The Clippers' Kawhi Leonard probe has a second sponsorship question attached.
A report from Pablo Torre Finds Out, later reflected in The Athletic, says Leonard had a previously unknown multimillion-dollar sponsorship with Daktronics, the company that built the Intuit Dome's Halo video board. It surfaced while the NBA is already investigating possible salary-cap circumvention tied to Leonard's $28 million endorsement agreement with Aspiration, a former Clippers sponsor.
The Clippers have not been found guilty of a violation. Steve Ballmer has maintained that he was defrauded by Aspiration and co-founder Joe Sanberg. The league's review is being handled by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, so this remains an investigation, not a penalty.
The Daktronics detail matters because outside income is not automatically a problem. Star players sign endorsement deals all the time. The question is whether any team-connected business relationship moved extra compensation around the salary cap.
That is why the story has weight. If the NBA finds a cap violation, the fallout could be serious. If it does not, Los Angeles still has another messy chapter around how the Leonard partnership was assembled.
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