In September 2025, a report claimed the Los Angeles Clippers paid Kawhi Leonard $28 million for a fake job with a company to circumvent the NBA salary cap. Almost a year later, the NBA’s investigation into the allegation still hasn’t concluded. At least that’s what the NBA is saying.
ESPN, on the other hand, published a report this week that began with the statement: “The NBA has found no evidence showing LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay Kawhi Leonard in order to circumvent the salary cap, according to three people with knowledge of discussions between the two sides in recent days.”
The report added that the league had presented no evidence that Ballmer funneled money to Leonard. ESPN also reported that two sources said the NBA is now focusing on whether the team’s introduction of Leonard to team sponsors violated the league’s rules against circumventing the salary cap.
Both sides were reportedly in the midst of negotiating a resolution to the investigation, “though it’s unclear what specific rule the team would have violated or what the penalties would be.”
The NBA denounced the ESPN report, but didn’t get into specifics
Shortly after the publication of the ESPN report, the NBA, which reportedly did not respond to multiple requests for comment last week and Monday from ESPN, issued a statement.
“ESPN’s article regarding the LA Clippers investigation — for which the NBA declined to cooperate — contains numerous and significant inaccuracies. The results in this matter will be made clear once the investigation is concluded,” NBA Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass wrote.
Unfortunately, the NBA did not specify which parts of the ESPN report it meant when it said there were “numerous and significant inaccuracies.”
ESPN defended its report, telling Front Office Sports, “We stand by our reporting, which included numerous attempts by ESPN to get comment from the NBA.”
Also on Monday, the Los Angeles Clippers issued another statement about the matter, writing, “We did not overpay any vendor or provide any sponsor, vendor, or business partner with discounts or other favorable terms in order to funnel money to Kawhi. The fact that a player has an endorsement relationship with a company that also does business with his team is not evidence of salary-cap circumvention.”
Meanwhile, as the NBA investigation continues, a trade to send Kawhi Leonard back to the Toronto Raptors remains on hold.