To the outside world, a lot is going on in the NBA at the moment. The Los Angeles Lakers were just sold to Bob Iger, who grew up a fan of the LA Clippers; Russell Westbrook recently retired from basketball; some of the top free agents, like James Harden and Peyton Watson, remain unsigned; and the official regular-season schedule just dropped. That’s quite a bit to unravel right there.
Inside the league, though, there’s one thing executives reportedly can’t stop talking about: Kawhi Leonard’s cap circumvention investigation, according to Brian Windhorst, a credible source at ESPN.
Media day and training camp are set to kick off soon. Because the investigation has been going on for nearly a year, they’re probably wondering what’s going to happen with Leonard and the trade that sent him to the Toronto Raptors.
Kawhi Leonard’s investigation has every right to be the hottest topic in the league
Since the investigation began last September, and even after the news was released that Kawhi Leonard was dealt to the Toronto Raptors, executives might’ve just been interested to see how everything would transpire. Understandably so, what Leonard is allegedly involved in doesn’t come around very often. In fact, the last time it happened was in 2000 with Joe Smith and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
So, what might’ve changed? How did Leonard’s cap circumvention investigation likely go from a topic that executives were curious about to something that has everyone talking?
Earlier this week, Shams Charania, Baxter Holmes, Ramona Shelburne, and Don Van Natta Jr. collectively reported: “The NBA has found no evidence showing owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay to circumvent the salary cap.”
This news had the NBA community shaken, as it directly suggested the investigation was done and that Leonard’s trade to the Raptors would go through as everyone hoped.
The league immediately responded. NBA chief communications officer Mike Bass said in response to ESPN’s article regarding Leonard and the ongoing investigation that it “contains numerous and significant inaccuracies.”
There's definitely something wrong here, and just as everyone thought significant progress had been made, we’re right back where we were before anything was even reported by arguably the most credible source in all of sports.
Of course, as anyone could expect, this is massive news for executives all over the association, which is why it’s the hottest topic in the NBA right now.
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