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One of the biggest trades of the offseason — Kawhi Leonard headed back to Toronto — is on hold until the investigation into alleged salary cap circumvention through former Clippers team sponsor Aspiration is completed.
The Raptors explained the reasoning behind putting things on hold — any potential punishment of Leonard (a suspension, for example) would fall fully on them if the trade went through this summer. The Raptors don’t want to take on that unknown risk, especially since the investigation should be ending soon (at least everyone hopes).
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“Regarding our planned trade with the LA Clippers for Kawhi Leonard, the NBA league office informed us that as a result of the ongoing investigation involving the Clippers, we would assume the risk of any potential outcome of the investigation impacting Kawhi,” Toronto said in a statement announcing the pause. “In light of this, we will wait until the league’s investigation is complete. The Raptors remain eager to bring Kawhi back to Toronto and look forward to a swift resolution for our players, our organization, and our fans.”
The Clippers confirmed the news and, once again, professed their innocence in the case, in a statement released to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
“For the past 10 months, our organization has fully cooperated with an NBA investigation, participating in dozens of interviews, providing tens of thousands of documents, and facilitating access to our staff. While the process has been challenging, we have remained committed to transparency.
“On June 30, we reached an agreement in principle to trade Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors. We have since been informed that the trade can only be finalized if the Raptors’ ownership group assumes the risk of penalties related to Kawhi’s contract that could theoretically result from the ongoing investigation.
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“The investigation is ongoing, and we expect the trade to be finalized following its conclusion.”
Last September, the NBA hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to investigate Aspiration’s ties to the Clippers. This came after an investigation by Pablo Torre and the Pablo…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/kawhi-leonard-trade-toronto-hold-210830237.html
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Publish date : 2026-07-09 21:08:00
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