Arya News - The NBA is still looking into other aspects connected to the Kawhi Leonard situation.
After investigating the Los Angeles Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer for months, the NBA has reportedly not found evidence Ballmer funneled payments to star Kawhi Leonard through team sponsors, per ESPN.
The league, however, is still exploring whether the Clippers violated NBA rules by introducing Leonard to team sponsors. The NBA is also reportedly looking into whether the team failed to supervise its employees. It"s unclear whether either of those issues violated NBA rules or if the Clippers would be punished by the league depending on what it found.
Ballmer and the Clippers were accused of using team sponsor Aspiration as a way to pay Leonard additional funds to circumvent the salary cap when Leonard first signed with the team as a free agent ahead of the 2019-20 NBA season. While rumors were rampant suggesting Leonard"s advisor — Dennis Robertson — asked teams for impermissible benefits during Leonard"s free agency, an NBA investigation in 2019 found no evidence the Clippers granted them to the superstar forward.
Those accusations laid dormant until journalist Pablo Torre found possible evidence the Clippers used a team sponsor — Aspiration — to pay Leonard $28 million for "no-show jobs." If the Clippers used those "no-show jobs" as a way to pay Leonard more money, that would constitute a circumvention of the NBA salary cap.
Hours after Torre"s first episode on the possible scandal, the NBA announced it would open a new investigation into the situation. That investigation was launched in Sept. of 2025.
Clippers, Steve Ballmer denied all wrongdoing
In the wake of the new investigation Ballmer and the Clippers continued to deny any and all allegations of wrongdoing. While speaking at a Sports Business Journal event later that month, Ballmer said he was "quite confident" the Clippers "abided by the rules." He welcomed an investigation, saying it would " get the facts out there ."
Torre, meanwhile, continued to release additional podcasts on the topic, unveiling more evidence suggesting the Clippers funneled money into Aspiration in order to pay Leonard on time .
While addressing the situation during a Board of Governors meeting in September, NBA commissioner Adam Silver implied he would need clear and obvious evidence the Clippers violated NBA rules in order to issue a punishment against the team or Ballmer. "If there was the mere appearance of impropriety, I would be hesitant to act," Silver told reporters.
Torre"s presumed final deep dive on the topic came at the end of September, though he released a seven-and-a-half-minute compilation video in December, which featured all six episodes in which he covered the situation.
But after months of no update from the Torre or the league, Torre released a new episode in Aug. of 2026, which looked into other potential violations by the team.
Since September, the NBA generally stayed quiet about the situation.
Kawhi Leonard trade on hold due to NBA investigation
But that changed in June, when the Clippers traded Leonard back to the Raptors in a mega-deal. Upon news of that trade, questions emerged regarding whether Leonard could be dealt with the NBA still in the middle of its investigation.
A few weeks later, both the Clippers and Raptors issued statements. Due to the investigation, the trade was considered on hold. In their statement, the Clippers once again proclaimed their innocence . The Raptors said the NBA told them they would "assume the risk of any potential" punishment to Leonard. Because of that, the team decided to hold off on the deal until the league"s investigation was finished.
"The 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. In light of this we will wait until the league"s investigation is complete."
That same day, ESPN"s Shams Charania said the expectation was that the trade would be completed eventually, suggesting Leonard"s punishment was not going to be severe enough to stop the deal.
While there was still uncertainty over when the NBA would conclude its investigation, it was reported that the league could do so ahead of its Board of Governors meeting in July. That didn"t happen, leading to more uncertainly over the NBA"s tactics and investigation.
Despite the presence of Leonard and James Harden , the Clippers got off to a miserable start, going 5-16 to open the season. Leonard missed 10 of those games due to ankle and foot injuries. The Clippers went just 2-8 during that stretch.
But the team turned things around once he was back. Leonard averaged a career-high 27.9 points per game and received MVP votes for the first time in four seasons. Though he performed well, the Clippers ultimately couldn"t dig themselves out of their early hole. The team finished over .500 — going 42-40 on the year — but fell in the play-in tournament to the Golden State Warriors .
With Leonard set to enter the final year of his contract, the subject of an NBA investigation and the Clippers seemingly stuck in neutral, the team decided it was best to move on from the superstar.
This story will be updated.