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Stephen A.: Kawhi’s Uncle Dennis’ alleged free-agency requests violated the CBA | First Take

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Stephen A. Smith isn’t buying the idea that Kawhi Leonard’s uncle burned the Lakers — he thinks Uncle Dennis blew past the CBA entirely.

Kawhi Leonard’s free agency ended with a three-year, $103.1 million deal to the Los Angeles Clippers, but the process that got him there is still generating headlines. On ESPN’s First Take, Stephen A. Smith broke down chatter circulating in NBA circles about Leonard’s uncle and longtime advisor, Dennis Robertson — chatter suggesting Robertson’s negotiating tactics with suitor teams went well past what the league’s rulebook allows.

• Smith reported that Dennis Robertson made aggressive requests of teams pursuing Kawhi Leonard, most notably the Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors.
• The alleged wish list included partial franchise ownership, guaranteed off-court marketing and endorsement money, private aircraft access, and housing accommodations — all of which fall outside standard contract terms and salary cap rules under the CBA.
• Leonard ultimately signed a three-year, $103.1 million contract with the Clippers, joining newly acquired Paul George.

Uncle Dennis Requested Specific Terms

Robertson has been Leonard’s uncle and a central figure in his inner circle for years, and Smith framed him as the driving force behind the demands teams were fielding during the courtship. According to Smith, Robertson’s requests weren’t run-of-the-mill negotiating leverage — they were specific asks for benefits the CBA explicitly walls off from contract talks: an ownership stake, marketing dollars guaranteed outside the deal, private jet travel, and housing.

The CBA restricts franchises to standard contract terms and cap-limited compensation precisely to stop teams from using side deals to out-bid each other for stars. If Robertson’s alleged requests are accurate, they would have put any team that agreed to them in direct violation of league rules — a risk few front offices, even ones desperate for a superstar, are willing to take on the record.

Lakers Felt Disrespected by Negotiations

Smith spent much of the segment explaining the Lakers’ side of the frustration. The front office had cleared significant cap space specifically to build a pitch for Leonard and held off on other roster moves while waiting on his decision. Team owner Jeanie Buss, according to Smith, simply wasn’t in a position to grant what was reportedly being asked for — not because the Lakers didn’t want Leonard badly enough, but because doing so would have meant breaking the CBA outright.

The demands being floated behind the scenes went far beyond permissible CBA guidelines.

That distinction mattered to Smith’s argument. The Lakers’ extended limbo during the Leonard sweepstakes drew plenty of criticism from fans who felt strung along, but Smith’s point was that the team was never actually going to be able to compete on those specific terms — legally or otherwise.

Smith Defends Lakers’ Negotiation Stance

Smith’s larger conclusion was that the Lakers shouldn’t feel entirely burned by how the process played out. In his read, the requests attributed to Robertson signaled something bigger: that the Clippers were likely Leonard’s preferred destination all along, especially once the front office lined up the Paul George trade to pair two All-NBA-caliber wings together. The Raptors, coming off Leonard’s championship run in Toronto, faced similar reported asks and came away empty regardless.

Smith’s framing turned what could have been a straightforward “Lakers got played” storyline into something closer to a cautionary tale about star-driven free agency generally — the kind of behind-the-scenes leverage plays that have become part of the conversation anytime a top-tier free agent’s camp starts making the rounds, not unlike the drama that’s turned plenty of once-close relationships in the entertainment world into public fallouts once money and leverage enter the picture.

The Clippers’ Endgame

Whatever was or wasn’t requested from the Lakers and Raptors, the outcome was clean on paper: Leonard took a below-max, three-year deal to team up with George in a Clippers uniform, giving the franchise its first true superstar pairing in club history. For a franchise long overshadowed by its downtown roommate, landing both Leonard and George in the same summer was the kind of splash that instantly reset expectations for the following season.

Smith’s larger point on First Take wasn’t really about punishing anyone — it was about reading the tea leaves. If Robertson really was pushing for perks no team could legally offer, the Lakers’ cap-space gamble was never going to close the deal, and the Clippers’ pairing of Leonard with George starts to look less like a stunning upset and more like the plan all along.