Recently, the Los Angeles Clippers surprised many at the NBA trade deadline by trading James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Ivica Zubac to the Indiana Pacers. The moves seemed geared to building for the future in Los Angeles, despite the fact that the Clippers had been playing some of the best basketball in the NBA since the calendar turned to 2026.
Some fans wondered whether the league’s current investigation into the Clippers, and the alleged no-show deal they gave Kawhi Leonard to circumvent the NBA salary cap, might have played a role in the team’s decision to blow up the current core, but recently, team president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was adamant that this was not the case.
“We haven’t learned anything more than we have in September,” said Frank, per ESPN.com. “We know it’s out there, we know at some point there’ll be a decision made. We very much feel the same thing that we told you back in September, that we’re on the right side of this. It really doesn’t impact anything we do on a daily basis.”
At this point, there is no indication as to when the NBA might finally have a ruling on the investigation, which was prompted by reporting from Pablo Torre into the alleged Leonard controversy.
The Clippers are slated to host the NBA All-Star weekend next weekend at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
Meanwhile, Leonard has been playing some of the best basketball of his career in recent weeks, turning back into the two-way force that took the league by storm with the San Antonio Spurs and helping guide the Clippers slowly up the standings in the vaunted Western Conference.
In any case, the Clippers will next take the floor on Tuesday evening for a road game against the Houston Rockets.