The contract was signed, yet the Clippers dismissed lavish off‑court demands for jets and ownership stakes.
Within months of Leonard’s rookie deal, his uncle Dennis Robertson—dubbed Uncle Dennis—began pressing the Clippers, Lakers and Raptors for improper perks during the 2019 free agency, sparking a league probe. When Leonard was fitted for his No. 2 jersey, Robertson sought an extra $10 million annually and asked the team to secure it, a clear breach of salary‑cap rules.
Because Robertson persisted and the Clippers appeared willing to oblige, the NBA announced Tuesday a five‑year ban on Robertson from dealing with any team on behalf of players, coaches or staff.
The league also charged Leonard, with Robertson acting for him, with violating circumvention rules by coercing the Clippers to funnel off‑court income his way and then failing to reimburse the club for personal costs.
The Clippers were hit with the loss of five future first‑round picks, a $30 million fine and suspensions for owner Steve Ballmer, basketball‑ops president Lawrence Frank and business‑ops president Gillian Zucker, after being accused of hiding Robertson’s illegal asks and enabling them.
In a statement through his new agent Harrison Gaines, Leonard said he accepts full responsibility for lapses by his inner circle and had no knowledge of anyone trying to skirt the cap.
The franchise flatly rejected the NBA’s allegations and vowed to fight them by any means. Robertson was not reached for comment.
The 36‑page report, compiled by white‑shoe firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz after a year‑long probe, alleges Robertson pressed senior Clippers officials for extra cash from the start of Leonard’s 2019 contract through his 2021 extension.
Investigators say Robertson made those demands of Frank, Zucker and Ballmer, the team’s owner.
In April 2020, amid the COVID‑19 shutdown, notes from Frank show Robertson complained to Ballmer and Frank that Zucker “was making introductions” for “bulls—deals,” adding he couldn’t wait on Zucker and needed to be paid.
League policy bars team officials from brokering deals between players and outside companies.
The report quotes Ballmer telling Robertson that the staff were “collective workers” helping Leonard reach his financial goals, while Zucker assured Robertson that Ballmer would honor his promise.
Robertson also demanded a Clippers plan to introduce him to five or six firms within three to six months and wanted Zucker to keep him updated on her efforts to line up external payouts for Leonard.
Zucker complied. Within six days in June 2020, she emailed executives at Boingo, Daktronics and Lockton—companies already negotiating with the Clippers—setting up introductions. That same day, Leonard and Robertson formed KL2 LBS LLC, with the two as sole members.
Over the following year the three firms paid KL2 a total of $18 million, even though none of the partnerships were publicly announced and Leonard contributed little to the work, investigators found.
In 2021, after Leonard’s extension, Robertson and Zucker pursued a $48 million endorsement with Aspiration, a now‑bankrupt environmental firm that had sponsored the Clippers. When the deal faltered in 2022, co‑founder Joe Sanberg told both parties the agreement was off because the Clippers weren’t paying Aspiration separately.
Investigators also uncovered that the Clippers covered undisclosed personal expenses for Leonard and Robertson—air travel, hotels, gifts and tickets—without properly deducting them from Leonard’s salary as required by the CBA.
Frank signed off on those reimbursements, investigators said. Will the league tighten oversight to prevent similar schemes?