The latest on the NBA's investigation into the LA Clippers - ESPN

Six months have passed since allegations first arose that the LA Clippers circumvented the NBA's salary cap to pay star Kawhi Leonard, prompting the league to investigate.

At last week's board of governors meeting, NBA commissioner Adam Silver did not address, and was not asked about, the investigation. But last month at All-Star weekend — hosted by the Clippers — Silver said the investigation has been "enormously complex."

Here's what we know — and don't know — about the allegations and where the investigation stands:

The investigation, led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, began in September 2025 and centers on allegations that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and the team orchestrated a $28 million endorsement deal between Leonard and Aspiration, a now-bankrupt green banking company in which Ballmer had invested, to circumvent the league's salary cap.

The NBA investigation followed a series of reports by Pablo Torre, a podcaster and ESPN contributor, who cited internal documents that showed Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration through his personal LLC in September 2021. That month, the Clippers also signed a $300 million deal with Aspiration, making the company the «first founding partner» of the Intuit Dome.

Six months later, Aspiration signed its deal with Leonard. An unnamed employee who purportedly worked for the banking company told Torre that Leonard's sponsorship deal «was to circumvent the salary cap.»

While Ballmer said he introduced Leonard to Aspiration, he told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne in September 2025 he had no knowledge of the deal and denied he directed the company to strike one.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the investigation said that interviews are ongoing.

Those sources say that