Key Points
- The June 30 trade sending Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors cannot close until the NBA's probe ends.
- The league is investigating whether the Clippers funneled cap money to Leonard via Aspiration.
- Leonard's Aspiration endorsement was worth $28 million; the team's deal was $300 million over 23 years.
- Both teams hope for resolution by the July 14 Board of Governors meeting in Las Vegas.
The Kawhi Leonard trade is done — except it isn't. When the Clippers agreed on June 30 to send Leonard to the Toronto Raptors for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, unprotected 2031 and 2033 first-round picks, a 2027 pick swap and two second-rounders, the deal came with an asterisk that has now stopped it cold. Both teams confirmed Thursday that the trade cannot be finalized until the NBA closes its investigation into the Clippers, ESPN reported.
At issue is whether the Clippers circumvented the salary cap. The league is examining whether the franchise routed money to Leonard through his $28 million endorsement deal with Aspiration, a green-banking startup that also held a separate $300 million, 23-year sponsorship agreement with the team, CBS Sports reported. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer personally invested $60 million in Aspiration and has said he had no knowledge of Leonard's arrangement.
The Clippers deny wrongdoing. "We did not funnel money to Kawhi Leonard through Aspiration," the team said, casting itself as a victim of fraud orchestrated by Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg, who was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Per Yahoo Sports, unless Leonard's contract is voided the trade is still expected to go through, with both sides hoping for a resolution by the July 14 Board of Governors meeting in Las Vegas.
Update (July 28): The NBA's fact-finding phase in the investigation has concluded, though the trade remains on hold as the case moves to league review with no final outcome announced yet.
The Clippers are not the only front office having its contracts reread this summer. The NBA has also opened a review of the four-year, $64 million deal Gary Trent Jr. signed with Milwaukee — a far smaller number and a different mechanism, but the same question underneath: whether what a team formally pays a player is what it actually agreed to.
The read: this is less about one trade than about the first real stress test of the cap in the endorsement-money era. If the league concludes a team can move a max player's compensation off the books and into a sponsor's ledger, every front office will study the blueprint; if it comes down hard, it signals the loophole between "salary" and "marketing" is finally being policed. Either way, an All-NBA forward, two franchises' entire offseasons, and an owner's credibility are frozen in place until the NBA rules — a rare pause in a summer that has otherwise moved fast, from Giannis Antetokounmpo's blockbuster move to Miami on down.
Source: ESPN, CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports.
Comments