LAS VEGAS -- The investigation into whether the Clippers conspired to circumvent the salary cap by arranging a no-show job for now-Raptors F Kawhi Leonard is nearly a year old -- but now apparently about to end. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday night he remains optimistic that a decision whether to discipline the team, Leonard or both should be wrapped up this summer.
On the surface, it has to be. Leonard was recently traded to his former team the Raptors, until the deal was paused because -- if Leonard is suspended by Silver -- the Raptors would suffer competitive repercussions instead of the Clippers. In other words, Leonard is in limbo. That said, Silver said he will not force the independent law firm conducting the investigation (Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz) to complete its process for the sake of the upcoming season.
“Of course, as I’ve said previously, we all have an interest in wrapping this up,” Silver said at his Board of Governors news conference. “... At the end of the day, as the commissioner in this league, I’m the one who ultimately engaged Wachtell. So sure, I could tell them to stop, and I’ve read those reports where people are saying, just tell them to stop. But also the benefit of an independent investigation is they have their own credibility on the line, and presumably, I can count on Wachtell to say to me, ‘Well, of course, ultimately if you say we have to stop, we’ll stop. But in our report, we’re going to say we were required to stop before we felt we had a complete understanding of this situation.’”
Silver followed up by saying the ordeal has “gone on longer than I would have hoped,” but that it was out of the league’s control. He added that dealing with a bankruptcy court and reluctant witnesses (some team executives have declined to participate, for example, sources said) turned the investigation into a “long process ... complicated and complex.”
And that was only exacerbated Tuesday by an Athletic report that said -- in addition to investigating the green company Aspiration’s alleged no-show job for Leonard -- Wachtell was examining a second accusation that the Clippers paid expenses for Leonard without being reimbursed. Sources also told the Athletic that Leonard had another questionable endorsement deal with a completely separate company.
Silver did not address either side of the equation. But he did say, “I understand why people who haven’t lived in these kinds of investigations are frustrated. But also, on one hand, we want to respect everyone’s rights here. Certainly, if any of us were being investigated, we would want a certain standard to be met, a standard of due process with presumption of innocence, etc.”
