{"id":603274,"date":"2026-02-14T19:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T19:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/603274\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T19:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T19:34:14","slug":"nba-parties-in-los-angeles-for-all-star-game-as-kawhi-gate-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/603274\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Parties in Los Angeles for All-Star Game as Kawhi-gate Looms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/allstar\/2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBA All-Star Weekend<\/a> festivities continue at the Los Angeles Clippers\u2019 Intuit Dome, fans and teams around the league await results of a league investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented salary cap rules by arranging an endorsement deal for Kawhi Leonard with a former team sponsor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Trail Blazers and the Clippers currently sit right on the cusp of the play\u2011in tournament with Portland in ninth place and the Clippers in tenth. The ongoing NBA investigations add extra intrigue to the standings, because a shift in either team\u2019s lineup could tip the balance in what could be a tight race for play\u2011in spots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7041653\/2026\/02\/13\/nba-investigation-firm-wachtell-kawhi-leonard-clippers-scandal\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Athletic reports<\/a> (subscription required) the league has hired the New\u202fYork law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen &amp;\u202fKatz to investigate allegations that first came to light September 3rd on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLp43H6Vt_yDoUarxNb_fVK9_6bSiA2aHo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast<\/a>. At issue: whether the Los\u202fAngeles\u202fClippers orchestrated a multimillion\u2011dollar \u201cno\u2011show\u201d endorsement deal for star forward Kawhi Leonard with a now\u2011bankrupt environmental company. Sources say the arrangement may have been designed to funnel extra money to Leonard while keeping the Clippers under the salary\u2011cap limit, a tactic that would violate NBA rules.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">It remains to be seen how the league could punish a man of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer\u2019s means. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/billionaires\/profiles\/steven-a-ballmer\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">He ranks 13th <\/a>on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1teeyfa8 ls9zuh1\">Ballmer carries enormous influence in the NBA. His net worth is estimated at $134 billion, whereas the entire league has a valuation of $160 billion. He sits on one of the most important committees for the league\u2019s Board of Governors. That\u2019s serious firepower at Ballmer\u2019s disposal to fight any ruling from the league. Ballmer is not only hosting the All-Star Game this month, but also Intuit is the site for the 2028 Olympic basketball tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">While the investigation unfolds, all 30 teams, including the Trail\u202fBlazers, are closely monitoring the outcome, as any sanctions could dramatically alter the competitive balance in the West and affect free\u2011agency negotiations for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As NBA All-Star Weekend festivities continue at the Los Angeles Clippers\u2019 Intuit Dome, fans and teams around the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,559,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,3101],"class_list":{"0":"post-603274","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-clippers","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-clippers","12":"tag-laclippers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesclippers","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-nba-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116070663195475179","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}