San Antonio zoo roasts Kawhi Leonard with joke about launching investigation into planting of fake trees: “Have you seen Kawhi?” 

Kawhi Leonard’s 2019 move to the LA Clippers is under scrutiny, with reports claiming owner Steve Ballmer allegedly funneled $28 million through a tree-planting company to skirt the salary cap. The story has drawn major attention, with the San Antonio Zoo using this moment to roast Leonard.

KENS 5’s Jeff Garcia reshared a post on X/Twitter from the San Antonio Zoo on Friday, where they roasted Leonard through a short skit.

“Leave it to @MananaZoo to fully cook Klaw during this drama with the Clippers, #porvida fans… #nba#SanAntonio,” Gracia wrote.

The video opened with Leonard’s bust and a disclaimer saying the trees shown were “100% real.” Playing off his ongoing scandal, it then showed San Antonio Zoo staff being asked questions about Leonard and the Clippers hierarchy.

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"Have you seen Kawhi? Have you seen Uncle Dennis? Have you seen Steve?" the workers were questioned.

The San Antonio Zoo used this opportunity to poke fun at Kawhi Leonard, with their caption subtly jabbing the forward while also showing support for the Spurs.

"San Antonio Zoo takes our tree planting very seriously. In light of recent news, an immediate investigation was launched on the property to determine if any potentially fraudulent activity (aka “Clipping”) was occurring on zoo grounds by a previously known “actor. This video chronicles our investigation. Any similarities to names, or current news stories are strictly coincidental and in parody…oh and GO SPURS GO!" the caption read.

The scandal surrounding Leonard’s acquisition by the LA Clippers surfaced on Wednesday, after journalist Pablo Torre shared documents on his podcast. The files revealed that Leonard was paid a large sum of money through an LLC named KL2 by a tree-planting company.

Steve Ballmer defends LA Clippers in light of Kawhi Leonard scandal

LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer provided his first statement regarding the Kawhi Leonard scandal during an interview with ESPN on Thursday.

"I want to say one thing very clearly. We, the Clippers, have abided by the salary cap circumvention rules because that's the right thing to do and we have done that," he said (Timestamp: 0:21 onwards).

Ballmer defended the Clippers while denying the claims made by Pablo Torre in his podcast.

According to Torre, Leonard had a no-show contract with a company in which Balmer was an investor, and claimed that the Clippers made this deal to circumvent the salary cap.

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About the author

Arian Kashyap

Arian Kashyap is a basketball journalist at Sportskeeda with over two years of experience at Essentially Sports and Spice Bite and a Bachelor's in Physical Education and Sports Sciences.

Arian's favorite team is the Miami Heat and it’s mainly down to Dwyane Wade being his favorite player of all time. Arian loved how explosive Wade was as a player and he had all the attributes, whether that be shooting, defending or passing. Arian really liked how he won titles both with and without a dynasty behind him.

Arian has also worked with Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools and was the manager for a Delhi-based women’s team called Garwhal Untied. Garwhal won the Delhi league and were runners-up during his tenure.

Arian has judged essay writing competitions for the Commonwealth Students Welfare Group of India in 2023 and was a part of the U-14 team for the Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools academy that qualified for the AIFF Round in 2023.

When not working or watching sports, Arian likes riding his motorcycle and reading.

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