NBA legend, Jerry West, and the Los Angeles Clippers have been accused of backing out of an oral contract that helped them secure one of their star players, Kawhi Leonard.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Johnny Wilkes, claims to have had close ties with NBA player Kawhi Leonard, has filed a lawsuit against Jerry West and the Los Angeles Clippers over his assistance in getting Leonard to sign with the Clippers. Wilkes claims there was a pre-arranged meeting set up by Sam Watson, Jerry West, and Jim Gray for the sole purpose of asking Wilkes to help persuade Leonard to sign with the Clippers rather than the Los Angeles Lakers.
Wilkes says he spoke to West on the phone and agreed to assist him in getting Kawhi to sign “provided that certain remunerations be paid upon Kawhi Leonard’s signing with the Clippers” and agreed to “pay him $2,500,000 for his services”. He claims the information he provided to Jerry West and the Clippers “was vital because it was the exact information that Kawhi Leonard wanted to hear at the time in order to effectuate his signing with the Clippers”.
On or about July 4, 2019, at the direction of Jerry West and the Clippers, Wilkes informed Kawhi’s Uncle that if Kawhi signed with the Clippers, Kawhi’s Uncle would receive a house in Southern California and a travel expense account, and Steve Ballmer would fund a $100,000,000 marketing campaign for Kawhi Leonard”.
Wilkes says Jerry West was “extremely concerned that Kawhi Leonard was going to sign with the Lakes, which is further evidenced by telephone conversations between Jerry West and Wilkes”. Wilkes says he fulfilled his end of the agreement with West and the Clippers, however, he has not been paid despite assurances to the contrary.
Wilkes says if he had known that Jerry West and the Clippers would not honor their representations, promises and agreements, he would not have devoted his time and efforts in securing Kawhi Leonard’s signing with the Clippers and could have, and would have, devoted his time to other jobs, tasks and endeavors instead.
Wilkes is asking for actual, general, compensatory, special and statutory damages after accusing Jerry West and the Clippers for causes in his complaint like breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Jerry West spent much of his professional basketball career playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. He was also the head coach of the Lakers as well as the General Manager. West was the General Manager for the Memphis Grizzlies and later became an executive board member for the Golden State Warriors and finally the Los Angeles Clippers. West was nicknamed the “Logo”, being featured as the silhouette in the official logo of the NBA.
