© Ben Queen | 2019 Feb 2
One of the stranger sports stories of the year just got a bit juicier.
Former Warriors executive and current Clippers team consultant Jerry West is the subject of a lawsuit against him and the Clippers by Johnny Wilkes, a man who claims that West promised, and never paid him, $2.5 million for his assistance in recruiting Kawhi Leonard in 2019.
“The lawsuit filed by Johnny Wilkes is replete with inaccuracies and the allegations are baseless,” the Clippers said in a statement. “The Clippers are fully cooperating with the NBA in its investigation, which is standard when these types of allegations are made. They are providing the NBA with evidence that the allegations are false.”
Wilkes claims to be best friends with Kawhi’s uncle Dennis Robertson, and says that West and he made an oral agreement that he would get $2.5 million for his assistance in the Clippers landing Kawhi.
Both West and Leonard deny that Wilkes had any influence in his decision.
Whether a Los Angeles County Superior Court will agree with that claim remains to be seen, but what has been brought to light is an audio recording of West, allegedly left on Wilkes answering machine, thanking Wilkes for his help, and calling the Lakers, who were also recruiting Leonard, a “shit show.”
Alleged voicemail of Jerry West from Johnny Wilkes calling the Lakers a “sh*t show.” pic.twitter.com/SUG3n6v9rD
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 18, 2020
“This is Jerry calling,” West is heard saying. “You know I really want to thank you a lot for trying to help. I heard this morning this morning that everyone over in the Lakers camp think they’re going to get him. I find that hard to believe that he would want to go to that shit show, where he wouldn’t even get his name in the paper and he wouldn’t be the face of the franchise, that’s for sure. He might be the best player on the team but um…
“Hope things are well and again, I really appreciate everything you’ve done. I’ll keep you apprised of what goes on, but I do want to get together with you privately and I’d love to take you to dinner and even Sam if he’s around, so I can at least pay my respects to you guys for being so generous and helpful.”