Who won after the penalties were handed down by the NBA to the Los Angeles Clippers, their owner Steve Ballmer and Kawhi Leonard? The answer has to be Leonard, and that's exactly what ESPN's Brian Windhorst said on Thursday morning's Get Up!
Leonard will pay $700,00 in restitution for "improper benefits" for his uncle, Dennis Robertson... and that's it. The trade that will send him back
to the Toronto Raptors sounds like it'll go through.Here's what Windhorst said: "He's a humongous winner in this. He collected tens of millions of dollars in endorsement deals -- which are not permitted by the NBA -- and was fined $700,000 in restitution. It’s the greatest investment you could ever make.”
Brian Windhorst says Kawhi Leonard is a winner in all of
this “He collected tens of millions of dollars in endorsement deals and was fined $700K in restitution. It’s the greatest investment you could ever make.” (Via @GetUpESPN / h/t @TheNBABase ) pic.twitter.com/pWegv01Z13
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 3, 2026
Brian Windhorst also talked about how other NBA teams reacted to the Clippers punishments
Brian Windhorst speaks on how other teams reacted to the Kawhi Clippers investigation:
— BballunlockedTV (@bballunlockedtv) September 3, 2026
"There were some people who really felt like that the league should come down with a crushing blow, which is what they did. And there are other people who felt like a lot of the Clippers… pic.twitter.com/K5rhX0wOcA
"There were some people who really felt like, that the league should come down with a crushing blow, which is what they did. And there are other people who felt like a lot of the Clippers' penalty with Kawhi Leonard had been doled out over time, because this Kawhi Leonard arrangement was an absolute disaster for them."
Stephen A. Smith also believed Kawhi Leonard walked away without much of a punishment
"Adam Silver letting Kawhi Leonard getting away with this…Kawhi Leonard would be suspended for the year or he would pay that money back. The brother getting over $40 million a year, I'm getting that back if I'm the NBA!" - Stephen A. Smith pic.twitter.com/KD4NiVWM9I
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 3, 2026
Some consensus there between those two ESPN analysts.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Brian Windhorst reveals why Kawhi Leonard was 'winner' of the Clippers' NBA penalties
