Kawhi Leonard placed responsibility on people in his inner circle Wednesday after the NBA issued its long-awaited penalties in the Los Angeles Clippers salary-cap circumvention investigation, including a five-year ban for his uncle and longtime business adviser Dennis Robertson.
In a statement posted to Instagram and released through the National Basketball Players Association and his new agent, Harrison Gaines, Leonard said: “Integrity and respect for this game are fundamental to who I am. I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle and regret the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family.”
He added that he signed his Clippers contract and the related endorsement agreements “in good faith, fully committed to fulfilling my obligations and with no knowledge of any intent on anyone’s part to circumvent the salary cap.” Leonard said his focus now is returning to Toronto “with a clean slate.”
The NBA found that Leonard, through Robertson’s conduct on his behalf, violated circumvention rules by pressuring the Clippers to help him secure off-court income opportunities, obtaining those deals, and failing to reimburse the team for personal expenses. Robertson, listed as Leonard’s designated representative on key contracts, is banned from doing business with any NBA team or affiliate on behalf of players or personnel for five years. Leonard must pay the league $700,000. He was not suspended and his contract was not voided.
The Clippers absorbed the heaviest hits: forfeiture of five first-round draft picks (2029 through 2033), a $30 million fine, a one-year suspension for owner Steve Ballmer from all league and team activities, additional suspensions for team executives, and a five-year compliance monitoring program. The league said Ballmer knowingly sought to help Leonard obtain off-court deals and approved a business arrangement he knew was a precondition for Aspiration to sign Leonard.
Robertson has been a central figure in Leonard’s career since stepping into a fatherly role after the 2008 killing of Leonard’s father. He is not a licensed agent—Mitch Frankel previously held that title—but he has negotiated or influenced major decisions, from the 2018 exit from San Antonio to the 2019 free-agency process that landed Leonard with the Clippers. League executives have long described a communication vacuum around Leonard that Robertson filled. One NBA executive told The Athletic last year: “Part of this is on Kawhi. He allows (Robertson) to operate.”
The 2019 free-agency period already triggered an NBA investigation after Robertson allegedly asked multiple teams, including the Lakers and Raptors, for benefits outside the collective bargaining agreement: an ownership stake, a private plane, a house, and guaranteed off-court endorsement money. The league found no evidence the Clippers granted those specific requests at the time. The latest case centered on a $28 million “no-show” endorsement with the now-bankrupt green-finance company Aspiration, plus additional equity and other team-linked deals with companies such as Boingo, Daktronics, and Lockton. Pablo Torre’s reporting last fall first detailed the arrangements and Robertson’s role in pushing payments.
Leonard has previously dismissed similar reports. In 2025 he told reporters he had “no knowledge” of alleged improper demands and that “people make up stories every day.” Wednesday’s statement is the closest he has come to publicly distancing himself from the business side of his career while still accepting overall responsibility.
The ruling clears the path for the Clippers to complete a trade sending Leonard back to the Toronto Raptors, where he won a championship and Finals MVP in 2019. The Raptors had held off finalizing the deal until the investigation concluded. Leonard, who turns 36 this season, has one year remaining on his contract.
For a player long known for saying as little as possible, the carefully worded statement does two things at once: it acknowledges the damage while pointing the finger at the people who handled the deals. In NBA circles, that circle has always started with Uncle Dennis.
