The biggest storyline of this offseason for the Los Angeles Clippers has been the ongoing saga surrounding Kawhi Leonard and the apparent no-show deal he signed with a since-bankrupt company to help the team circumvent the NBA salary cap. If Leonard and the Clippers are found to have committed wrongdoing, the consequences could be dire and could entirely derail their plans to compete moving forward.
The NBA has since opened up an investigation into the reports, which were first unearthed by sports reporter Pablo Torre, but it could be a while before they come to a decision.
“The NBA does not expect to have a resolution on the Kawhi Leonard salary cap circumvention investigation until after the All-Star Game,” reported Spotrac on X, formerly Twitter, noting that the All-Star game is set to be at the Intuit Dome, the home of the Clippers, this year.
Pablo Torre then reacted to the news with a simple emoji on his own X account.
— Pablo Torre 🕳️ (@PabloTorre) September 18, 2025
A consequential moment for the Clippers
Many NBA fans have pointed to the Minnesota Timberwolves' attempt to circumvent the league salary cap with player Joe Smith in the late 1990s, which was ultimately uncovered by the league and resulted in fines, forfeited draft picks, and suspensions.
The Clippers would certainly like to avoid such a fate if anything were to be found on the Leonard front.
In recent weeks, more reporting, including a recent article from Baxter Holmes of ESPN, detailed the immense and highly illegal (according to NBA rules) requests that Leonard's uncle was making to teams for his free agency in the 2019 offseason, when he ultimately signed with the Clippers.
Some of these included a mansion, access to a private jet, and partial ownership of the team, among others.
Making matters even more embarrassing for the Clippers is that Leonard has yet to play a game out of the second round for them since joining the organization, as the one time Los Angeles did advance to the Western Conference Finals, Leonard was out of the lineup due to injury, which has become an increasingly common theme in recent years.
The Clippers are scheduled to begin their season in just over a month.
