On September 11, Beijing time, former NBA star Tim Hardaway was asked on a podcast about Leonard and the Clippers' investigation and expressed his opinion. The following is Tim Hardaway's response—
"If you have the ability to do this, then do it. If you can get away with it, then get away with it. But I tell you - there will be no waves. As long as there are signs, there will be a problem. If the NBA determines that you violate the rules, they will definitely target you and will never let you go."
"I have heard some news, just like many people have heard of it - this kind of thing (avoiding the salary cap) has actually happened a long time ago. As early as the 1980s and 1990s, this kind of thing has happened. The league has a salary cap limit, which stipulates that you can't give players so much money or so much money, but there are always people who want to get around it. The key is not to be caught in the current situation!"
Then, Tim Hardaway burst out with information. "I'll tell you something. Pat Riley wanted to give two players an annual salary of over $20 million. At that time, the league asked, "What do you think? There are other players in your team who want to renew their contracts, how can you offer this price? Absolutely no! If we find out that you have a private promise with these two players, you will have to be banned. We will deprive some of the rights and fines from the team. In short, there are still a lot of punishments waiting for you'-that was in 1996.
In 1996, the Heat coached by Riley was investigated by the league for suspected violations of the contract issued to Zhu Wan Howard and Alonzo Mooning. In the end, the league declared Howard's contract invalid, and Riley insisted that the team's operations comply with the rules.
"At that time, Riley had no choice but to cancel the contract, for fear that he would be banned and the team would be fined. At that time, the league even discussed banning him for the whole season, not as simple as banning 50 games, but directly banning for a whole year." Tim Hardaway said.
"I personally support players to make more money. I will be happy for them when they can get a high salary. I am really happy for them because you never know when you will decline, when you will be injured, or even when you will not be able to play the ball. There are two or three players - Thomas Jr. and Cousins, who were examples. They wanted to wait for a big contract, but they were injured before they could wait."
"This is a pity. They should have received that high salary. So, try to get the money when they can get it, no matter what method they use. Of course, if the violation is finally found, the scene will be ugly...it will be very ugly, which is indeed a pity. But if you can get it, then go and get it through, this is my attitude."
