Apr 15, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) steals the ball from Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) in the final minutes of the game of the play-in rounds of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Apr 15, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) steals the ball from Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) in the final minutes of the game of the play-in rounds of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
The entire NBA is waiting for a conclusion to the Kawhi Leonard saga. Despite being under investigation for nearly a year, the league seems no closer to a ruling than it was when it first began. Plus, as more time passes, details continue to emerge on potentially shady activity from Leonard and the Clippers.
Recently, another secret endorsement deal was unearthed by insider Pablo Torre, tying Leonard to Clippers scoreboard maker, Daktronics. It’s further evidence that the team was using exclusive endorsements to circumvent the salary cap, and Warriors veteran Draymond Green says the NBA needs to take action.
“We’re hearing a lot about what the punishments are going to be, and I would say if the punishments aren’t steep, everybody should do it,” said Green on his podcast. “If it’s just gonna be a slap on the wrist, then everybody should do it, and every player should be trying to do it. However, from Kawhi Leonard’s standpoint, I ain’t mad at him.”
As a longtime basketball veteran, Draymond has seen it all in the NBA, but even he agrees that Leonard’s actions set a bad precedent. If the NBA lets this go, or gives Kawhi a light punishment, it could embolden other teams and players to employ similar methods of avoiding the cap.
Even so, Draymond says there are more important matters to consider than the severity of Kawhi’s punishment. In his eyes, this ordeal lends itself to a larger conversation about the NBA salary cap. He wants the league to do away with the cap altogether, citing the Lakers’ $12.5 billion sale as proof that the players should have no limits on what they can earn.
“I think this raises the question about the salary cap,” Draymond added. “We’re playing in a league where a team just sold for $12.5 billion after being sold for $10 billion 14 months ago. There’s no salary cap in baseball, and the league operates just fine. The players who deserve the bulk of the money get the bulk of the money, and the players who don’t, don’t. Let the punishment be getting rid of the salary cap. If you can make $2.5 billion in a sale in a year, what are we doing with a salary cap anyway?”
To Draymond’s credit, eliminating the cap would erase any need for cap circumvention in the future, and he’s not the only one to suggest it. Teams could pay players their full worth without a third party to funnel extra money. The only problem is that eliminating the salary cap would give an unfair advantage to the wealthier teams, which have much more resources to invest in their players. That’s not to mention the financial burden it would put on teams, who would be stuck paying an increasingly expensive payroll.
In the end, it’s easy to see why Draymond and other players would want to cancel the salary cap. It would effectively remove the limit on player earnings, driving up the value of every NBA athlete. From the owner’s perspective, however, such a move would be considered disastrous for competitive and financial balancing.