By Baxter Holmes | ESPN, 2025-09-17 19:00:00
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
2014年8月18日， 在洛杉矶市中心的斯台普斯中心，史蒂夫·鲍尔默 (Steve Ballmer) 呐喊着、撞着胸、击着掌，穿过由4500名球迷组成的疯狂人群。阿姆的《Lose Yourself》在场馆上空震撼奏响。这位前微软首席执行官刚刚以当时创纪录的20亿美元买下洛杉矶快船，一举将球队、洛杉矶市乃至整个NBA从其最黑暗的时代之一拯救出来。
“我们将勇往直前。勇敢意味着敢于冒险，”鲍尔默登上舞台后，对着麦克风雷鸣般地说道。“我们将保持乐观。我们将成为硬核。任何东西都无法阻挡我们——砰！硬核快船，就是我们。”
鲍尔默回答了季票持有者们的问题，其中一位26岁的球迷想知道，在经历了前老板唐纳德·斯特林 (Donald Sterling) 长达33年的任期后，球队未来的26年将会有何不同。
“我将大胆地说，快船在未来26年赢得的‘拉里’将比过去26年多得多，”鲍尔默说道，他指的是拉里·奥布莱恩杯。
鲍尔默拥有无与伦比的财力和雄心，意图在斯特林耻辱任期留下的滚烫废墟上建立一个王朝。鲍尔默富有竞争力与创新精神，他不怕动用他全球最雄厚的财力之一，一心要将他的冠军抱负变为现实。
十一年后，鲍尔默为实现那个总冠军——甚至是球队首次闯入NBA总决赛——所下的最大、最雄心勃勃的赌注，在球场上宣告失败。自2019年快船重磅引援超级巨星科怀·伦纳德 (Kawhi Leonard) 以来的六个赛季里，球队仅赢下三轮季后赛系列赛，而伦纳德的出场率只有58%。
但这场失败的影响远不止于此，因为几乎从伦纳德签约洛杉矶的那一刻起，鲍尔默和球队就招致了NBA联盟办公室及联盟其他球队前所未有的严格审视。
自2019年以来，快船面临两起独立的诉讼，均指控其在伦纳德的招募中存在违规行为，其中一起至今仍在审理中。他们至少两次因涉及伦纳德的违规行为被NBA罚款。此外，NBA还对快船展开了至少三次涉及伦纳德的调查——最近一次刚刚启动。
最新这次调查的阴影——将审查快船涉嫌规避工资帽的指控，伦纳德从Aspiration公司获得了一份价值2800万美元的赞助合同，而鲍尔默曾向这家现已破产的公司投资了5000万美元——将笼罩着即将进入训练营的球队。并且，这可能会持续到新赛季。这个夏天，快船试图补强一支上赛季取得50胜，却在首轮不敌尼古拉·约基奇 (Nikola Jokic) 和丹佛掘金的球队阵容。他们与40岁的控球后卫克里斯·保罗 (Chris Paul) 重聚，迎接他的第21个NBA赛季。他们在32岁的得分后卫布拉德利·比尔 (Bradley Beal) 经历菲尼克斯的动荡时期后将其招致麾下。他们与36岁的得分后卫詹姆斯·哈登 (James Harden) 续签了一份两年合同。他们还引进了27岁的前锋约翰·柯林斯 (John Collins) 和37岁的中锋布鲁克·洛佩斯 (Brook Lopez)，以加强由日益成熟的28岁中锋伊维察·祖巴茨 (Ivica Zubac) 镇守的前场。
但这支球队的核心仍然是伦纳德，他下赛季的薪水将达到5000万美元，并有资格在明年夏天寻求续约。
几位竞争对手球队的高管表示，快船最初对伦纳德的投资——尽管当时被认为代价高昂——是任何球队在当时都会做出的明智之举，特别是对于像快船这样长期以来战绩不佳、功能失调的球队。
但现在，同样是这些高管，他们对这笔投资回报的评判却如出一辙。
“回过头看，那笔交易就是一场彻头彻尾的灾难，”一位竞争对手球队的总经理告诉ESPN。
通过对近二十名球队内部人士、前员工、竞争对手高管、经纪人及联盟其他人士的采访，得出的结论也是如此。这些采访揭示了一支迫切渴望得到一位明星——以及关注度——的球队，如何向伦纳德及其身边人妥协，竭力让他保持开心和健康，即便组织的文化已演变成一种内部充斥着恐惧和秘密，外部则官司不断、不当行为指控缠身的局面。
“最近这次调查不一样，”一位前快船员工在谈到联盟对涉及鲍尔默投资公司的赞助协议的调查时说。“这一次直接拷问的是史蒂夫·鲍尔默的人品。”
“到了某个时候，史蒂夫必须得从科怀这摊事里脱身了。”
2019年7月5日，夜色渐深， 快船的高管们聚集在位于加州埃尔塞贡多一处雷格斯共享办公空间高层的一间会议室里。
墙壁很薄，焦虑感很高。几天来，每个人都担心，他们追逐多年、相信能瞬间改变球队命运的超级巨星自由球员，会在最后一刻抛弃他们，转投他们憎恨的同城死敌洛杉矶湖人。
他们在四天前与伦纳德会面，并得知他只有在快船从俄克拉荷马城换来保罗·乔治 (Paul George) 的情况下才会签约，因此他们几乎将之后所有的时间都花在了与雷霆敲定一笔交易上。
最终的交易框架是：谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)、前锋达尼罗·加里纳利 (Danilo Gallinari)、当时史无前例的五个首轮签和两个首轮签互换权，换来乔治。
时任快船主教练的道格·里弗斯 (Doc Rivers) 后来在2019年9月告诉记者，鲍尔默对球队送出的选秀权数量感到担忧，而且不止他一个人有这种感觉。
一些工作人员担心这笔交易会产生与2013年臭名昭著的波士顿-布鲁克林大交易相似的后果，当时凯尔特人送出两位老将保罗·皮尔斯 (Paul Pierce) 和凯文·加内特 (Kevin Garnett)，换来了三个首轮选秀权和一个首轮签互换权。那笔交易最终为凯尔特人未来十年的成功奠定了基础，为他们带来了基石球星杰森·塔图姆 (Jayson Tatum) 和杰伦·布朗 (Jaylen Brown)，并带领他们夺得了2024年的总冠军。
与此同时，篮网则一事无成，那笔交易也成了一个前车之鉴。
快船对于交易吉尔杰斯-亚历山大也感到紧张，这位充满活力的年轻后卫刚刚入选NBA最佳新秀阵容二队。
但就在几周前，伦纳德刚刚随多伦多猛龙赢得总冠军；他对等待一个年轻球员成长毫无兴趣。
一位直接了解谈判内情的消息人士称，得到乔治只是伦纳德及其团队提出的几个要求之一。该团队由伦纳德的舅舅丹尼斯·罗伯特森 (Dennis Robertson) 领导，他在7月5日前的几天里向快船提出了一系列要求。
该消息人士称，这些要求包括部分球队所有权、私人飞机使用权、一栋房产以及有保障的场外代言费。据The Athletic报道，这些也是罗伯特森向湖人和猛龙提出的要求。《多伦多星报》在9月9日报道称，罗伯特森还向猛龙索要外部公司的股权和企业赞助合同，而伦纳德无需为这些钱做任何回报。罗伯特森未对这两篇报道的置评请求作出回应。
这些口头要求超出了联盟劳资协议的规定范围，据一位知情人士透露，虽然快船没有同意这些要求，但他们同意了其他一些要求。
罗伯特森（他未回应本篇报道的置评请求）希望伦纳德最初能住在圣地亚哥而不是洛杉矶。（伦纳德会乘坐直升机通勤。他后来搬到了洛杉矶。）快船同意了。他希望伦纳德可以缺席一些媒体活动和球队社区活动。快船同意了。他希望球队承诺为伦纳德进行个人营销。快船同意了。他希望伦纳德能带一些自己的人进入球队。快船同意了。（一名球队消息人士否认了其中一些请求的存在，并对另一些请求的说法提出了异议。）
也许最重要的是，罗伯特森表示，关于如何公开谈论伦纳德，需要有严格的规定——那就是，除非绝对必要，否则什么都不要说。
竞争对手球队的主教练告诉ESPN，最后一个要求对于明星球员来说并不罕见，而快船为了将自己打造成一个对明星友好的组织，再次同意了。他们非常想要伦纳德。他们甚至在2018年解雇了自己的一位解说员布鲁斯·鲍文 (Bruce Bowen)，因为他们认为鲍文在直播中对伦纳德发表了负面评论。
到2019年7月5日太平洋时间晚上8点19分，随着与俄克拉荷马城交易的轮廓逐渐清晰，加州里奇克莱斯特发生了一场7.1级地震，震中距离快船高层决策团队聚集地以北约150英里。这是南加州近二十年来最大的一次地震，远在拉斯维加斯——当时NBA世界正聚集在那里参加夏季联赛——都有震感。
随着大楼摇晃，天花板上的灰尘落在快船工作人员的头上，他们迅速躲进附近的楼梯间。他们毫发无伤但心有余悸，出来后继续努力敲定这笔他们迫切希望完成的交易。
近三个小时后，太平洋时间晚上10点54分，伦纳德通知各队他决定与快船签约。一分钟后，快船交易得到乔治的消息也爆了出来。
洛杉矶的员工们一片欢腾。
四天后，伦纳德签下了一份为期三年、价值1.031亿美元的合同，其中最后一年为球员选项。
兴奋之情席卷了整个快船队。但多位消息人士也表示，另一种情绪也开始悄然渗入这家俱乐部，并在接下来的日子、几周和几年里根深蒂固。这种情绪最终与球队希望与新来的超级巨星前锋一起赢得总冠军的愿望一样，共同定义了球队的文化。
他们说，那种感觉就是恐惧。
NBA球队 一直活在害怕惹恼队内球星的恐惧中，这种情绪在伦纳德来到洛杉矶之前就已存在，并在全联盟普遍盛行。考虑到快船的过去以及他们希望开创的未来，这种动态被进一步加剧了。
据球队内部人士和与球队关系密切的经纪人透露，快船迫切希望证明他们懂得如何满足明星球员，并且他们早已摆脱了斯特林治下那个丑闻缠身、输球不断的时代。
伦纳德首个赛季仅打了八场比赛，快船最初的承诺之一——在伦纳德的健康问题上保持沉默——就受到了考验。
那是2019年11月6日，快船在一场背靠背比赛的第一晚主场迎战雄鹿。伦纳德因对一个未公开的左膝伤势进行“负荷管理”而缺席了那场比赛。在本赛季早些时候的一次背靠背赛程中，他也做过同样的事情，以同样的原因缺席了两场比赛中的第一场。
伦纳德因管理健康而缺席比赛并不罕见。他在之前效力于圣安东尼奥和多伦多时就曾有过著名的先例，快船也从未幻想过他会为他们打满每一场比赛。
赛前，里弗斯被问及伦纳德的健康状况。这位时任快船主教练表示，伦纳德“感觉很棒”，没有理由担心。
不久之后，一位直接了解此次互动情况的消息人士称，快船接到了一名记者的电话，该记者在得知伦纳德的健康状况并非球队公开所说的那么“棒”之后，寻求球队的评论。然后，该记者联系了联盟办公室，看NBA官员是否能对此事提供更清晰的信息。很快，NBA也开始了自己的调查。
“联盟办公室介入调查，结果[那位记者]是对的，”该消息人士说。“科怀伤势的严重程度比球队透露的要严重得多。”
第二天下午，即11月7日，联盟宣布对快船处以5万美元的罚款，因为里弗斯发表的言论与伦纳德的健康状况“不符”，同时还公布了伦纳德健康状况的具体细节。
多位消息人士称，联盟公开披露了如此具体的细节——他正遭受髌腱的持续性伤病——让整个组织不寒而栗。
快船曾远远观望伦纳德在马刺的任期是如何因如何以最佳方式管理伦纳德的健康而产生的分歧而终结的。那次伤病始于2016年3月的一次下半身受伤，球队在2017年宣布其为股四头肌肌腱炎。ESPN的迈克尔·赖特 (Michael Wright) 和雷蒙娜·谢尔伯恩 (Ramona Shelburne) 在2018年报道称，分歧的一个关键在于，马刺在咨询医学专家后认为伦纳德的问题是退行性的、不可逆的，需要无限期地进行管理。而伦纳德的团队，包括罗伯特森，并不同意。
最终，伦纳德在2018年夏天申请交易，当时他2015年签下的顶薪合同还剩两年。甚至在快船签下伦纳德之前，他们就知道，如果他能因为这样的原因失去信任并瓦解与马刺长达七个赛季的关系，那么他也能轻易地对他们做同样的事。
“马刺或许是全美最受尊敬、最受敬畏的职业体育队伍，”一位前员工说。“感觉就像是，如果这家伙都敢叫那些人滚蛋，那他绝不可能不敢叫我们滚蛋。……每个人都害怕科怀离开。”这一观点得到了多位球队和联盟消息人士的认同。
令球队惊讶和欣慰的是，伦纳德和他的团队认为，即使付出了5万美元的代价，球队也遵守了他们的约定。
“这对我们来说无疑是一大功绩，”那位前球队员工说。
相反，伦纳德将他的怒火指向了联盟办公室。
“（NBA的新闻稿）令人震惊，但这对我来说不重要，”伦纳德当晚在以107-101战胜开拓者的比赛中得到全场最高的27分和13个篮板后说。“我本来就不是一个会看媒体报道的人。我们会用最好的方式来管理它，以保持我的健康。……（罚款）只是令人失望。感觉就像他们希望球员在没有准备好的情况下也要上场比赛。”
NBA未回应本篇报道的置评请求。
里弗斯发现自己处境复杂：他必须在保护伦纳德对其健康状况极度保密的要求与尊重联盟透明度规定之间取得平衡。
第二天，在NBA罚款后，当被问及这两种相互冲突的理念以及是否存在某种折中方案时，里弗斯的回答揭示了整个组织正在形成的新动态。
“我不敢回答，”他在2019年11月7日快船对阵波特兰开拓者赛前告诉记者。“这就是我的答案。我就是不回答。”
多位消息人士表示，在整个组织内部，关于伦纳德健康状况的细节被视为神圣的秘密，知情者与不知情者之间的壁垒很早就出现了。
“他与[快船的]工作人员非常疏远，”一位了解情况的消息人士说。
“这在医疗部门内部引发了极度的焦虑，”另一位前员工说。“感觉就像快船的医疗团队根本不被允许碰科怀一样。”
多位消息人士称，为了安抚伦纳德，提及他的新闻稿、公开声明和社交媒体帖子都受到了快船高层以及（在必要时）伦纳德团队的严格审查。虽然一位球队消息人士表示，让所有快船球员的代表过目可能发布的公开声明是并且一直是团队的常规做法，但一些团队员工仍然担心，任何与伦纳德相关的内容中用错一个词或一个术语，都可能导致罗伯特森打电话给管理层，引爆一场类似马刺时期的战争。
围绕伦纳德及其健康状况的持续保密和紧张气氛，让一些每天与球员互动的员工感到恼火。
“显然存在一种高度的敏感性，”其中一人说。
“每个人都那么紧绷，”另一个人说。“我跟你说，当我说大家都很紧绷时，我是说真的很紧绷。”
“科怀·伦纳德是一名精英球员和备受敬佩的队友，他为我们的组织做出了重大贡献，”快船在一份给ESPN的声明中写道。“我们像对待我们所有的球员和员工一样，给予科怀同样的尊重。不幸的是，他一直在与伤病作斗争，这导致了不应有的审视和批评，但我们欣赏他的韧性和不懈的职业精神。我们很感激他是我们团队的一员，并期待训练营的开始。”
伦纳德进入2023-24赛季时 有资格获得合同续约。一位前球队员工表示，在快船考虑他们的选择时，团队内部有些人已经对伦纳德的伤病和低出勤率感到厌倦。
也正因为如此，这位前员工说，快船可以施加影响力。伦纳德当时有资格获得一份为期四年、价值2.2亿美元的顶薪合同，但球队优先考虑的是保持薪金空间的灵活性——特别是因为第二土豪线的限制——部分原因在于他们也在与乔治进行续约谈判。
这位前员工指出，如果伦纳德为了寻求更好的合同而威胁要试水自由市场，任何有意的球队都会要求进行彻底的体检，包括伦纳德及其团队试图保密的任何信息。而这些医疗信息一旦落入其他球队手中，就可能会被泄露。
私下里，快船完全了解伦纳德健康状况的来龙去脉。如果这是他们在他职业生涯的这个阶段愿意支付给他的价钱，那么背后一定有充分的理由。
正如一位球队消息人士告诉ESPN的那样：“我们很清楚他的真实状况。”
尽管如此，虽然快船员工害怕激怒伦纳德，但他们很快表示，队友们喜欢并敬佩他，这种情绪至今未变。当他上场时，他打得很努力。当他训练时，他的专注、决心和纪律始终受到称赞。
2024年1月，他同意了一份为期三年、价值1.53亿美元的合同。
在他签下续约合同几个月后，在一个伦纳德常规赛出战68场的赛季里——这是他自2016-17赛季以来的最高出场次数——球队似乎已为又一次季后赛之旅做好了准备。
但在2024年3月31日，在夏洛特赢球后，伦纳德开始感到他接受过手术的右膝出现炎症。炎症迫使他错过了常规赛的最后八场比赛，而在快船首轮以六场不敌达拉斯的系列赛中，伦纳德只出战了两场。这标志着快船连续第四个季后赛因伦纳德的伤病或缺席而蒙上阴影。
季后赛后，伦纳德曾希望为美国男篮效力，后者在四月中旬将他列为参加巴黎奥运会的12名球员之一。
美国男篮将伦纳德设想为一名强大的补充，能够锁死任何他们将面对的关键国际球员，包括塞尔维亚的尼古拉·约基奇。但考虑到伦纳德的膝盖炎症，官员们不确定他是否足够健康能够上场。
直到六月底他们才得知，伦纳德在两个月前，即五月初，对那只膝盖进行了一次手术，而这一消息在几个月后才被公之于众。
美国男篮的官员们在事后得知这次手术时感到震惊，尤其是在训练营定于七月初在拉斯维加斯开营的情况下。
在训练营期间，一位观察他的人士说，伦纳德看起来“缓慢而吃力”。
快船主教练泰伦·卢 (Tyronn Lue)——他于2020年10月接替里弗斯，并且是史蒂夫·科尔教练组的一员——向美国男篮官员强调，伦纳德了解自己的身体，如果他不健康，他是不会上场的——但卢强调伦纳德想打。
快船篮球运营总裁劳伦斯·弗兰克 (Lawrence Frank) 也强调了同样的话。但美国男篮的官员们并不信服。
“我认为他觉得他可以来[美国男篮]康复三周，然后就能准备好参加奥运会了，”一位接近整个过程的消息人士说。消息人士们表示，美国男篮不能这样做。凯尔特人后卫德里克·怀特取代了伦纳德在名单中的位置，并最终在巴黎奥运会上赢得了金牌。
虽然消息人士称美国男篮官员对事情的演变感到遗憾，但这些官员也认识到，伦纳德的团队在膝盖手术或其康复情况方面并未坦诚相告。
所有这一切都被秘密所笼罩。
2024年7月15日，弗兰克就美国男篮的决定向记者发表讲话，称他对这一决定“非常失望”，伦纳德想打球，而且他在队时看起来很健康。弗兰克被问及伦纳德在训练营前是否对右膝进行过任何类型的手术或治疗。
他拒绝置评，说他不会谈论具体细节。
三个月后， 2024年10月10日，关于伦纳德健康状况的具体细节再次成为头条新闻，前快船体能教练兰迪·谢尔顿 (Randy Shelton) 对球队和弗兰克提起了诉讼。
谢尔顿与伦纳德的工作关系可以追溯到十多年前伦纳德在圣地亚哥州立大学的日子。他声称球队为得到伦纳德进行了违规招募，并不当解雇了他，部分原因是他对球队管理伦纳德健康的方式提出了异议。他甚至声称伦纳德至少受过一次伤——2022年右脚踝两根韧带撕裂——而球队似乎从未公开披露过。
后来，谢尔顿声称罗伯特森在加州作为一名无执照的经纪人谈判了谢尔顿的合同，谢尔顿的律师指出，这可能违反了州法律。谢尔顿的律师补充说，谢尔顿在此过程中收到了来自罗伯特森的“直接威胁”：要么谢尔顿向罗伯特森支付他快船薪水的10%，要么他就不能加入快船。
“这种胁迫，加上罗伯特森通过他与科怀·伦纳德的关系而广为人知的对快船组织的控制，引发了对强迫和不正当影响的严重关切，”谢尔顿的律师在随后的一份法庭文件中写道。
快船否认了谢尔顿的指控，认为这起诉讼是一次数百万美元的敲诈企图。他们寻求通过仲裁解决此事。
球队在2023年7月解雇了谢尔顿，球队在法庭文件中称，“当时很明显，[谢尔顿]不愿意履行快船雇佣他的工作。相反，[谢尔顿]自作主张向那些没有征求他意见且他没有资格给予建议的人提供建议。例如，他推荐了诸如血流限制训练法等医疗程序，而他没有任何医疗培训，不了解球员的状况，也没有咨询他的主管或队医。他未经授权的行为扰乱了球员、他们的训练师和球队之间的关系，并将球员的健康和福祉置于危险之中。”
“而当快船调查[谢尔顿]关于‘报复、歧视、隔离和欺凌’的指控时，[谢尔顿]承认自己通过在不了解球员病史的情况下向他们提出建议来‘制造戏剧性’。简而言之，[谢尔顿]拒绝将自己局限于他被雇用的工作，给球队及其球员和人员制造了问题。”
当谢尔顿诉讼的消息在联盟中传开时，一位直接了解情况的球队消息人士表示，谢尔顿的许多说法都不是真的——但并非全部。
这位球队消息人士说，谢尔顿声称球队日益将他排除在关于伦纳德健康状况的会议和信息之外是真的，并补充说，在谢尔顿的第一个赛季，有人担心他将关于伦纳德健康状况的不完整信息带给全国各地不合格的医疗人员——“巫医和半吊子临床医生，”该消息人士说。
这位球队消息人士说，到第一个赛季中期，球队本可以解雇谢尔顿——但他们却决定改变该部门的组织结构，以孤立谢尔顿并限制他收到的信息流。
原因很简单：与谢尔顿产生裂痕可能会冒着与伦纳德产生裂痕的风险。
在谢尔顿的诉讼中，他还声称快船在追求伦纳德的过程中，在潜在的违规招募方面“远远超出了NBA章程的界限”。
“关于这一点，他没说错，”这位球队消息人士说。
在他的诉讼中，谢尔顿说快船在2017年首次联系他，当时伦纳德还在马刺队合同期内，他在2017年西部决赛对阵金州勇士的第一场比赛中脚踝严重受伤。
谢尔顿说，快船的一位高管，助理总经理马克·休斯 (Mark Hughes)，联系他以寻求关于伦纳德的“私人健康信息”，并表示需要“保密”。
根据诉讼文件，两人在电话中交谈了大约15次，并至少见过7次面，因为快船试图更多地了解伦纳德与马刺的合同义务和他的医疗状况。
当被问及球队在追求伦纳德时是否违反了违规招募规则时，一位密切参与此事的前快船员工简单地说：“每个人都违规招募。”
另一位前快船员工表示，谢尔顿的诉讼给球队带来了新的问题，特别是如果庭外证词和内部通信被公之于众的话。弗兰克已于9月16日就此诉讼进行了宣誓作证。
“球队绝不可能想让NBA再次翻他们的老底，”这位前员工说。“我跟你说——那可不是什么好事。”
2024年12月7日， 记者们聚集在快船位于英格尔伍德的新训练馆，发现伦纳德在球场的另一边进行训练。球队官员在附近徘徊。
由于上赛季困扰他的右膝炎症，伦纳德整个赛季都未出场。这位明星前锋何时能重返赛场的问题一直笼罩着球队。
一些记者立刻举起手机摄像头开始拍摄。
就在他们拍摄时，伦纳德运着球，开始做出投篮动作，将球举到身前，然后举过头顶。接着，伦纳德发现了媒体团，犹豫了一下。
罗伯特森站在他旁边，双臂交叉，戴着一顶白色帽子，穿着白色连帽衫和白色短裤。卢走近他查看情况。然后，卢朝球场远端的媒体看了一眼，并指着他们。
“喂！”罗伯特森从球场对面喊道。
他举起双臂，在身前交叉挥动，类似于导演喊“停”的手势。
球队官员随后告诉媒体停止拍摄。
“他想控制整个环境，”一位前员工说。“他并不介意被拍摄。他介意的是他认为是私人的时刻。如果快船说，‘是的，我们会保密，’他希望他们能信守承诺。”
伦纳德到来后不久，记者们发现，即使他们私下向快船询问伦纳德的健康状况，试图证实他们发现的细节，他们也常常被告知去问伦纳德的团队，这意味着要联系罗伯特森。
罗伯特森长期以来一直扮演着伦纳德发言人的角色。在他父亲马克于2008年1月18日在加州康普顿被杀后，他在伦纳德生活中的角色变得更加重要。当时马克43岁，伦纳德16岁。
伦纳德后来告诉《圣安东尼奥快报》：“我父亲去世后，家里没有太多男人，而[罗伯特森]是一个很好的倾诉对象，他经历过我这个年纪所经历的事情。”
罗伯特森在爱达荷学院打过大学篮球，然后在银行业做了近三十年的高管。他曾在美国运通、卡弗联邦储蓄银行和摩根大通工作。
当猛龙在2019年总决赛中在奥克兰击败金州勇士夺冠时，一张球员和工作人员的庆祝合影在球场上拍摄。
罗伯特森站在后排。一位猛龙的消息人士说，他是照片中唯一的家庭成员。
2025年1月3日东部时间晚上8:30， 联盟发布了一份伤病报告，这是它全天不断更新的。
那天晚上，快船将伦纳德列为缺阵（伤病/疾病——右膝；伤势恢复），无法参加球队第二天对阵亚特兰大老鹰的比赛。在当晚联盟下一份伤病报告中，即东部时间晚上9:30，伦纳德的状态保持不变。
然后，在不到三小时后的东部时间晚上11:27，NBA记者克里斯·海恩斯 (Chris Haynes) 发推文，援引他刚收到的消息称，伦纳德预计将在对阵老鹰的比赛中迎来首秀。三分钟后，快船的公关账号在X上发布更新：伦纳德的状态升级为出战成疑。
第二天晚上，卢坐在Intuit Dome深处的讲台上，面对着比平时更多的媒体，他们聚集在这里观看伦纳德的赛季首秀。
首批问题之一就集中在前一晚的事件上——伦纳德先是被列为缺阵，然后又突然可以上场了。
“没什么变化，”卢说。“他一直都在[出场名单里]，但我不想听这些[媒体]家伙唠叨，所以我尽可能地保护自己。”
卢宣布伦纳德将有上场时间限制，但当被问及具体限制是多少时，卢笑了笑，用一只手摸了摸下巴。
“我想不起来了，”他咧嘴一笑，然后自己也笑了起来。
这个回答在他接替里弗斯后不久就成了卢的惯用招数。并且它继续达到了目的：保护任何关于这位明星前锋的信息，同时避免了导致里弗斯时期那次5万美元罚款的陷阱。
随着上场时间的增加，伦纳德恢复了状态。从全明星周末到常规赛结束，他场均得到25.0分、6.8个篮板和3.5次助攻，投篮三项命中率分别为52-44-81。他的球队取得了50场胜利——这是自2016-17赛季以来的第二好战绩——连续第二年如此。在季后赛首轮对阵丹佛掘金的第二场比赛中，他以19投15中的惊人效率砍下39分。然而，快船最终在七场大战后输给了掘金。这标志着球队连续第三年未能突破首轮。
快船队史走得最远的一次是在2021年打入西部决赛——而那个系列赛伦纳德因伤缺席。
与此同时，7月12日满27岁的吉尔杰斯-亚历山大上赛季领跑NBA得分榜并荣膺MVP，同时带领俄克拉荷马城夺得了队史首个总冠军，随后签署了一份为期四年、价值2.85亿美元的超级顶薪续约合同，合同将持续到2030-31赛季。他还将登上NBA 2K26视频游戏的封面。
如今，快船再次处于岌岌可危的境地。9月3日，快船又卷入了另一桩涉及伦纳德的丑闻。播客主兼记者巴勃罗·托雷 (Pablo Torre) 报道了伦纳德在Aspiration公司的赞助协议。
几小时后，NBA宣布将展开调查。第二天，在接受ESPN的雷蒙娜·谢尔伯恩采访时，鲍尔默否认他对伦纳德的代言合同有任何了解，也否认他指示该公司提供这份合同。
“这些指控都不是真的，”鲍尔默告诉谢尔伯恩。“但对我来说最重要的是，我们在所有这些互动中都做了正确的事。科怀的生意是科怀自己的事。但我们一直都做的是正确的事。”
总部位于纽约的Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz律师事务所将主导NBA对快船和与Aspiration公司赞助协议的调查。该律所也曾在2020年一名叫约翰尼·威尔克斯 (Johnny Wilkes) 的男子起诉球队后进行过调查，威尔克斯声称时任球队顾问的杰里·韦斯特 (Jerry West) 因帮助快船签下伦纳德而达成口头协议，欠他250万美元。那起诉讼最终被驳回，快船也被洗清了任何不当行为的嫌疑。
然后，在9月11日，就在NBA调查开始几天后，托雷报道称，快船小股东丹尼斯·王 (Dennis Wong)——鲍尔默在哈佛的大学室友——在2022年12月向Aspiration投资了199万美元，就在该公司向伦纳德支付175万美元的九天前。据报道，由于公司在最终宣布破产前就出现了财务问题，这笔给伦纳德的款项按照付款计划已经逾期。
目前，伦纳德的合同还有两个赛季。快船在未来四年里都无法控制自己的首轮选秀权。他们在2026年的无保护首轮签将送给雷霆，而雷霆在2027年有权与快船互换首轮签。这将帮助雷霆维持一个潜在的王朝，而这个王朝正是建立在快船当年为了建立自己的王朝而放弃的那名球员之上。
与此同时，俄克拉荷马城获得的每一项新荣誉——以及任何未来的总冠军——都将为那笔2019年的交易增添新的注脚，那笔交易在之后的岁月里越来越困扰着快船。
多位总经理和其他联盟高管表示，他们预计伦纳德会履行完他在快船的合同，该合同将在2026-27赛季后结束。
但即便如此，一位前员工说，球队的重心已经转移。“他们已经不再围绕科怀建队了，”他说。
“他们知道这一点，他自己也知道。”
点击查看原文：Inside the tumultuous Kawhi Leonard era with the LA Clippers
Inside the tumultuous Kawhi Leonard era with the LA Clippers
ON AUG. 18, 2014, Steve Ballmer shouted, chest-bumped and high-fived his way through a frenzied crowd of 4,500 fans inside Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” thumped overhead. The former Microsoft CEO had just paid a then-record $2 billion for the LA Clippers, at once rescuing the team, the city of Los Angeles and the NBA from one of its darkest eras.
“We’re going to be bold. Bold means taking chances,” Ballmer thundered into the microphone after taking the stage. “We’re going to be optimistic. We’re going to be hardcore. Nothing gets in our way – boom! The hardcore Clippers. That’s us.”
Ballmer took questions from season-ticket holders, including one who was 26 and wanted to know how the next 26 years of the franchise would be different after the 33-year tenure of former owner Donald Sterling.
“I’ll boldly say the Clippers will win many, many more Larrys in the next 26 years than they did in the last 26,” Ballmer said, referring to the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Ballmer possessed unmatched monetary resources and ambition to construct a dynasty from the smoldering ruins of Sterling’s disgraced tenure. Ballmer was competitive and innovative, unafraid to dig into some of the deepest pockets on Earth, driven to bring his championship aspirations to life.
Eleven years later, Ballmer’s biggest and most ambitious bet to deliver that championship – or even the franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance – has failed on the court. During the six seasons since the Clippers’ blockbuster 2019 acquisition of superstar Kawhi Leonard, the team has won just three playoff series and Leonard has played in only 58% of its games.
But that failure extends further, because from nearly since the moment Leonard signed in Los Angeles, Ballmer and the team have also drawn unprecedented and serious scrutiny from the NBA league office and the rest of the NBA.
Since 2019, the Clippers have faced two separate lawsuits alleging tampering violations involving Leonard, one of which remains ongoing. They’ve been fined at least twice by the NBA for violations of league rules involving Leonard. There have also been at least three NBA investigations – the latest of which just began – into the Clippers involving Leonard.
The shadow of this latest one – which will examine allegations that the Clippers circumvented the salary cap, with Leonard receiving a $28 million sponsorship deal from Aspiration, a now-bankrupt company that Ballmer invested $50 million in – will hover over the team entering training camp. And it could continue into the season, following a summer in which the Clippers tried to bolster a roster that won 50 games last season before losing in the first round to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. They reunited with 40-year-old point guard Chris Paul for his 21st NBA season. They added 32-year-old shooting guard Bradley Beal after his tumultuous stint in Phoenix. They re-signed 36-year-old shooting guard James Harden to a two-year deal. They added 27-year-old forward John Collins and 37-year-old center Brook Lopez to strengthen a front line anchored by blossoming 28-year-old center Ivica Zubac.
But the team’s centerpiece remains Leonard, who will be paid $50 million next season and is eligible for an extension next summer.
Several rival executives said the Clippers’ initial investment in Leonard – though it came at what was then deemed a steep cost – was a smart move that any team would’ve made at the time, especially one with the Clippers’ long track record losing and dysfunction.
But now those same executives all judge the return on that investment in the same way.
“Looking back, the deal was a f—ing disaster,” one rival GM told ESPN.
Interviews with nearly two dozen team sources, former staffers, rival executives, agents and others across the league convey the same. They reveal how a team desperate for a star – and relevance – capitulated to Leonard and those around him, seeking to keep him happy and healthy, even as the organization’s culture devolved into an internal mixture of fear and secrecy and an external stream of legal battles and allegations of misconduct.
“This last investigation is different,” a former Clippers staffer said of the league’s inquiry into a sponsorship deal with a company that Ballmer invested in. "This one directly calls into question Steve Ballmer’s character.
“At some point, Steve has got to get out of the Kawhi business.”
AS THE NIGHT grew long on July 5, 2019, Clippers executives sat together in a conference room on a high floor of a Regus coworking space in El Segundo, California.
The walls were thin and the anxiety was high. For days, everyone had worried that the superstar free agent that they’d been chasing for years, the player they believed could instantly transform their franchise, would, at the very last minute, scorn them for their hated cross-city rival, the Los Angeles Lakers.
They had met with Leonard four days earlier, and after learning that he would sign with the Clippers only if they acquired Paul George from Oklahoma City, they had spent almost the entire time since working to hammer out a deal with the Thunder.
The ultimate framework: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, forward Danilo Gallinari, a then-unprecedented five first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps for George.
Ballmer was concerned by the number of draft picks the team was giving up, then-Clippers head coach Doc Rivers later told reporters in September 2019, and he wasn’t the only one to feel that way.
Some staffers feared the deal would have similar ramifications to the infamous 2013 Boston-Brooklyn swap, when the Celtics acquired three first-round draft picks and a first-round pick swap in return for two aging stars in Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. That trade ultimately set up the Celtics for the next decade, yielding them foundational stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who led them to the 2024 title.
The Nets, meanwhile, went nowhere, and the deal became a cautionary tale.
The Clippers were also nervous about trading Gilgeous-Alexander, a dynamic young guard who had just been named to the NBA All-Rookie second team.
But just weeks earlier, Leonard had won a title with the Toronto Raptors; he was uninterested in waiting on a young player to develop.
Acquiring George was one of several requests made by Leonard and his camp, led by Leonard’s uncle, Dennis Robertson, who outlined a series of asks for the Clippers in the days leading up to July 5.
Those requests included part ownership of the team, access to a private plane, a house and guaranteed off-court endorsement money, one source with direct knowledge of the talks said. They were the same requests that, according to The Athletic, Robertson made of the Lakers and the Raptors. The Toronto Star reported on Sept. 9 that Robertson also asked the Raptors for ownership stakes in outside companies and corporate sponsorship deals in which Leonard wouldn’t have to do anything in return for the money. Robertson did not respond to requests for comment for either story.
These verbal requests fell outside the boundaries of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, and while the Clippers didn’t say yes to them, they did say yes to others, according to a source with knowledge of the talks.
Robertson, who did not respond to a request for comment for this story, wanted Leonard to be able to initially live in San Diego rather than in Los Angeles. (Leonard would commute via helicopter. He later moved to Los Angeles.) The Clippers agreed. He wanted Leonard to be able to skip some media obligations and team community events. The Clippers agreed. He wanted the team to promise to market Leonard individually. The Clippers agreed. He wanted Leonard to be able to bring some of his own people into the organization. The Clippers agreed. (A team source disputes the existence of some of these requests and the tone of some others.)
Perhaps most importantly, Robertson said there would need to be a strict protocol about how to talk about Leonard publicly – and that was to say nothing unless absolutely necessary.
Rival head coaches told ESPN that the last request is not unusual for stars, and the Clippers, seeking to establish themselves as a star-friendly organization, again agreed. They badly wanted Leonard. They had even fired one of their own broadcasters, Bruce Bowen, in 2018, after he made what they viewed as negative comments about Leonard on the air.
By 8:19 p.m. PT on July 5, 2019, as the outlines of the deal with Oklahoma City took shape, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck in Ridgecrest, California, about 150 miles north from where the Clippers’ brain trust had gathered. It was the largest earthquake to hit Southern California in nearly two decades, and was felt as far away as Las Vegas, where the NBA world was gathered for summer league.
As the building shook, dust from ceiling tiles fell on the heads of Clippers staffers, who quickly ducked into a nearby stairwell. Unscathed but rattled, they emerged and worked to hammer out the deal, one they were desperate to close.
Nearly three hours later, at 10:54 p.m. PT, Leonard had informed teams of his decision to sign with the Clippers. One minute later, the news of the Clippers’ trade for George broke too.
Among the LA staff, there was jubilation.
Four days later, Leonard signed a three-year, $103.1 million deal that included a player option for the final season.
Excitement swept over the Clippers franchise. But multiple sources also say a separate emotion began creeping its way into the organization, one that would become deeply entrenched in the days, weeks and years ahead. It ultimately defined the culture as much as the team’s aspirations to win a title with its new superstar forward aboard.
That feeling, they say, was fear.
NBA TEAMS HAVE long lived in fear of upsetting their stars, a sentiment that predates Leonard’s arrival in Los Angeles and has been prevalent across the league. Given the Clippers’ past, and the future they hoped to forge, that dynamic was compounded.
The Clippers were desperate to prove that they knew how to accommodate star players, according to team sources and agents with close ties to the team, and that they were far removed from the scandal-plagued, loss-filled era under Sterling.
Just eight games into Leonard’s first season, one of the Clippers’ first promises – to be silent when it came to matters of Leonard’s health – was tested.
It was Nov. 6, 2019, and the Clippers hosted the Bucks on the first night of a back-to-back. Leonard sat out that game for “load management” of an undisclosed left knee injury. He had done the same on an earlier back-to-back set in the young season, sitting out the first of the two games for the same stated reason.
It wasn’t unusual for Leonard to sit out a game as he managed his health. He’d famously done so during prior stops in San Antonio and Toronto, and the Clippers were under no illusion that he’d be playing in every game for them.
Before the game, Rivers was asked about Leonard’s health. The then-Clippers’ coach said that Leonard “feels great” and that there was no reason to be concerned.
Soon after, one source with direct knowledge of the interaction said, the Clippers received a call from a reporter seeking comment after learning that Leonard’s health wasn’t as “great” as the team was saying publicly. Then the reporter contacted the league office to see if NBA officials had any clarity on the situation. Soon, the NBA began its own inquiry.
“The league office looked into it, and [the reporter] was right,” the source said. “The severity of Kawhi’s injury was more significant than the team was letting on.”
The following afternoon, on Nov. 7, the league announced it was fining the Clippers $50,000 for comments made by Rivers that “were inconsistent” with Leonard’s health, along with specifics about Leonard’s health.
That the league had publicly revealed such particulars – that he was suffering from an ongoing injury to his patellar tendon – sent shivers through the organization, multiple sources said.
The Clippers had watched from afar how Leonard’s tenure with the Spurs had ended because of a rift over how best to manage Leonard’s health following a March 2016 lower-body injury that the team declared was quadriceps tendinopathy in 2017. ESPN’s Michael Wright and Ramona Shelburne reported in 2018 that a key part of that divide was whether Leonard’s issues were, as the Spurs believed after consulting with medical experts, degenerative and irreversible, and would need to be managed indefinitely. Leonard’s camp, including Robertson, disagreed.
Ultimately, Leonard requested a trade in the summer of 2018, with two years left on the max deal he’d signed in 2015. Even before the Clippers signed Leonard, they knew that if he could lose trust and dismantle a seven-season relationship with the Spurs for such a reason, then he easily could do the same to them.
“The Spurs were maybe the most respected, most revered pro sports team in America,” one former staffer said. “It was like if this guy is willing to tell those people to go f— themselves, he can’t possibly be afraid to tell us to go f— ourselves. … Everybody was afraid of Kawhi leaving.” That sentiment was echoed by multiple team and league sources.
To the team’s surprise and relief, Leonard and his camp believed the franchise had held up their end, even if it had cost them $50,000.
“That was a feather in our cap, for sure,” the former team staffer said.
Instead, Leonard directed his ire toward the league office.
“[The NBA’s news release] was shocking, but it doesn’t matter to me,” Leonard said after scoring a game-high 27 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in a 107-101 win over the Trail Blazers later that night. “I’m not a guy who reads the media anyway. We’re going to manage it the best way we can to keep me healthy. … [The fine] was just disappointing. It feels like they want players to play if they’re not ready.”
The NBA did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Rivers found himself in a complicated position: having to straddle the line between protecting Leonard’s request for intense secrecy regarding his health, and respecting the league’s mandate for transparency.
The next day, when asked about those two competing ideals after the NBA’s fine, and whether there was some middle ground, Rivers’ answer offered a window into the new dynamic forming across the organization.
“I’m scared to answer,” he told reporters before the Clippers faced the Portland Trail Blazers on Nov. 7, 2019. “That’s my answer. I just won’t answer.”
Across the organization, details about Leonard’s health were considered sacred secrets, multiple sources said, and a schism between those who were in the know and those who weren’t emerged early.
“He was very separate from [the Clippers’] staff,” one source with knowledge of the situation said.
“It caused extreme angst within the medical department,” another former staffer said. “It was like the Clippers’ medical staff wasn’t really allowed to touch Kawhi ever.”
In an effort to placate Leonard, news releases, public statements and social media posts that mentioned him received intense scrutiny both from the Clippers’ senior leadership and, where necessary, from Leonard’s camp, multiple sources said. While a team source said it was and is common practice for the team to run potential public statements by those representing all Clippers players, some team staffers nonetheless feared the wrong word or term in anything related to Leonard could lead to Robertson calling management and igniting a Spurs-like war.
The constant secrecy and tension surrounding Leonard – and his health – grated some staffers who interacted with players on a daily basis.
“There was clearly a heightened sensitivity,” one said.
“Everyone was so uptight,” another said. “I’m telling you, when I say uptight, I mean uptight.”
“Kawhi Leonard is an elite player and admired teammate who has made significant contributions to our organization,” the Clippers wrote in a statement to ESPN. “We treat Kawhi with the same respect as we do all of our players and staff. Unfortunately, he’s battled injuries, which have led to undue scrutiny and criticism, but we appreciate his resilience and relentless work ethic. We’re grateful he is part of our team and look forward to the start of training camp.”
LEONARD ENTERED THE 2023-24 season eligible for a contract extension. As the Clippers considered their options, a former team staffer said some within the team had been fatigued by Leonard’s injuries and lack of availability.
And because of that, the ex-staffer said, the Clippers could wield leverage. Leonard had been eligible for a four-year, $220 million max contract, but the team prioritized preserving salary cap flexibility – especially because of second-apron restrictions – in part because they were also in extension talks with George.
If Leonard, seeking a better deal, had threatened to test the free agent market, any prospective team would want a thorough medical examination, including any information that Leonard and his camp had sought to keep private. That medical information could, in the hands of another team, be leaked,the ex-staffer pointed out.
Privately, the Clippers fully understood the ins and outs of Leonard’s health. If this was what they were offering to pay him at this point in his career, then there was a good reason behind it.
As one team source told ESPN, “We know what’s under the hood.”
Still, while Clippers staffers feared agitating Leonard, they were quick to say teammates liked and admired him, a sentiment that remains. When he played, he played hard. When he worked out, his focus, determination and discipline received consistent praise.
In January 2024, he agreed to a three-year deal worth $153 million.
A few months after signing his extension, during a season in which Leonard played 68 regular-season games – his most since 2016-17 – the team seemed primed for another playoff run.
But on March 31, 2024, following a win in Charlotte, Leonard began to experience inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee. That inflammation forced him to miss the final eight games of the regular season, and Leonard played in just two games of the Clippers’ six-game series loss to Dallas in the first round. It marked the fourth straight Clippers postseason marred by either a Leonard injury or his absence because of one.
After the postseason, Leonard had hoped to play for Team USA, which in mid-April had named him one of its 12 players for the Paris Olympics.
Team USA imagined Leonard as a powerful addition who could halt virtually any key international player the team would face, including Serbia’s Nikola Jokic. But given Leonard’s knee inflammation, officials weren’t sure whether Leonard would be healthy enough to play.
It wasn’t until the end of June that they learned that Leonard had undergone a procedure on that knee two months earlier, in early May, which wouldn’t become public for several months.
Team USA officials were shocked to learn about the procedure after the fact, especially with training camp slated to open in early July in Las Vegas.
During camp, Leonard looked “slow and laboring,” one source who watched him said.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, who took over for Rivers in October 2020 and was a member of Steve Kerr’s coaching staff, stressed to Team USA officials that Leonard knew his body, and that if he wasn’t healthy, he wouldn’t play – but Lue emphasized that Leonard wanted to play.
Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, stressed the same. But Team USA officials were unconvinced.
“I think he thought that he could come and rehab for three weeks with [Team USA] and then he’d be ready to play in the Olympics,” one source close to the process said. Team USA couldn’t do that, sources said. Celtics guard Derrick White replaced Leonard on the roster and went on to win the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
While sources say Team USA officials regret how the situation played out, those same officials also recognize that Leonard’s camp hadn’t been forthcoming about the knee procedure or about his recovery.
All of it had been shrouded in secrecy.
On July 15, 2024, Frank addressed reporters about Team USA’s decision, saying he was “very disappointed” by it, that Leonard wanted to play and that, when he was there, Leonard looked healthy. Frank was asked if Leonard had undergone any type of procedures or treatment to his right knee before camp.
He declined to comment, saying he wasn’t going to get into specifics.
THREE MONTHS LATER, on Oct. 10, 2024, specifics about Leonard’s health again made headlines, when Randy Shelton, a former Clippers strength and conditioning coach, filed a lawsuit against the team and Frank.
Shelton, who had a working relationship with Leonard dating back to Leonard’s days at San Diego State more than a decade earlier, alleged that the team had tampered to acquire Leonard, and wrongfully terminated him, in part, for raising issues about how the team managed Leonard’s health. He even alleged that Leonard had suffered at least one injury – two torn ligaments in his right ankle in 2022 – that the team appears to have never disclosed publicly.
Later, Shelton alleged that Robertson negotiated Shelton’s contract as an unlicensed agent in California, which, Shelton’s lawyers noted, could violate state laws. Shelton’s lawyers added that Shelton received a “direct threat” from Robertson during the process: Either Shelton pay Robertson 10% of his Clippers salary or he couldn’t join the Clippers.
“This coercion, coupled with Robertson’s widely reported control over the Clippers’ organization through his relationship with Kawhi Leonard, raises significant concerns of duress and undue influence,” Shelton’s attorneys wrote in a subsequent court filing.
The Clippers denied Shelton’s allegations, believing the suit to be an extortion attempt for millions. They sought to settle the matter through arbitration.
The team had fired Shelton in July 2023 when, the team stated in court filings, "it became apparent that [Shelton] was not willing to perform the job for which the Clippers had hired him. Instead, [Shelton] took it upon himself to render advice to those who had not sought it and that he was not qualified to give. For example, he recommended medical procedures, such as blood-flow restriction, without having any medical training, knowing the players’ condition, or consulting with his supervisors or the team doctors. His unauthorized conduct disrupted relationships between the players, their trainers, and the team, and put the players’ health and well-being at risk.
“And when the Clippers investigated [Shelton’s] accusations of ‘retaliation, discrimination, segregation, and bullying,’ [Shelton] admitted to ‘creating drama’ by approaching players with his advice without knowing their medical history. In short, [Shelton] refused to limit himself to the job for which he was hired, creating problems for the team and its players and personnel.”
When news of Shelton’s lawsuit began to spread across the league, one team source with direct knowledge of the situation said many of Shelton’s claims were untrue – but not all.
Shelton’s allegation that the team increasingly excluded him from meetings and information about Leonard’s health was true, the team source said, adding that there was concern in Shelton’s first season that he was taking incomplete information about Leonard’s health to unqualified medical officials around the country – “witch doctors and quasi clinicians,” the source says.
By the midpoint of that first season, the team source says, the team could’ve fired Shelton – and yet decided instead to change the organizational structure of the department to isolate Shelton and limit the flow of information that he received.
The reason was simple: Creating a rift with Shelton could risk creating a rift with Leonard.
In Shelton’s suit, he also alleged that the Clippers “leapt well beyond the bounds of the NBA constitution” with respect to potential tampering violations in their pursuit of Leonard.
“He’s not wrong about that,” the team source says.
In his lawsuit, Shelton said the Clippers first contacted him in 2017 after Leonard, who was then under contract with the Spurs, suffered a severe ankle injury in Game 1 of the 2017 Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors.
Shelton said a Clippers executive, assistant general manager Mark Hughes, contacted him to seek “private health information” about Leonard and expressed the need for “discretion.”
The two spoke approximately 15 times on the phone and had at least seven meetings, according to the suit, as the Clippers sought to learn more about Leonard’s contractual obligations with the Spurs and his medical situation.
When asked if the team violated tampering rules in its pursuit of Leonard, one former Clippers staffer who was closely involved said, simply, “Everybody tampers.”
Another former Clippers employee said Shelton’s lawsuit presents a new set of problems for the team, especially if depositions and internal communications become public. Frank sat for a deposition in the lawsuit on Sept. 16.
“The team cannot possibly want the NBA opening up its cupboards again,” the former employee said. “I’m telling you – that is bad.”
ON DEC. 7, 2024, reporters gathered at the Clippers’ new practice facility in Inglewood and spotted Leonard working out on the other side of the court. Team officials lingered nearby.
Leonard hadn’t played all season because of inflammation in his right knee that had plagued him the season before. The question of when the star forward would return to action hovered over the team.
Some reporters immediately raised their cellphone cameras and started filming.
As they did, Leonard dribbled the ball and began to go into a shooting motion, raising the ball in front of him and then over his head. Then Leonard spotted the media gaggle and hesitated.
Robertson stood next to him, arms crossed in a white hat, white hoodie and white shorts. Lue approached him to check in. Lue then looked over toward the media on the far side of the court and he pointed to them.
“Yo!” Robertson yelled from across the court.
He raised his arms and moved them across his body, akin to a director calling “cut.”
Team officials then told the media to stop filming.
“He wants to control the environment,” one former staffer says. “He doesn’t mind being filmed. What he minds is moments that he thinks are supposed to be private. If the Clippers say, ‘Yes, we will make it private,’ he expects them to live up to it.”
Soon after Leonard arrived, reporters found that even when they privately asked the Clippers about Leonard’s health, seeking to confirm details they’d uncovered, they would often be directed to ask Leonard’s camp, which meant contacting Robertson.
Robertson has long served as Leonard’s spokesperson. His role in Leonard’s life became more pronounced after Leonard’s father, Mark, was killed on Jan. 18, 2008, in Compton, California. Mark was 43, Leonard 16.
Leonard would later tell the San Antonio Express-News, “With my dad passing away, there aren’t too many men in the family and [Robertson] is a great guy to just talk to that has been through my experiences at my age.”
Robertson played college basketball at the College of Idaho, then spent nearly three decades as a banking executive. He worked with American Express, Carver Federal Savings Bank and JP Morgan Chase.
When the Raptors won the 2019 championship against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, a celebratory team photo was taken on the court of players and staff.
Robertson stood in a back row. He was, one Raptors source said, the only family member in the photo.
AT 8:30 p.m. ET on Jan. 3, 2025, the league released an injury report, which it does continually throughout the day.
That night, the Clippers had listed Leonard as out (Injury/Illness – Right Knee; Injury Recovery) for the team’s game the next day against the Atlanta Hawks. On the league’s next injury report that night, at 9:30 p.m. ET, Leonard’s status remained the same.
Then, less than three hours later, at 11:27 p.m. ET, NBA reporter Chris Haynes tweeted, citing information he’d just received, that Leonard was expected to make his debut against the Hawks. Three minutes later, the Clippers’ PR account posted an update on X: Leonard had been upgraded to questionable.
The next night, Lue sat on a dais in the depths of the Intuit Dome, facing a larger than usual crowd of media that had assembled to watch Leonard make his season debut.
One of the first questions centered on the events of the previous evening – Leonard being listed out, then suddenly available.
“Nothing changed,” Lue said. “He was in [the whole time], but I didn’t want to hear from all these [media] guys, so I tried to protect myself as long as I could.”
Lue announced that Leonard would be on a minutes restriction, but when asked what that restriction would be, Lue smiled and rubbed his chin with one hand.
“I can’t remember,” he smirked, then laughed.
That response had become a customary go-to for Lue not long after he replaced Rivers. And it continued to serve the purpose: protecting any information about the star forward, while avoiding the pitfall that led to the prior $50,000 fine under Rivers.
As his minutes increased, Leonard returned to form. From the All-Star break until the end of the regular season, he averaged 25.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists on 52-44-81 shooting splits. His team won 50 games – its second most since 2016-17 – for the second consecutive year. In Game 2 against the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs, he scored 39 points on a blistering 15-of-19 shooting. And yet the Clippers fell to the Nuggets in seven games. It marked the third straight year the team failed to advance beyond the first round.
The furthest the Clippers have advanced is the Western Conference finals was in 2021 – a series that Leonard missed because of injury.
Meanwhile, Gilgeous-Alexander, who turned 27 on July 12, led the NBA in scoring last season and won MVP while leading Oklahoma City to its first championship, then signed a four-year, $285 million super maximum contract extension through the 2030-31 season. He will also be featured on the cover of the NBA 2K26 video game.
Today, the Clippers are in a precarious place again. On Sept. 3, the Clippers found themselves in yet another scandal involving Leonard. Podcaster and journalist Pablo Torre reported about Leonard’s sponsorship deal at Aspiration.
Hours later, the NBA announced it was launching an investigation. The next day, in an interview with ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Ballmer denied that he had any knowledge of Leonard’s endorsement contract or that he directed the company to offer it.
“The allegations have not been true,” Ballmer told Shelburne. “But what’s most important to me is we’ve done the right thing in all those interactions. Kawhi’s business is Kawhi’s business. But we’ve always done the right thing.”
The New York-based law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz will lead the NBA’s investigation into the Clippers and the sponsorship deal with Aspiration. The firm also investigated following a 2020 suit against the team by a man named Johnny Wilkes, who alleged Jerry West, a team consultant at the time, owed him $2.5 million in an oral agreement made for helping the Clippers sign Leonard. That lawsuit was ultimately dismissed, and the Clippers were cleared of any wrongdoing.
Then, on Sept. 11, just days into the NBA’s investigation, Torre reported that Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong, Ballmer’s former college roommate at Harvard, invested $1.99 million in Aspiration in December of 2022, just nine days before the company made a $1.75 million payment to Leonard. The payment to Leonard was late, according to the payment schedule, as the company was reportedly having financial troubles before ultimately declaring bankruptcy.
For now, Leonard remains under contract for two more seasons. The Clippers don’t control their first-round pick in the next four years. Their unprotected first-round pick in 2026 will go to the Thunder, who have the right to swap first-round picks with the Clippers in 2027. That will help the Thunder sustain a potential dynastic run built around the player the Clippers gave up in the hopes of building their own dynasty.
In the meantime, every new accolade for Oklahoma City – and any further championships – will add another layer to the 2019 deal that has haunted the Clippers more and more in the years since.
Multiple GMs and other league executives said they expect Leonard to play out his contract with the Clippers, which is set to end after the 2026-27 season.
But even then, one former staffer said, the organization’s focus has shifted. “They’re done building around [Kawhi],” he said.
“They know that and he knows that.”
By Baxter Holmes | ESPN, via ESPN