NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates
The NBA’s investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers possibly circumventing the salary cap via a no-show endorsement deal with Kawhi Leonard has officially become a basketball controversy.
The Clippers and the Toronto Raptors announced this week their trade involving Leonard is on hold pending the outcome of the league probe. The possibility that Leonard’s contract will be voided and that he will be suspended are two variables that dramatically impact the trade’s value and could lead to a reworked trade package.
Advertisement
More from Sportico.com
Last month, the Clippers agreed in principle to trade Leonard to the Raptors for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a 2027 first-round pick swap, and two second-round picks. Leonard, 35, previously played for the Raptors in 2018-19; the team won the NBA title that year, and Leonard was named Finals MVP.
Leonard, however, is a central figure in an alleged plot by the Clippers to pay him millions beyond his player contract—a direct violation of the CBA.
Last year, journalist and podcaster Pablo Torre, of the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, broke the news that Leonard and then-Clippers sponsor Aspiration signed a four-year endorsement deal in 2022 that didn’t obligate Leonard to perform services and would have ended if the forward had been traded.
Advertisement
The Clippers have denied the allegations and stressed several reasons to question them.
Aspiration, which was renamed Catona, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year and its co-founder, Joseph Sanberg, was recently sentenced to 14 years in prison for wire fraud. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has said he lost $60 million to Aspiration and contends he was a victim of Sanberg, whom the U.S. Department of Justice has called a “con man” who used lies and exaggerations to “prey on investors and lenders.”
Sanberg has also cooperated with the NBA’s investigation, a point Ballmer portrays as problematic as it relates to his team. Not only is Sanberg’s credibility highly questionable, but he arguably had an incentive to make himself seem useful to the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/kawhi-trade-value-could-change-200018488.html
Author :
Publish date : 2026-07-10 20:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
