After nearly a year-long investigation by the NBA into Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers, last week’s revelation of yet another deal between Leonard and a Clippers team sponsor could be the final straw before a ruling.
Pablo Torre published yet another investigation on his Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast showing evidence of a “multimillion-dollar” deal between Leonard and Daktronics, the company that built the first-of-its-kind “Halo Board” at the Clippers’ Intuit Dome.
The report was enough to provoke Stephen A. Smith to call for significant punishments for Leonard, the team, and owner Steve Ballmer. And this week, fellow ESPNer Brian Windhorst laid out why he believes the most recent news spells trouble for the Clippers.
“This to me is extraordinarily troubling … and the lack of response for days on end here,” Windhorst said on his podcast, The Hoop Collective. “Because remember, the Clippers, when the Aspiration thing came out, within a day or two, Steve Ballmer was in Connecticut talking and denying to Ramona Shelburne, our colleague.”
In Windhorst’s mind, the case against the Leonard-Daktronics deal is far more clear-cut than the original story around Aspiration, another team sponsor from the sustainability industry that has since gone bankrupt. Windhorst said the Aspiration allegations were “highly suspicious” and stemmed from what he said looked like a Ponzi scheme, along with other accusations against its founders.
In this case, Windhorst said the Daktronics deal has “the appearance of a kickback.” And in contrast to the Aspiration story, Windhorst said, the Clippers have been far less forceful in their denial this time around.
“If this is accurate, the Clippers side of it is devastating,” he said.
However, Windhorst also tempered his analysis by offering his own reporting. Clippers officials, the longtime ESPN NBA reporter explained, have been insistent throughout the investigation that they are innocent.
“There’s certain people who want the book thrown at the Clippers; they want the Clippers to be held accountable on all this. Let me just say, the Clippers’ full-throated denials both publicly and privately have been so strong,” he said. “And I’m talking about on a personal level, with the highest levels of the Clippers, to my face.”
After his latest scoop, Torre said he is unsure whether Ballmer will face punishment. And this week, independent NBA insider Jake Fischer reported that Leonard’s camp expects him to be cleared in time to join the Toronto Raptors — where he was traded last month — for camp.
That leaves the team itself, representatives from Daktronics and Aspiration, and potentially Leonard’s representatives as well, as logical targets for punishment. Windhorst had not previously been so blunt in his response to the unfolding scandal, but his more dire perspective could indicate a sea change in the NBA.