Despite it being the middle of the offseason Kawhi Leonard has found a way to dominate headlines still. Yet this might be one of the most confusing situations we’ve seen come out of the NBA in recent years. There’s Kawhi, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, Kawhi’s uncle Dennis is in the news for absurd requests, this story is officially all over the place. Let’s break it down in the simplest way possible….

Who is Aspiration?

The allegations the Clippers face all stem from the business “Aspiration” which was basically an online banking company. The investigation from the NBA comes following reports that Kawhi Leonard accepted a 4 year $28 million endorsement deal from the now bankrupt business. Things got suspicious when it was also reported that LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer donated $50 million to Aspiration, before claiming he had no idea about the deal between Aspiration and Kawhi. After the donation from Ballmer, Aspiration was also announced as the “first founding partner” of the new Clippers arena known as the “Intuit Dome”. Pablo Torre, who brought all this information to light initially, also stated that Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong also donated $2 million to Aspiration, a little over a week before the company paid Kawhi $1.75 million. As if this wasn’t strange enough, an Aspiration co-founder pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, and the company would file for bankruptcy in March. Ballmer would go on to say he was “conned” and that he is “embarrassed” he didn’t realize something was up.

What will happen to Kawhi and Ballmer?

Well the short answer is… we have no clue… and we won’t have any idea on the repercussions until around the all star break the NBA says. So this controversy seems like it is going to be following the Clippers all season long. In the past there’s been a few different punishments including voiding contracts, relinquishing of picks, heavy fines, and more. To add to the irony, the all star game happens to be in LA this year, at the Clippers arena, you just can’t make this stuff up.

While there hasn’t been any consequences yet for Kawhi and the Clippers, the social impact has certainly played a factor on the two. It’s very well known now around the league that the Clippers are done building around Leonard, with some members of the organization calling the era tailored around him a “nightmare”

All of this could have potentially been avoided if not for Kawhi’s camp, led by his uncle Dennis Robertson, didn’t request from teams part ownership, private planes, a house, and GUARANTEED off court endorsement money….

The one thing we can say with absolute certainty, the deeper Pablo Torre digs into this situation, the more money appears, and the more guilty Leonard, Ballmer, and the Clippers all seem. This might go down as one of the biggest cases of cap circumvention we’ve seen, it’s already the first time something close to this has happened since 2000, with the Timberwolves and Joe Smith. Just for comparison, after that scandal the Timberwolves were fined $3.5 million, lost 3 first round draft picks (originally 5), a voiding of Smith’s contract, and a suspension for the owner and general manager. We will see what happens with Kawhi and the Clippers but as of right now it doesn’t seem great.