NBA pauses Kawhi Leonard trade amid Clippers salary cap probe

The Clippers’ reported deal to send Kawhi Leonard back to Toronto was put on hold July 9, freezing the trade until the NBA finishes its investigation into the franchise’s ties to Aspiration. The swap would have sent Leonard to the Raptors for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and a package of future draft compensation.

The probe began in September 2025 and is being led by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. It centers on allegations that Steve Ballmer and the Clippers used a $28 million endorsement arrangement between Leonard and Aspiration, a now-bankrupt company, to work around salary-cap rules. Leonard and his adviser, Dennis Robertson, have been interviewed by league investigators, Ballmer and Leonard have denied wrongdoing, and Adam Silver has called the inquiry “enormously complex.” Court filings in Aspiration’s bankruptcy case also listed KL2 Aspire LLC, Leonard’s company, as owed $7 million.

The hold matters because Leonard remains a premium player even at 35. He averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists over 65 games for the Clippers last season, and he has one year left on the contract he signed in 2019. NBA.com said the proposed return to Toronto also included unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, second-round picks in 2030 and 2033 and a 2027 first-round swap, a steep price for a player who already delivered the Raptors’ lone championship in 2019.

The timing has made the deal feel even more fragile. Las Vegas Summer League opened July 9 and runs through July 19 at the Thomas & Mack Center and Pavilion on the UNLV campus, with all 30 teams using the stage to sort out which rookies and low-cost contributors can help now. AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Petersen, Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson headlined the first two nights, a reminder that teams are constantly weighing superstar uncertainty against younger, cheaper production. The NBA’s last major salary-cap circumvention punishment came in the Joe Smith case in 1999, a precedent that still hangs over this investigation.