Commentary: Kawhi Leonard is a Hall of Fame scam artist who deserves Clippers fans' boos

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Mirjam Swanson urges Clippers fans to boo Kawhi Leonard, letting him hear their disdain after the franchise was rocked by sanctions Wednesday. Leonard is set to pay a $70,000 fine and apologized for his inner circle’s activities, but hopes for a clean slate in Toronto.

Swanson argues Leonard deserves no grace after his demands led to bad trades and salary cap violation penalties. The Clippers’ star and his team found the one NBA franchise that was desperate enough to allegedly acquiesce to all of his out-of-bounds demands, to break the rules if only he would please, Yearning to be loved in the Lakers’ Los Angeles, the Clippers were easy marks during that 2019 free agency.

Plaschke: NBA drops the hammer on The Cheatin’ Clippers, and they can’t shed the stink They had transformed themselves from the ridiculed Clip Joint to a top-shelf NBA organization, but they now have been affixed with a scarlet eight letters that will follow them forever: cheaters. Billed as a hometown hero, the All-Star from Moreno Valley apparently arrived with his hand outstretched, demanding all sorts of improper perks, including an extra $10 million annually — in addition to the above-board contracts that paid him between $32 million and $50 million each season.

Those fans in Toronto who’d promised never to let him pay for a meal in their city again — “KaWine and Dine,” they called it — never stood a chance. They should toast their luck. The Clippers doth protest, denying all of it. Probably because the investigation’s findings make them out to be not only cheaters, but fools.

The team’s statement: “We vehemently reject the NBA’s findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence. ”And Leonard? He isn’t taking personal accountability, but he’s accepting the NBA’s $700,000 fine and, in a statement, said he blames “lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle.

”Leonard’s statement concluded by referencing the pending trade sending him back to the Raptors, which was put on hold in July: “As I return to Toronto, I am focused on what I can control, closing this chapter, and moving forward with a clean slate. ” A clean slate? He plans to pay the fine — roughly one game’s worth of pay — pass go and roll the dice again like nothing happened.

A top 50 player of all time and a Hall of Fame scam artist, this fun guy. promised, but all he wrought was more frustration and misery for the team’s long-suffering, loyal fans.60% of the team’s regular-season games. Injuries stink, and so did the opacity with which the Clippers shared news of their star’s health status. The NBA handed down sweeping penalties to the Clippers, owner Steve Ballmer, team executives and star Kawhi Leonard following an investigation.

With a wish list so long even Santa would’ve pushed back, he also demanded the Clippers trade future MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and five first-round draft picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Paul George. Because Leonard wanted a proven running mate. That didn’t only set back the Clippers, it set up the young Thunder for at least one NBA title run. But together, Leonard and the team made history with Wednesday’s punishment.

The Clippers’ one Western Conference finals appearance in 2021? That came with Leonard in street clothes, nursing a torn anterior cruciate ligament, an injury the Clippers kept secret until it was announced later that summer that their star player had surgery to repair it. The Clippers were sold a lemon. And now all they’re left with is the sour, bitter taste of having been played.

Here is the NBA’s investigation into allegations the Los Angeles Clippers the team circumvented the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. The NBA handed Ballmer a suspension from all league and team activities for one year. Clippers president of business operations Gillian Zucker was hit with the same penalty. President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank will be suspended without pay for six months.

He didn’t want to freeze in Toronto and he would have melted under the Lakers’ purple-and gold spotlight. He also wouldn’t have been able to play king on a team with LeBron James on it. Leonard was meant to be a Clipper. He really was.

The latest chapter in a story that always ends unhappily ever after. Mirjam Swanson is a sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Previously, she worked for the Southern California News Group, as a sports columnist and an NBA and WNBA beat writer. A Southern California native, she earned the distinction of a top 10 APSE honor for columns in 2023.

At prior stops, she covered golf, action sports, city government, education and the occasional unexpected bear visit.

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