Is this the year the Kawhi Leonard-led Los Angeles Clippers finally put it all together for a deep playoff run? It certainly felt like it could be about two months ago, when the team reunited with Chris Paul to complete an offseason of reinforcing a roster that won 50 games last season and pushed the Nuggets to seven games in a first-round playoff exit.

Those reinforcements included the additions of Bradley Beal, John Collins and Brook Lopez to a team that already had veterans like James Harden, Nic Batum, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Ivica Zubac to play next to Leonard. The Clippers appeared to be on the short list of true title contenders.

Now, it’s fair to question how attainable the goal remains given everything that’s been reported about the team in the time since those moves.

By now, you’re likely aware of the Pablo Torre reporting on the team’s alleged salary cap circumvention through a now-bankrupt company called Aspiration that paid Leonard for a job that didn’t require him to do anything. And everything that’s come out since, including a damning pattern of behavior by Uncle Dennis and a new ESPN expose on the Clippers. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer denied the allegations against his team. He’s confident an investigation will clear the Clippers. It all sets up to be a dark cloud that hangs over the team for much of the 2025-26 season. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said as much Tuesday at a Front Office Sports summit.

“Yes, this investigation will take time,” Silver said. “I mean, we want to be as complete and thorough as possible, and it’s my sense from being involved in these things in the past, we will get to the bottom of this.”

Regardless of whether the NBA’s investigation finds anything, it’s hard to see how this won’t become a distraction for a team that had real potential, as it always seems to have going into a new season. Especially given the team’s star player is at the center of it all. It’s just the latest example of how the Leonard signing has completely backfired on the Clippers. Every time it seems they’re moving in the right direction, something pops up to pull them back. Much of it has been problems of their own creation.

Shootaround

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