The NBA has found zero evidence that Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay Kawhi Leonard, a scheme meant to get around the salary cap. That’s the word from ESPN on Monday. It sounds like a big win for the Clippers, right? Hold up. The league is still digging, just not where you might think.
The “Failure to Supervise” Angle No One Saw Coming
While the big money-funneling charge seems to be dead in the water, the league isn’t just walking away. Instead, their focus has reportedly shifted to whether the Clippers simply failed to supervise their own employees. This specifically relates to how Leonard got introduced to team sponsors. It’s wild to think after an 11-month investigation, what started as a serious cap circumvention probe might just come down to “not watching your staff close enough.” The NBA even went public with a statement Monday, saying ESPN’s article, for which they “declined to cooperate,” contained “numerous and significant inaccuracies.” Talk about drama! The league says results will be clear once the investigation wraps up, but wow, it sounds like there are two very different stories floating around.
Ballmer’s Ready to Fight and the Stakes are High
This whole mess started back in September after podcaster Pablo Torre reported that Aspiration, a sustainability company Ballmer was heavily invested in, was reportedly paying Leonard millions through an endorsement deal where no services were rendered. Then this month, similar reports surfaced about Daktronics, the company behind the Intuit Dome’s massive halo scoreboard, also having an agreement with Leonard. But here’s the kicker: two sources told ESPN that if the NBA tried to hit the Clippers with cap circumvention charges just for introducing a player to a sponsor, that’s “dead on arrival” in arbitration. Any punishment needs to survive a jointly selected arbitrator and appeals panel, and it sounds like that specific angle wouldn’t fly. Ballmer himself has reportedly insisted repeatedly to confidants that he will absolutely *not* accept any league finding asserting he or the team intended to circumvent the salary cap. He’s ready to take it to arbitration if he has to. The Clippers have been denying wrongdoing this entire time, saying they simply “introduced players, including Kawhi Leonard, to companies with which we had business.”
So what’s next? The NBA and the Clippers are reportedly in negotiations for a resolution. The league has even thrown out the Minnesota Timberwolves’ old punishment for circumvention with Joe Smith, where five first-round picks were stripped (two eventually returned), as a possible template. That’s a huge potential hit! It’s clear that even without the big money-funneling evidence, the Clippers are still navigating some seriously choppy waters with the league office.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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