NBA now focused on Clippers’ introductions of Kawhi Leonard to sponsors

The NBA reportedly has found no evidence that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money to Kawhi Leonard through team sponsors.

So what exactly is the league still investigating? Apparently, the introductions themselves.

According to Don Van Natta Jr., Baxter Holmes and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, the NBA is now focused on whether the Clippers violated league rules by introducing Leonard and his representatives to companies that already had business relationships with the franchise. The league also is examining a possible “failure to supervise” by the organization.

There’s one fairly significant catch: ESPN reports it remains unclear what specific rule the Clippers would have violated or what punishment might accompany such a finding.

The Clippers contend that connecting players with sponsors is standard NBA business and said they neither negotiated nor dictated the terms of Leonard’s endorsement agreements.

There’s also an interesting wrinkle. ESPN obtained a league presentation from the 2024-25 season that actually encouraged teams, under certain circumstances, to facilitate dialogue between players and corporate partners.

At the same time, the NBA’s 2021-22 operations manual stated teams could provide sponsors with contact information for players or agents, but could not recommend players for endorsement deals.

So yes, there may be some fine print involved here.

The investigation began with allegations surrounding Leonard’s $28 million endorsement agreement with Aspiration and eventually expanded to other Clippers sponsors. But after 11 months, ESPN reports the league has presented no evidence that Ballmer secretly funneled money to Leonard.

That leaves the NBA examining a considerably different question: Not whether Ballmer secretly paid Leonard, but whether the Clippers crossed a line by helping introduce him to companies that did.