There is a belief in some corners of the league that the investigation is closer to completion than advertised and that — at some point over the next six weeks — there will be a resolution involving some level of sanctions from the NBA against the Clippers but, ultimately, clearance for LA and Toronto to complete the Leonard trade.
More on Kawhi Leonard: Recent HoopsHype Rumors
Jake Fischer: Kawhi Leonard is working under the belief the NBA’s ongoing investigation will conclude before the start of training camp, sources say, and that the seven-time All-Star remains on course to join the Toronto Raptors. More @TheSteinLine: tinyurl.com/khkawx3h — 8/10/2026 Twitter @JakeLFischer
Though it is unclear when Leonard reportedly began his sponsorship deal with Daktronics, or what
the alleged terms for the pact included, a spokesperson who represented Daktronics told Hunterbrook Media, which collaborated with Torre, that Leonard doesn't have an active contract with the company. — 8/7/2026 ESPN
Torre interviewed someone identified as an "anonymous high-level source under contract for Intuit Dome" who alleged that the sponsorship deal "was 1,000% a way to circumvent the salary cap. It was funneling money from the Clippers through Daktronics back to Kawhi." Torre also cited an anonymous former Clippers official who said they knew that Leonard had a sponsorship deal with Daktronics, the South Dakota-based company that designed "The Halo Board" -- the largest double-sided halo display built in an arena -- inside the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, the Clippers' $2 billion venue that opened in August 2024. — 8/7/2026 ESPN
LA Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, whose sponsorship deal with a now-bankrupt green banking company is at the center of an NBA investigation, also had an undisclosed sponsorship agreement allegedly worth millions of dollars with the company that designed the Clippers' videoboard inside the Intuit Dome, former ESPN contributor Pablo Torre reported on his podcast "Pablo Torre Finds Out" on Thursday. — 8/7/2026 ESPN
But all along, there has been a quiet confidence that the trade would ultimately go forward and league business would be able to resume in time for training camps opening on Sept. 28. Keep in mind that the only month on the NBA calendar where the league goes relatively dormant is August. Don’t underestimate a collective will to leave it all until the first week of September when everyone is back at work. Even reports last week, in a story in ESPN that the investigation could “drag into 2027” if the NBPA and/or the Clippers took whatever punishment Silver decided on to a potentially lengthy arbitration process, were interpreted positively as an indication that the parties involved were setting the parameters for negotiating a more acceptable — or at least tolerable — outcome for all concerned. Which is always worth keeping in mind for Raptors fans trying to understand if the Leonard trade will ultimately go through or not: everyone involved in this saga, from the Clippers, to the Raptors, to Leonard, to the league itself, shares a common interest in putting it behind them. — 8/7/2026 SportsNet
Per league sources, there’s a belief the investigation has already moved beyond its fact-finding stage and the parties involved — specifically the Clippers and the NBPA (which is monitoring the situation to see what if any consequences befall Leonard) — are working quietly to get the entire issue resolved, something Silver hinted at back on July 14 when he last spoke publicly on the issue. The most likely outcome? A negotiated settlement where the NBA gets to enforce some version of its rules, Ballmer can save face and Leonard can play for the Raptors. Whether Torre’s latest finding is new information to the NBA’s investigation or not — a report in The Athletic last month said a second no-show endorsement deal was already part of the investigation — the sense is that it won’t affect the next stage of the process, namely figuring out what the league is going to do with the information it has collected. — 8/7/2026 SportsNet
As well, the other commonly cited risk — that Leonard will face a lengthy suspension for his role in the alleged cap circumvention — is something that almost certainly won’t come to pass, a matter than has been under-reported or not reported previously. The punishments for cap circumvention, it has been pointed out to me, are jointly negotiated by the NBA and the NBPA and written into the league’s collective bargaining agreement. Nowhere in that language does it say a player can be suspended for participating in cap circumvention. Instead, per the CBA, penalties for salary cap circumvention can include team fines, direct forfeiture of draft picks, the voiding of any player contract and a suspension of up to a year for any team personnel found to have engaged in such a violation, while the player can be required to “disgorge” whatever benefits they gained from a third party in a cap circumvention scheme. A player suspension is not on the menu. — 8/7/2026 SportsNet
Kawhi's odds of playing for the Toronto Raptors in 2026-27 have tumbled from 67.2% to 49.0% in the past 6 hours on Polymarket, an 18.2-point move. — 7/31/2026 HoopsMatic
FearBuck: Dillon Brooks tells Neon that the Kawhi Leonard trade to the Toronto Raptors WON’T happen — 7/31/2026 x.com
Former Los Angeles Clippers center Daniel Theis has emerged as another NBA figure connected to Rhode Island FC amid Pablo Torre's ongoing investigation into Kawhi Leonard's business relationships. On the latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, Torre highlighted that Rhode Island FC publicly welcomed Theis into its ownership group in March 2023. The connection attracted attention because, according to Torre's reporting, Leonard, his uncle and business adviser Dennis Robertson, and Leonard's former agent Mitch Frankel also acquired ownership interests in the soccer club – but their involvement was never publicly promoted by RIFC. There is no evidence presented in the podcast that Theis committed any wrongdoing or that his investment was connected to the LA Clippers. — 7/30/2026 BasketNews
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Kawhi Leonard investigation could be wrapped up within the next six weeks?
