“Too Much Money Not to Know”: Ex-Clippers Star’s Brother Questions Kawhi Leonard’s $28M Deal Claim

Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers were recently found guilty of illegally funneling money outside the team's salary cap through under-the-table endorsement deals. However, on Thursday, ESPN's Shams Charania claimed that the two-time NBA champion didn't know about the salary cap circumvention, and that it was his uncle and agent, Dennis Robertson, who took care of the deals

In response to a clip of Charania's ESPN segment posted by @TheDunkCentral on X, former Clippers star Marcus Morris Sr.'s brother, Markieff Morris, called out the claim and Leonard.

"Cap! Too much money not to know! Ain’t that much basketball in the world! lol," Markieff wrote on X.

In the video of Charania that Morris reposted, the ESPN reporter says:

"I was told that the Clippers essentially were acting like a power agent, brokering deals for Kawhi Leonard's business representative at the time, Dennis Robertson. That's millions and millions of cash flow coming into Kawhi Leonard at a point in time on the calendar. ... It wasn't just one company. It was four companies that the NBA found.

"The investigation, I do have to make it clear, did show that Kawhi Leonard did not have any knowledge of this salary cap circumvention that was going on. He had essentially given all of the power to his uncle Dennis Robertson for years now."

While it's difficult to believe that Leonard was innocent in the whole situation, the punishment he received from the NBA, a mere $700,000 fine compared to the $30 million that the Clippers had to shell out, somewhat proves that he didn't play as huge a role in the crime.

Moreover, he wasn't suspended like some of the Clippers senior management, and neither was his contract voided.

Pablo Torre Isn't Buying Kawhi Leonard's Innocence

In September 2025, sports journalist Pablo Torre exposed the illegal transaction between Kawhi Leonard and LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. If it wasn't for Torre sticking his nose in their business, there's a huge chance that the NBA would've never found out about the Clippers' circumvention of the salary cap.

While Kawhi Leonard came out of the investigation relatively untouched, Torre isn't sold on the idea of his alleged non-involvement. In a recent episode of "The Stephen A. Smith Show," Torre revealed that he had seen documents where Leonard had himself signed the $28 million contract with Aspiration that was a major focus of the investigation.

"I’m a big fan of treating adults like adults," Torres said. "Kawhi Leonard is 35 years old, and we have documents: an Aspiration contract, in fact, a $28 million contract in which his signature is on it."

"We have the money flows," Torres continued. "We have him actually in the NBA report, by the way, specifically. This is not Dennis Robertson. This is Mr. Leonard in the report, requesting that Aspiration flip how they were going to pay him. They initially were like, 'We’re going to give you the seven a year in stock and the four and the five a year in salary.'"

Besides Aspiration, the other three companies that were also reportedly involved in this were Boingo Wireless, Daktronics, and Lockton Insurance.

All said and done, Leonard will walk away from this situation and the Clippers franchise ahead of the upcoming NBA season and is reportedly set to make his return to the Toronto Raptors.