Clippers reportedly facing federal probe over Kawhi Leonard dealings

U.S. Department of Justice reportedly looking into NBA team's business dealings with soon-to-be-Raptor forward

Published Sep 10, 2026  •  Last updated 46 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

Kawhi Leonard #2 of the LA Clippers looks on during a game against the Golden State Warriors at Intuit Dome on January 05, 2026 in Inglewood, California. Photo by Sean M. Haffey /Getty Images

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The Los Angeles Clippers are reportedly under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over business dealings with superstar forward Kawhi Leonard that allegedly circumvented the NBA salary cap.

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Details of the probe were outlined on Thursday night by the New York Times, which said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, N.Y., was investigating the allegations and cited people who were briefed on some of the details.

Federal prosecutors began looking into the Clippers, the report said, before the NBA slapped the franchise with a hefty fine, docked them multiple draft picks and suspended their owner and two top executives over an alleged scheme to compensate Leonard with secret sponsorship deals in addition to his salary.

It was not clear what the federal investigation would be looking into, the report said, in terms of its “scope, targets and the possible crimes being examined,” although the Times cited two sources as saying that prosecutors had issued at least one subpoena.

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Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer hands Kawhi Leonard his jersey during an introduction press conference in 2019. Getty Images

Endorsement deals ‘likely under scrutiny:’ Report

The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the report, the Times said, while the Clippers and the NBA had not responded to messages seeking a comment on the investigation.

“Among the matters likely under scrutiny are a series of secret endorsement deals that Mr. Leonard signed and whether Steve Ballmer, the team’s owner, and other executives helped facilitate them as a way of compensating him at a level that exceeded the NBA’s salary cap,” the report by the Times‘ Michael S. Schmidt, William K. Rashbaum and Santul Nerkar said.

“The very existence of the investigation adds a complex dynamic for the parties involved, including the Clippers, Mr. Leonard and the team’s sponsors. Already, they are facing the fallout from the league’s punishments and a scathing report by a white-shoe law firm on the allegations.”

The Clippers were fined $30 million earlier this month and stripped of five first-round draft picks for violating the NBA’s salary cap circumvention rules and the league’s collective bargaining agreement after a league-initiated investigation by the Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz law firm.

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As well, Ballmer and business operations president Gillian Zucker were suspended for a year and basketball operations president Lawrence Frank was suspended for six months, while the team was placed under a compliance and monitoring program for five years.

“The investigation found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organization, a prior offender of the salary cap circumvention rules,” a league statement said when the penalties were announced on Sept. 2.

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Clippers vow to fight penalties

The Clippers “vehemently” rejected the report’s findings at the time and had vowed to fight back, saying the penalties were the result of a “heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence.”

Some of the options the team is considering is bringing a lawsuit against the league or asking a judge to issue a restraining order, the Times reported, citing their sources.

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Leonard, meanwhile, was fined $700,000, while his uncle and former business partner Dennis Robertson was banned from the league for five years.

In a statement issued by the National Basketball Players Association and agent Harrison Gaines, Leonard said that he accepted “full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle and regret the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family.”

Kawhi Leonard of the Toronto Raptors celebrates his team’s win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 to win the 2019 NBA Finals. Getty Images

Raptors agreed to acquire Leonard in June

He is still expected to become a Toronto Raptor, though, after they agreed to a deal with the Clippers in June that would send all-star forward Brandon Ingram, guard/forward Gradey Dick, two future first-rounders, a potential pick swap and two second-round picks to Los Angeles.

The NBA investigation stemmed from a report by journalist Pablo Torre, who in 2025 began questioning the Clippers’ business dealings with Leonard.

According to the league investigation, Robertson allegedly pressured the Clippers into providing Leonard with endorsement deals worth tens of millions of dollars more than his NBA contact in violation of the salary cap. One of those was a $28-million deal with the now-bankrupt Aspiration Partners sustainability firm, which also had dealings with Ballmer and the Clippers.

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Now the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn is looking into the matter, although the sources cited in the Times‘ report said it was unclear if the investigation would lead to criminal charges or evidence being presented to a grand jury.

Prosecutors with the Eastern District of New York have tackled numerous high-profile cases linked to professional sports, including the betting scandal involving disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy and institutional corruption within FIFA.

They have also charged former Raptor Chauncey Billips and former Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase, among others, in separate landmark illegal gambling investigations. Both have pleaded not guilty.

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