As the face of arguably the biggest cheating scandal in NBA history, Kawhi Leonard has shown he's not afraid to burn any bridges. The LA Clippers were handed the harshest punishment ever for circumventing the salary cap to appease the NBA superstar in his six-season stay.
As we've learned through the investigation, Leonard's surface-level NBA salary was just a small piece of the pie. He was paid elsewhere through shady and fake endorsement deals. LA has been docked five future first-round picks from 2029-33. But its original sin happened in 2019.
The Clippers sent a boatload of draft capital to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Paul George. The historic blockbuster was part of a contingency plan to acquire Leonard that same summer. According to one
of the two players LA moved in that one-sided deal, he should pay up for manipulating the Clippers.
Danilo Gallinari recently stated in the 'A Cresta Alta' podcast that Leonard should fork over all of the money he made under the table. The former NBA player also vented about how his career trajectory changed because of the ultimatum that he provided the Clippers at the time.
"He should pay all of that $50 million. He changed the trajectory of my career and put me in a difficult situation by sending me away from Los Angeles," Gallinari said. "What happened to my NBA career wasn’t decided by a general manager or an owner, but by a player who decided that team wasn’t good enough and wanted something else."
Sounds like Gallinari is still holding a grudge over the Clippers trading him to the Thunder. Even if he later admitted that the move paid off for him. He enjoyed arguably his best year there. He averaged 18.7 points and 5.2 rebounds in his sole season in OKC from 2019-20. He also shot 40.5% from 3 on 7.1 attempts.
That was enough to parlay his sizzling scoring year to land on the Atlanta Hawks. He enjoyed a 14-season NBA career. Despite dealing with some straight-up bad injury luck, he carved out a nice career as one of the more underrated scorers of his era.
But in Gallinari's defense, I guess he has a problem with an NBA superstar having that much power over roster decisions. Then again, it feels like that's always been the case in professional sports. When you're one of the league's best players, you get more influence on how major moves shake out. The Clippers could've played hardball to Leonard's demands. Instead, they easily caved in.
Everybody is piling on Leonard and the Clippers this summer — deservingly so, too. All of the mystique and goodwill over the years have gone up in smoke over this cap circumvention scandal. Gallinari's words are the latest example of that.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Danilo Gallinari holds grudge over Kawhi Leonard for OKC trade
