$11 Billion worth Gatorade gets bad rep as Kawhi Leonard passes bold statement

Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard has been dominating their first-round playoff battle against the Denver Nuggets.

$11 Billion worth Gatorade gets bad rep as Kawhi Leonard passes bold statement

Kawhi Leonard removes Gatorade bottles from table during post-game presser

The NBA has become one of the most lucrative professional leagues to play in. Young stars develop their basketball skills with the hope that they can emulate LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and others in becoming NBA champions while also earning generational wealth.

James became a billionaire while still playing the game. That is an anomaly as it takes a lot more than NBA contracts to earn that much money over a two-decade timeframe. But Curry, Durant, and Leonard have each won at least two NBA titles and bagged hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts.

Along with the contracts teams hand out to them, those superstars also earn a lot more from endorsement deals. Brands line up to get a chance to sign these players as their brand ambassadors. But some companies take it a step further and sign a deal with the NBA.

That way, they are not focused on one particular player and can have league-wide exposure. The NBA has tied up with various major brands such as Kia, Louis Vuitton, Nike, Taco Bell, along with tech giants Microsoft and Google. Other than them, superstar Kawhi Leonard showed his displeasure with one particular brand.

Take those gatorades down… kids don’t need to be drinking that.

Kawhi Leonard said

The Athletic reporter Law Murray quoted the Los Angeles Clippers superstar as saying this. Clippers beat writer Joey Linn captured the two-time NBA Finals MVP taking the Gatorade bottles off the table before starting his post-game press conference. He believes Gatorade, the $11 billion brand that pays the NBA to promote its products, is unhealthy for kids.

NBA could reprimand Kawhi Leonard over Gatorade fiasco

The NBA has in place rules on how its players conduct themselves. Be it appearances in front of the media, or how and what they can wear during NBA games. The league once used to fine Michael Jordan for wearing Nike sneakers, which were not in the league-mandated white colorways.

The league has also fined players who refuse to participate in media sessions. They also have rules in place to prevent players from promoting other brands. Tyrese Haliburton had one such situation pan out last season.

His team’s staff had to remove a drink from the table because it was not approved by the league. When he asked why, she informed him that it was not allowed to promote their own brands during official media sessions. Therefore, it is possible that Kawhi Leonard could get a phone call from the NBA.

Gatorade pays the league a lot of money to place its bottles in front of star players when they are live on national television. However, he did try to avoid further controversy by not replying to a reporter who asked what he felt the healthier alternative to Gatorade was.

Kawhi Leonard dominating Clippers playoffs

The NBA might reprimand Kawhi Leonard for his actions. But they might be glad that the two-time NBA Champion is healthy and playing some of his best basketball. Without him, the first-round playoff series might not have been as exciting as it has turned out to be.

Games 1 and 2 were instant classics, and even Charles Barkley ended up trolling his employers for failing to schedule game 3 on TNT. He may have some reprieve, knowing that game 3 was textbook domination from Leonard and his teammates.

The Los Angeles native led his team with 21 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists. Moreover, he contributed to shutting Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets down to just 83 points. The 34-point blowout win was a testament to how good the Clippers can be if Leonard is healthy and firing on all cylinders.

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