earned that right. No hard feelings.
But fast forward to 2026. You’ve been a Los Angeles Clipper for 7 years with nothing to show for it. Just 3 Playoff Series wins in 7 years, having never advanced beyond round 2. You’ve played in 59.7% of regular season Clipper games. That means that fans don’t get to see you play 40% of the time (which is a lot when you think about it). You’ve missed 15 playoff games in 7 years. Yikes!
Reporting suggests that your “team” made demands outside of the collective bargaining agreement in order to sign, and to re-sign NBA contracts.
These demands included ownership of teams, along with non-participation or no show sponsorship deals. Money for Nothing as they say in Dire Straits.
The Raptors weren’t willing to play ball. But, reporting suggests that another team might have been willing to grease your wheels. The reporting cut so deep that the NBA has needed to launch an investigation into some of your off court dealings. One of those deals is a sponsorship deal with Aspire, whose officers were convicted of fraud and sentenced to jail. Another deal might be with an ownership stake in a second tier soccer club out of Rhode Island? Is this a case where you couldn’t get an ownership stake with the Toronto Maple Leafs, or Los Angeles Clippers, so somehow, someway, your employers hooked you up with an ownership of a second tier soccer team in Rhode Island? Normally, when high profile athletes (like Kawhi Leonard) get some sort of ownership stake in a pro sports team, it’s heavily publicized because the publicity that it generates is good for business. Yet, you do the opposite. Why is it that your ownership stake is kept super secretive? Is it because Kawhi is such a private individual; or is it because there’s something nefarious afoot? I suspect the latter.
Kawhi Leonard is embroiled in off court scandal. Yet, the Toronto Raptors announce that they are (or have paused on) trading for him despite all of this controversy. But why?
Is it because the Raptors are trading for a distressed asset in Kawhi Leonard and getting a good deal for the player?
Nope!
In fact, it’s the opposite. The Raptors are paying market value, or greater than market value for a toxic asset who has missed 40% of regular season games along with 15 playoff games over the past 7 years!
Is it because Kawhi Leonard is a beacon for the Toronto community and a beloved player?
Not really. Kawhi is beloved in Toronto for what he did over the course of the 2018/2019 season. Beyond that, he has a very reserved and quiet public persona. He left Toronto in 2019 for greener pastures in California. Toronto was never his first choice when he came here in 2018; and was not his first choice when he had the choice to stay at the end of the 2019 championship season. The guy didn’t even stay around to defend his championship crown. He got out as quickly as he could.
So why the quick return to Toronto?
Something smells fishy. The dots aren’t adding up.
The Toronto Raptors have traded for a toxic asset. It’s an asset whose off court business dealings are under such great scrutiny and investigation by the NBA and its lawyers. Since the investigation began, Kawhi Leonard parted ways with his trusted business advisor and Uncle, Dennis Robertson. He’s also parted ways with his agent and signed with a new agency.
If Kawhi is punished, how will it impact the Raptors?
Will the punishment be appealed and will Kawhi be allowed to play basketball in the interim appeal period? How long would the punishment last?
But, from a Raptor perspective, why would you make a deal for this guy knowing that you’re in a holding pattern until the investigation and the punishment are completed? What happens if the punishment is for the majority of the season and the player can’t get up to speed fast enough to help the team perform? This is certainly not what you expected when you first made the trade for Kawhi. In fact, it’s a silly trade to begin with. You’ve traded for a grenade set to explode at any moment, and you have no control over the explosion radius. It has a direct impact on the player composition of your team, along with the performance of your team as well. If you have a max player who us sidelined for most of the season, that’s a huge hit to your salary cap. Your asking mid level players and rookies to fill the stats of a super star max player which isn’t fair nor realistic. What are you saying to fans and to sponsors who are investing their time and money into the team? Any objective investor would take a step back and renegotiate this deal, or get out of it completely given the risk involved. And the reward of having an aging 37 year old injury prone all star does not outweigh the risk of the transaction itself of the bad publicity which it’s bringing. The Raptors have done nothing wrong, but they’re guilty by association. Not the best example for the young children they’re hoping to inspire.
