New Kawhi Leonard Offseason Video Says It All

Kawhi Leonard, the Los Angeles Clippers, and former lead sponsor Aspiration are headlining possibly the most substantial scandal in NBA history. After 11 months, the investigation is finally close to concluding, and the entire league is intrigued to see what sort of punishments the superstar and his former franchise receive, if any. 

Nobody is more antsy about the result than the Toronto Raptors. After trading for the seven-time All-Star for the second time, his punishment greatly determines whether the deal will officially go through or not. Thankfully, after a recent update from Sportsnet’s Michael Grange, it has been concluded that a suspension is not on the table for the two-time Finals MVP. Instead, his contract could be voided, cancelling the trade altogether, but allowing for him to sign with the Raptors as a free agent. 

Amid the ongoing allegations, Leonard announced that he will be taking a trip to Asia to continue to try to push the game of basketball globally. Hosting basketball clinics, youth camps, fan events, and more, the former No. 15 pick in the 2011 NBA draft is continuing on with his offseason plans, despite being the talk of the league in a negative fashion. This initiative insinuated that the two-time Defensive Player of the Year isn’t too worried about the investigation and is ready to begin training camp with the Raptors in Quebec City, as reported by Jake Fischer. 

Further pushing this narrative, Leonard was recorded giving a hilarious reaction to seeing a Chinese streetballer play 1-on-1 against former teammate Paul George.

“What is this? This guy’s over here playing pros and scored 60 points, on Paul George?” said Leonard. “Man, there’s no way he’s gon[na] score 10 points on me; I’ll lock this dude up. He looks trash!”

Hearing a superstar NBA player jokingly trash-talk a streetballer is entertaining in itself, but the fact that Leonard, of all people, is saying it really proves the point. The former San Diego State Aztec has been known throughout most of his career to be very monotonous with little-to-no personality to share with the media; some even call him a robot. So, for him to express this much personality publicly really proves that he is completely unbothered by the entire scandal. 

Obviously, nobody truly knows what’s really going on in his head, and one could argue that he could be putting on this act to hide his fear of the situation. However, being that a suspension has been practically ruled out and he can still sign a new contract after seeing his is potentially voided, he really has nothing to worry about. The absolute worst-case scenario for him is that he would have to remain with the Clippers, but he only has one season left on his contract anyway, meaning he could sign elsewhere as a free agent next summer. As the NBA finally nears the end of this drama, Leonard and the Raptors should be expected to reunite soon as they begin their championship aspirations together for the second time.