Assume for a moment that Pablo Torre’s allegation on the Clippers is true and that the franchise arranged a no-show endorsement contract with a now-defunct tree planting company, which has allowed Kawhi Leonard to earn $7 million annually while evading the salary cap. The owner of the Clippers, Steve Ballmer, and all of the team’s top executives are then in serious difficulty.
An executive from the Eastern Conference: “This is a huge deal,”
A general manager for the Western Conference was added: “Bad for them. Very bad. The NBA will be pissed about this. If it’s true, the punishment will be worse than what happened in Minnesota with Joe Smith.”
Kawhi Leonard case has memories of Joe Smith etched all over it
The NBA’s most well-known (as of right now) wage cap circumvention case goes back more than 25 years.
Smith, who was selected first overall in the 1995 NBA draft, agreed to a one-year contract worth $1.75 million with Minnesota in 1999. It was shocking at the moment because a year before, Smith had turned down Golden State’s $80 million deal.
The Timberwolves had an underhanded deal with Smith to sign him to a string of one-year contracts at low salaries, and it became evident later why. The Wolves would sign Smith to a $86 million contract at the conclusion of the third deal, allowing Minnesota to acquire Smith’s Bird rights, which grant a team the authority to pay more than the salary cap to sign the player.
The NBA learned about the deal in 2000. Minnesota lost five first-round draft selections to the league. Smith’s contract was void.
