The NBA' investigation into Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers has dominated headlines since the investigation was first launched in September 2025 and with the investigation still ongoing, there has been no end the amount of speculations and opinions that have been shared about the situation and the possible outcome.
The heart of the investigation is the allegation that the Clippers used an endorsement deal with Aspiration, a now-defunct green banking company, to funnel $28 million to Leonard as a way of compensating him outside of the Clippers' official payroll. Leonard has apparently never appeared in any promotional material for Aspiration despite the endorsement and after the story was broken by Pablo Torre, the NBA began to look into it.
It's not exactly certain what the end result of the investigation will be. If the Clippers and Leonard are found to be guilty, the team could face fines, loss of draft picks and suspensions of up to one year for any team personnel found to be involved in the alleged scheme.
Leonard, while he's seemingly not eligible for any kind of suspension, could have his contract voided, sending him into free agency, and be required to pay out the compensation that he allegedly received.
A situation of this scale is unprecedented in the NBA and has raised a lot of questions around the league about how teams should do business, and now Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has weighed in on the situation on his podcast The Draymond Green Show, but his take may be surprising to some.
"If the punishments aren't steep... Every player should be trying to do it," Green said (via ClutchPoints). "I ain't mad at [Leonard]... I think this raises the question about salary cap... Let the punishment be getting rid of the salary cap."
Players and the Salary Cap
That is certainly a radical take, but one that gives a clear insight into what Green, and possibly other players around the league, think about the nature of the salary cap and the question of parity around the league.
For years, the NBA has made attempts at trying to even the playing field financially for all teams and their latest attempt, the implementation of the first and second aprons, has been the most successful.
Teams now treat the second apron as essentially a hard cap with the amount of penalties that the second apron introduces and as a result, teams have often been forced to break up their existing cores because they can't afford to pay them all.
But in Green's eyes, the salary cap is more of a restriction on the player's earning potential than it is anything else and if Leonard and the Clippers are able to get away with a relatively small cost at the end of the investigation, then Green is clearly on board with players trying to make their money in any way they can.