Vince Staples’ thoughts about Kawhi Leonard’s “no-show job” with a tree-planting company have gotten the cosign from Pablo Torre, who told the world about the shady endorsement in the first place.
Staples spoke about being a part of a recruiting pitch (an animated short video) for Leonard on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, revealing how the Los Angeles Clippers’ organization was eager to get Leonard to join the team.
“They was doing the most, man,” said Staples, referring to the team’s front office. “They really wanted him to come to the team, and I think it was a good plan.”
Afterwards, Staples and the show’s hosts started joking about the allegations from Torre, who claimed that Leonard signed a $28 million deal with a tree-planting company funded by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, in a move that has since raised questions about Leonard’s NBA contract.
“Nobody wants to take the case, man,” said Staples. “They should have planted them trees, bro. Everything would have been different. Somebody could have planted them trees.”
“They could have went down to Home Depot got them some joints,” added Staples, referring to Leonard and Ballmer. “Twenty dollars a piece, fifty dollars a piece. Put them trees in the ground, and everything would've went away.”
Torre reposted a clip of Staples talking about the situation and agreed with what he said, writing on X, "I've been waiting for [Staples] to weigh in on the Aspiration/Ballmer/Kawhi investigation and he is, in fact, not wrong.”
During a September episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, Torre discussed his findings about Leonard’s mysterious deal with the “tree brokerage” company Aspiration. In March, Aspiration filed for bankruptcy, with one of the creditors being KL2 Aspire LLC, which belongs to Leonard. While Torre noted that KL2 was a creditor for $7 million, he revealed that Leonard didn’t endorse Aspiration, unlike other celebrities like Drake and Robert Downey Jr.
Torre added that the deal was effective from 2022, contingent on Leonard remaining with the Clippers. Torre claimed that Aspiration’s employees told him the deal was “to circumvent the salary cap."
In a statement, the Clippers denied the allegations.
"Neither Mr. Ballmer nor the Clippers circumvented the salary cap or engaged in any misconduct related to Aspiration," the team said. "Any contrary assertion is provably false."