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. 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. 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. ESPN ESPN
More on Kawhi Leonard: Recent HoopsHype Rumors
APHoops: New emails leaked by Pablo Torre show that the Clippers marketing team attempted to get Kawhi Leonard and Uncle Dennis connected with Daktronics to do an activation and sign autographs to legitimize the partnership. — 8/14/2026 x.com Pablo Torre Finds Out: EXCLUSIVE: How involved were the Clippers in Kawhi Leonard's hidden side deals? Per internal emails obtained by @PabloTorre, the team repeatedly prodded its scoreboard-maker to schedule "activations" with "KL" in 2021. Daktronics exec wrote back: "Thanks for the reminder! Go Clippers!" Exec wrote back: "Thanks for the reminder! Go — 8/14/2026 x.com Pablo Torre Finds Out: “If you're trying to make sure that you're not circumventing the cap, allegedly, you need to make sure there's a trail of Kawhi actually doing stuff." — @DavidPSamson and @PabloTorre follow Kawhi Leonard's paper trail from the Clippers to Daktronics to the NBA's investigation — 8/14/2026 x.com Pablo Torre: Steve Ballmer claimed Kawhi’s hidden, no-show Aspiration sponsorship was “independent” from the Clippers. But months before that, in 2021, the Clippers were repeatedly prodding Daktronics — who also had a hidden sponsorship deal with Kawhi — to ask him to do something, anything: — 8/14/2026 x.com Fullcourtpass: The Warriors were really into trading for Kawhi Leonard at the deadline but less interested this summer due to his looming contract extension and Kawhi clearly wanted to direct himself to Toronto, per @anthonyVslater — 8/13/2026 x.com APHoops: Peyton Watson’s sign-and-trade market may be on hold as the Clippers await a conclusion to the Kawhi Leonard investigation, with one potential scenario allowing LA to expand the Leonard trade to acquire Watson without sending salary back to Denver, per @JakeLFischer. — 8/11/2026 x.com Sportsnet: Kawhi Leonard makes his way to watch the women’s quarterfinal at the National Bank Open in Toronto? ?: #NBO26 live on SN360 ?: Stream on Sportsnet+ — 8/11/2026 x.com Jake Fischer: Kawhi Leonard is working under the belief the NBA’s ongoing investigation will conclude before the start of training camp, sources say, and that the seven-time All-Star remains on course to join the Toronto Raptors. More @TheSteinLine: tinyurl.com/khkawx3h — 8/10/2026 Twitter @JakeLFischer Sources add that the Clippers, meanwhile, are prepared to go to arbitration depending on the severity of the potential penalties that the league office could order after digesting the investigation's complete findings. — 8/10/2026 marcstein.substack.com Sources say that Leonard's agent, Harrison Gaines, has maintained frequent contact with the NBA Players Association while the firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz — which was hired by the league office last September — proceeds with an investigation that has consumed 11 months. And Leonard, sources say, strongly believes that the trade will ultimately go through, enabling him to rejoin the Raptors in time for training camp. The trade was agreed to, sources say, with the idea that the 35-year-old would also negotiate a multiyear extension with Toronto to extend the reunion beyond the coming season. — 8/10/2026 marcstein.substack.com
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: NBA has found 'no evidence' to indicate Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to circumvent the salary cap to pay Kawhi Leonard extra money