Feds open criminal probe into Clippers over Kawhi Leonard deal — SkimNews
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- U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York has opened a criminal investigation into the LA Clippers over allegations they circumvented the NBA salary cap to compensate Kawhi Leonard, with at least one subpoena issued, per The New York Times.
- The Clippers were found by NBA-hired law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to have engaged in 'a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations,' and were flagged as 'a prior offender of the salary cap circumvention rules.'
- The NBA punished the Clippers with the loss of five future first-round draft picks, a $30 million fine, and a one-year suspension of owner Steve Ballmer; Leonard was separately ordered to pay $700,000.
- League investigators concluded the Clippers directed a kickback from a massive scoreboard contract for Intuit Dome to Leonard through a multiyear endorsement deal worth millions, with the team allegedly setting the endorsement terms.
- Scoreboard maker Daktronics disclosed on its Sept. 2 earnings call that the SEC had contacted the company about its dealings with Leonard — the same day the NBA announced its findings.
- The Eastern District of New York has a long track record in NBA cases, having prosecuted referee Tim Donaghy in 2007 and indicting Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier, Damon Jones, Malik Beasley, and Ed Davis in 2025 sports-betting probes.
Why it matters: The Clippers, already hit with a $30 million fine, five lost draft picks, and owner Steve Ballmer's one-year suspension, now face a criminal probe that could produce individual charges — making this the second government inquiry (alongside the SEC's Daktronics probe) into the same alleged Kawhi Leonard endorsement scheme.
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