{"id":799439,"date":"2026-07-30T09:57:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T09:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/799439\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T09:57:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T09:57:25","slug":"la-clippers-remain-adamant-they-did-not-break-nba-salary-cap-rules-in-kawhi-leonard-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/799439\/","title":{"rendered":"LA Clippers remain ‘adamant’ they did not break NBA salary cap rules in Kawhi Leonard signing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

As the Kawhi Leonard scandal continues to worsen, the LA Clippers are remaining firm in their stance.<\/p>\n

The Clippers and Leonard came under scrutiny last season when investigative reporter Pablo Torre unearthed documents about Aspiration, a company he alleges the team used to pay the superstar beyond the salary cap under the table.<\/p>\n

And with Leonard\u2019s trade to the Raptors being paused amid an investigation from the NBA, and Torre\u2019s newest report, the Clippers have issued a response.<\/p>\n

\"OwnerPhoto by Katelyn Mulcahy\/Getty ImagesLA Clippers maintain no wrongdoing in Kawhi Leonard signing amid investigation<\/p>\n

Speaking to Baxter Holmes of ESPN<\/a>, one source associated with the LA Clippers noted that the organisation continues to defend themselves against allegations of circumventing the salary cap.<\/p>\n

According to this source, the Clippers are ready to engage in a lengthy legal battle if the investigation finds them guilty of misappropriating their funds to pay Kawhi Leonard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Clippers remain adamant that they did not funnel money to Leonard through Aspiration, and one source close to the team with knowledge of the investigation said that it would \u2018fight that to the end,\u2019 including through arbitration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Clippers are currently being investigated by Wachtell Lipton, a New York-based law firm that was hired by the NBA to look into these alleged irregularities.<\/p>\n

If found guilty, the Clippers could face strict sanctions from the NBA, as league officials will try to make an example out of them.<\/p>\n

Law firm investigation length not a sign of proof being found<\/p>\n

According to another anonymous source with close ties to Wachtell Lipton, speculation on their investigation and its length is pointless, as it is not direct or indirect proof of them having found any incriminating evidence against the LA Clippers.<\/p>\n

MORE STEVE BALLMER STORIES<\/p>\n

\u201cOne source with knowledge of the investigative process cautioned against the idea of any outside parties having inside knowledge of Wachtell Lipton\u2019s findings to date \u2014 or of anyone trying to speculate as to whether the length of the investigation signals what the law firm has or hasn\u2019t found.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is very likely that Wachtell Lipton, who have been investigating this matter since September of last year, are keeping things under wraps to follow due process.<\/p>\n

Investigations like these are usually conducted quietly, so as not to alert any possibly guilty parties and force them to take measures that could disrupt proceedings or withhold information from the authorities.<\/p>\n

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Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover As the Kawhi Leonard scandal continues to worsen, the LA Clippers are remaining…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":799440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,559,529,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,3677],"class_list":["post-799439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-clippers","tag-basketball","tag-clippers","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-la","tag-la-clippers","tag-laclippers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesclippers","tag-nba","tag-steve-ballmer"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117008338064162026","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799439","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=799439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}