Kawhi Leonard trade looks better by the day amid controversial investigation

Recently, there was a Bleacher Report article that came out about the 20 most lopsided trades in the history of sports, and the Spurs landed on the list because of the Kawhi Leonard trade. They weren't in the top 10, but they were still on it, and that's unfair for the circumstances surrounding the situation. Sometimes, you just have to get rid of guys, and getting anything of value should be seen as a win.

The Spurs got what they needed from the Kawhi deal

This isn't just about a series of events that led to acquiring Victor Wembanyama. Though that can't be ignored. But adding DeMar DeRozan wasn't nothing. At the time, Leonard was one of the best players in the league, so you were never going to get equal compensation, especially with how public the conflict was. Everyone knows that when a disgruntled player only has a year left on their deal, the team has less leverage.

They still pried DeRozan away from a place he loved and loved him, and obtained Jakob Poeltl, who became beloved by the city. Flipping those guys and starting over led to assets that put us in a position to draft Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper, and now the Spurs are looked at as the team with the brightest future in the NBA in the long term.

The Raptors won a championship, sure, but then they lost Leonard for nothing, and they've been struggling to put a good team together ever since. So, while I'm not saying that San Antonio won the deal, I'm also not willing to say it was one of the most lopsided trades in sports history. That doesn't even take into account what's going on now.

Leonard has turned out to be more trouble than he's worth

As more information is revealed about the investigation into Leonard and the Clippers, San Antonio looks better and better for releasing the Klaw into the wild. Sports reporter Pablo Torre blew the lid right off a calm NBA offseason with this Kawhi/Aspiration/Clippers controversy. This is a big deal. The league is now forced to look into these allegations that, if found true, will have a devastating impact on that franchise.

For a quick recap, the Clippers and their owner, Steve Ballmer, are being accused of setting up a no-show endorsement deal with a tree planting company called Aspiration to pay Leonard extra money outside of the watchful eye of the NBA to circumvent CBA restrictions. As you can imagine, that's a major no-no.

Now that this is out in the open, details about the inner workings of Kawhi's camp keep leaking, revealing that this was a standard ask from them. Apparently, Uncle Dennis (we all remember that name) requested a no-show endorsement deal, among other things, like a stake in ownership, for example, from the Raptors and the Lakers.

This is the kind of player who is nowhere near the mold of what is expected in San Antonio. This reveals a selfish arrogance that was hidden very well during his time in Alamo City. We should all be thankful that he's gone, no matter how it happened, and anything involving getting him out of town should be looked at as lopsided in someone else's favor. That's just crazy at this point.