'Crippling' Penalties Await Clippers & Kawhi Leonard If Found Guilty in Scandal

The LA Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer have tried to claim innocence in the Kawhi Leonard cap circumvention scandal that's engulfed the NBA. But according to insider Zach Lowe, the team, and Kawhi in particular, "need to explain this" to the NBA—"NOW".

According to Zach Lowe yesterday (before the Ballmer interview), he received this text from a league executive:

“Most people I’ve talked to think the Clippers need to explain this now. They have the job to prove their innocence at this point… It’s now on the Clippers and Kawhi… pic.twitter.com/SpE7z19OUN
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) September 5, 2025

Lowe says he received the following text from a league executive:

“Most people I’ve talked to think the Clippers need to explain this now. They have the job to prove their innocence at this point… It’s now on the Clippers and Kawhi to explain this away.”

Investigator Pablo Torre came out with a report earlier this week claiming that Leonard reportedly signed a $28M endorsement deal with a fraudulent tree-planting company funded by Clippers owner Ballmer "to circumvent the salary cap rules." The deal was signed in 2022, a year after Leonard re-signed with the Clippers on a team-friendly, four-year, $176 million contract.

The Clippers have come out to say that they have "absolutely zero knowledge" of what Kawhi’s agreement with the company Aspiration was. Leonard has been silent on the matter thus far.

But what we do know, says Lowe, is that Kawhi did have an agreement. And never did anything publicly for it. According to Lowe, an explanation for that "is something people around the league deem necessary".

This follows similar reporting by Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, who quoted a Western Conference general manager: “Bad for them. Very bad. The NBA will be pissed about this."

What are the penalties Clippers & Kawhi Leonard could face?

“If this is what it looks like,” another team executive told Mannix, “I think (commissioner) Adam (Silver) has to make an example of them.”

And that could mean, if they're found guilty, fines, suspensions, forfeiture of first-round picks, and the NBA could even void Leonard’s contract. As Mannix puts it, all of this "could cripple the Clippers for years."