LAS VEGAS — The Kawhi Leonard reunion in Toronto is on hold — for now.
The agreed-upon trade between the Raptors and LA Clippers is now in limbo — and potentially in jeopardy — after the NBA paused it Thursday because of its ongoing Aspiration investigation into the Clippers.
The stunning development came Thursday, when both teams announced the league had halted the deal until the law firm leading the investigation since last September — Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz — completes its work and issues its findings. Yet as an NBA spokesperson said after the teams released their statements, it remains unclear when that might be.
“We don’t have a specific timeline for the conclusion of the investigation but expect the firm to finalize its work in the coming weeks,” said the league official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the NBA’s probe is ongoing.
Voiding Kawhi’s contract?
Sam Amick
There was some sense in league circles that the conclusion might come on Tuesday, when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is scheduled to lead a Board of Governors meeting in Las Vegas. That forum, the thinking went, would give him the opportunity to share the findings with owners before announcing it publicly. Instead the league’s statement indicated the investigation could continue for even longer, leaving the two teams that agreed to one of the summer’s biggest trades — Leonard for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks, two first-round pick swaps and a second-rounder — facing the prospect of a pressure-packed waiting game.
The NBA informed the Raptors before they agreed to the trade that the investigation could cause issues with any deal involving Leonard, according to sources briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the league’s probe is ongoing. Yet when the terms of the deal between the Clippers and Raptors were widely reported on June 30, it forced the league — and commissioner Adam Silver — to decide how to handle this unprecedented situation.
The league ignored the public pressure that came from the trade being publicized, those sources say, and maintained its stance that trading for Leonard before the investigation was completed meant the Raptors were, as the team said in a statement Thursday, “assuming the risk of any potential outcome” of the investigation.
Yet while the league’s handling of the situation isn’t seen as a sign that significant discipline is coming for the Clippers and/or Leonard, the potential for Leonard’s contract to be voided is the primary obstacle in this deal going down. That alone speaks volumes about the continued seriousness of the matter.
Had the Raptors chosen to press ahead despite the league’s warnings and go through with the trade before the investigation was complete, they would have done so with the belief that the possible voiding of Leonard’s contract — as opposed to other possible penalties — was the only concern. It’s the Clippers and Leonard being investigated, not the Raptors. The Raptors were confident they would not have to pay any potential penalty for something with which they were not involved.
However small the risk might be that Leonard’s contract would be voided, that was reason enough for the Raptors to play it safe by cooperating with the league’s preference to close the investigation before finalizing the trade. The NBA has only voided the contract of one player, Joe Smith, and that was after the Minnesota Timberwolves signed him to three consecutive below-market deals with the promise to sign him to a longer, richer deal in the future. In that case, the league voided Smith’s contract, the Timberwolves released him and the power forward signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Pistons before returning to the Timberwolves the following offseason on a six-year deal.
The case unfolded when David Stern was NBA commissioner, and there is no reason to think it would serve as precedent if Leonard’s contract is voided.
That uncertainty alone is enough to give the Raptors pause. Why give up the agreed-upon picks and players only for Leonard’s deal to be voided, potentially making it difficult or impossible to retain him? They are better off waiting for an official ruling, and so the league’s preference to sort out the investigation before the trade is not a problem for them.
Regardless, the sense is that both teams are not looking to alter the terms of the deal. Leonard was already at the Raptors practice facility in Toronto earlier in the week, and was in attendance for Kyle Lowry’s retirement announcement on Tuesday. Ingram and Dick were in Las Vegas Thursday night watching the Clippers’ summer league team.
The league, it stands to reason, is trying to limit the possibility of team vs. team conflicts, which are not unheard of. When the Charlotte Hornets traded Terry Rozier to the Miami Heat in 2024, the NBA had already investigated Rozier in 2023 after multiple sportsbooks flagged suspicious bets on his game performance. Last October, Rozier was indicted as part of a federal investigation into illegal sports gambling and did not play for the Heat this past season. In March, the Hornets sent a 2026 second-round pick to the Heat to resolve a dispute stemming from the trade.
There is a general bewilderment around the league regarding how long this investigation has lasted, and it’s not unreasonable to think the players’ association would become involved if it continued long enough to jeopardize Leonard’s ability to plan his future — i.e., sign an extension, as his current contract is set to expire after this coming season. The league never suspended Leonard or placed him on leave during the investigation, so the possibility that the Clippers might look to trade him always existed. The Clippers made moves to get younger in separate trades before the deadline, moving both James Harden and Ivica Zubac in deals that landed them Darius Garland and what became the fifth pick in the draft, used on Keaton Wagler, respectively.
During the NBA Draft in June, Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was asked if the Aspiration investigation factored into the team’s draft strategy, including the Wagler selection.
“I can’t comment on the specifics of the investigation, but what I can say is we did not do what we’re accused of doing. The investigation has had no impact in terms of how we go about our business. We just continue to go about our business as normal.”