Stephen A. Smith unsure whether LA Clippers will ‘ever recover’ from Kawhi Leonard scandal
Stephen A. Smith has issued a scathing verdict on the LA Clippers following their severe punishment from the NBA over the Kawhi Leonard controversy.
The Clippers were fined $30 million and had five first-round picks taken away from them, along with suspensions for key figures like owner Steve Ballmer and GM Lawrence Frank.
This comes just months after the Clippers prepared to trade Leonard to the Toronto Raptors, thus marking the end of a disappointing seven-year stint.
Speaking on his podcast, Stephen A. Smith discussed the punishment handed out to the LA Clippers for Kawhi Leonard and questioned why the team would even pay him as much as they did and break rules for him.
Smith added that Leonard already had a track record of inconsistency, and that he didn’t command the type of money or effort the Clippers put in to pay him under the table.
"This is some all time egregious stuff. I take it back all time stupid stuff. Why is it stupid? Because it was for Kawhi Leonard, not LeBron James. If this was for LeBron James, I understand. If this was for Steph Curry, I understand. Kawhi Leonard? You did that…
“This is some all-time egregious stuff. I take it back – all-time stupid stuff! Why is it stupid? Because it was for Kawhi Leonard, not LeBron James.
“If this was for LeBron James, I understand. If this was for Steph Curry, I understand. Kawhi Leonard? You did that for Kawhi Leonard?
“And remember, this is dating back to like 2023; he had already been injured a few times since arriving with the Clippers! They had already gone nowhere.
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“You did this for him? For him? It’s a new form of stupidity. And I don’t know if the Clippers will ever recover from this. This is catastrophic. This is so bad.”
Smith definitely makes a valid point about the Clippers choosing to invest in Leonard given the lack of results from his first few years on the team.
On top of that, the Clippers now find themselves grappling with the ramifications of signing Leonard without him on the team, given that he is likely to be traded to the Toronto Raptors imminently.
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