Kawhi Leonard began his press conference during the Toronto Raptors’ media day on Monday (Sep. 28) by addressing the NBA investigation into salary cap circumvention through sponsorship deals involving himself and his former team, the Los Angeles Clippers.
Leonard admitted he understood that reporters were interested in asking him about everything pertaining to the Clippers receiving the harshest punishment in league history, but he preferred to focus on his reunion with the Raptors.
“I know why some of you guys came,” he said. “You wanna hear about the investigation but talking with the NBA and the [NBA] PA, I think the best decision is to move forward and focus on my time being a Toronto Raptor.”
“I already was a distraction for the past 70 days, and I wasn’t able to meet my teammates, do any of that minicamp stuff with them,” Leonard continued. “So moving forward, I just wanna talk about the Toronto Raptors today.”
Leonard referred everyone to the statement he released through his agent, in response to the NBA stripping the Clippers of five first-round picks and issuing a season-long ban of governor Steve Ballmer, along with a $30 million fine.
Kawhi was fined $700,000 for his involvement.
Judging from the reaction on social media to Leonard’s appearance at the press conference, fans seem to think that the fine and the opportunity to reunite with his former team meant that the star player got off easy.
