LA Clippers Receive Major Good News About Steve Ballmer In NBA Investigation

The Los Angeles Clippers may have dodged a massive bullet in the NBA’s investigation as Baxter Holmes of ESPN reported on Monday that the league found no evidence that Clippers owner Steve Baller circumvented the salary cap in his deals with Kawhi Leonard. 

According to Holmes, the NBA found no proof of Ballmer funneling money for Leonard.

This is a major step towards a resolution on the issue over a year since it surfaced in a podcast by Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist Pablo Torre. 

Latest On NBA’s Investigation on Kawhi Leonard And LA Clippers

GettyLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JULY 24: Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer hands Kawhi Leonard his jersey as he and Paul George are introduced at Green Meadows Recreation Center on July 24, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

In Holmes’ report, which he collaborated on with NBA insiders Shams Charania and Ramona Shelbourne, the NBA is now turning its attention to how the team introduced Leonard to team sponsors and how it could be a salary cap circumvention according to the league rules. 

“Instead, the NBA is focused on whether the team’s introduction of Leonard to team sponsors constitutes a violation of the league’s rules prohibiting salary cap circumvention, two of the sources said,” he wrote “The league is examining whether the Clippers are guilty of “failure to supervise” employees, though it’s unclear what specific rule the team would have violated or what the penalties would be, two of the sources said.”

According to league rules, which were cited by Holmes in his report, an NBA team can and should introduce a player to a team sponsor. Instead, a team can only give contact information to a player. 

“If teams are approached by business partners or other third parties regarding a potential business relationship with a player, teams should respond solely by providing the third party with contact information for the player and/or his agent,” the rule reads, according to the ESPN article. 

To recall, the NBA is investigating whether the Clippers circumvented the salary cap by helping Leonard secure undisclosed, multimillion-dollar endorsement deals with team sponsors like Daktronics, a company that designs and manufactures electronic scoreboards, massive LED video displays, digital billboards, and audio-visual control systems used in the Clippers’ Intuit Dome, and Aspiration, a now-defunct tree-planting company. 

The probe examined whether team personnel improperly funneled money or facilitated outside corporate deals to compensate the star player outside of league rules.

It came following Torre’s revelation that leaked emails showed team staff connected Leonard’s representatives with corporate vendors.

While the NBA found no direct evidence that Ballmer or the franchise funneled money to Leonard, the inquiry is shifting toward examining whether introductory facilitation or employee actions breached league guidelines or constituted a failure to properly supervise staff.

Toronto Raptors Get Good News About Kawhi Leonard

GettyOAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 13: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors celebrates his teams win over the Golden State Warriors in Game Six to win the 2019 NBA Finals at ORACLE Arena on June 13, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

The new report is massive news for the Toronto Raptors as they go closer to finally sealing the Kawhi Leonard trade they agreed to last month. 

The agreed-upon trade sends Leonard back to Toronto, where he won his second NBA championship, in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, future first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a 2027 pick swap, and two second-round picks.

The deal was in limbo after the Raptors decided that they were not risking any penalties on themselves if a resolution did not favor Leonard or the Clippers after the investigation. 

With the latest update on the issue, the Raptors could see the light at the end of the tunnel in their quest to bring Leonard back to Toronto.

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