Jason Burgos
A new rumor offers a huge update on the penalty the NBA will hand the Los Angeles Clippers over potential salary cap circumvention to sign Kawhi Leonard in 2019.
The Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer found themselves knee deep in an ugly scandal last year when investigative reporter Pablo Torre broke the news about possible salary cap circumvention by the organization. Apparently, when the team signed Leonard to a three-year, $103 million deal in the summer of 2019, it included huge off-the-books payments.
During his investigation, Torre discovered documents that showed the Clippers boss helped to create a dummy company — named Aspirtation — that signed a $28 million endorsement with the star forward. Yet he never made any appearances on behalf of the brand. Furthermore, the endorsement value was suspiciously close to making up the difference between what the Clippers could legally offer and the max competing offer from the Toronto Raptors.
Following the damning report, the NBA began an investigation into LA’s potential dirty dealings to sign the seven-time All-Star. While there haven’t been any updates on when a final decision could come, there has been a ton of speculation about what the penalty could be. Well, that may have been revealed this week.
LA Clippers could lose 3 first-rounders from Kawhi Leonard-Aspiration scandal
During a new edition of the SiriusXM show Starting Lineup, hosted by Frank Isola and NBA veteran Brian Scalabrine, the NBA insider claimed sources told him that the Clippers could lose three future first-round picks, and also receive a monetary penalty of as much as $30 million.
Los Angeles has only three first-round selections in the next five NBA Drafts. However, that could change based on the trades they made before last month’s deadline. Either way. For a franchise that has started its rebuild this year, losing three first-rounders could set the club back for close to a decade.
