Kawhi Leonard bombshell forces us to confront two uncomfortable truths
By now, Pablo Torre breaking the story about Steve Ballmer allegedly using a fraudulent tree-planting start-up company, Aspiration, to circumvent the salary cap is old news. Since then, Torre’s investigative reporting has forced the billionaire to tell his side of the story on ESPN, prompted the NBA to hire a law firm to investigate further, and set the top item on the agenda of the NBA Board of Governors meeting.
Could one conceive of a world in which a Canadian billionaire loves his pro basketball team so much that he (or she) is willing to do whatever it takes to gain a competitive edge? Even if that meant circumventing the salary cap?
No. Absolutely not. MLSE is now primarily owned by the Empire of Edward Rogers, but when’s the last time we witnessed him sitting on the baseline, among the people, cheering on his hometown team? You’d be forgiven for thinking Sam McDadi or Nav Bhatia owned this team. To Sir Edward, the Toronto Raptors may just be another sports property, an asset to be invested in that helps with the parent company’s bottom line.
Steve Ballmer could be guilty as charged, but my god, do I wish that our pro sports overlords were more like him. Passionate. Engaged. Giving a shit enough to not make fans inside the Intuit Dome wait long to take them (and so they can maximize their time watching the Clippers).
In Toronto, it isn’t Rogers or MLSE minority owner Larry Tanenbaum (who also chairs the NBA Board of Governors) who have Ballmer’s personality, but it was former Chairman, Masai Ujiri, who urged fans with infectious passion to “Believe in this city, believe in yourself.” But even if Toronto’s corporate ownership was less bland and faceless, the possibility of this NBA off-season’s biggest scandal happening up here is inconceivable.
That’s because Toronto remains an unattractive NBA destination for its brightest stars. Kawhi had zero interest in staying here. Even though the Raptors reportedly were aghast at his (or Uncle Dennis’) purported demands for ownership and sponsorship promises, it all seemed to have been a smokescreen. No superstar has ever signed to Toronto as a free agent. Even the possibility of a star being swayed into signing for below market value, as Andrei Kirilenko had done in Brooklyn (but cleared after an NBA investigation), seems next to impossible. The best we can do is Hedo Turkoglu.
If cap circumvention happens more often than we think, then Toronto has certainly been pretty bad at it. To use an NCAA analogy from the pre-NIL era, if the LA Clippers – and other big market teams – are Rick Pitino’s Louisville, the Raptors are a mid-major. Impermissible benefits weren’t used to lure top recruits to, say, Colorado State University because the creme de là creme didn’t consider going there to begin with.
There is beauty in being unattractive (to stars), however. It’s forced Toronto to become a franchise that has unearthed diamonds in the rough (or, used to), and its fanbase continually gets excited by the possibility of overachieving. This upcoming season is a chance to double-down on this underdog identity – as the U.S. media has already counted Toronto out – led by a GM who has been through it all.
While the league’s wealthiest owner awaits further investigation, it’s a great reminder that Toronto doesn’t have the privilege of bending – or inclination to bend – the rules. We don’t try to lure stars with a Lexus endorsement deal or acquiesce to Uncle Dennis’ wild demands, even though we’re not a star-bound destination.
If Toronto is competitive this season, its success won’t be bought and should instill even more pride as we clearly don’t have the advantages some cities have.
The post Kawhi Leonard bombshell forces us to confront two uncomfortable truths first appeared on Raptors Republic.