{"id":855542,"date":"2026-08-15T00:16:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T00:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/855542\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T00:16:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T00:16:20","slug":"new-emails-emerge-in-kawhi-leonard-daktronics-case-involving-clippers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/855542\/","title":{"rendered":"New emails emerge in Kawhi Leonard-Daktronics case involving Clippers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New internal emails suggest the LA Clippers were directly involved in scheduling Kawhi Leonard&#8217;s sponsorship activations with Daktronics. The correspondence adds scrutiny to allegations that the team used the deal to bypass NBA salary cap rules, an arrangement the franchise and owner Steve Ballmer deny.<\/p>\n<p>                                Credit: AP\/Scanpix nuotr.<\/p>\n<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\" data-start=\"116\" data-end=\"345\">Another development has emerged in the investigation surrounding <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/players\/8299-kawhi-leonard.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kawhi Leonard<\/a>&#8216;s undisclosed sponsorship agreement with Daktronics, potentially providing more insight into the <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/teams\/356-los-angeles-clippers.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>&#8216; involvement in the arrangement.<\/p>\n<p>        <a class=\"article-widget__photo\" href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/players\/8299-kawhi-leonard.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-396174-plsm.jpg\" alt=\"Kawhi  Leonard\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n                Position<br \/>\n                SF, SG\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                Age<br \/>\n                35\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                Height<br \/>\n                198 cm\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                Weight<br \/>\n                102 kg\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                Birth place<br \/>\n                Riverside, United States of America\n            <\/p>\n<p data-start=\"347\" data-end=\"714\">According to internal emails obtained by Pablo Torre, the Clippers repeatedly contacted Daktronics in 2021 about scheduling sponsorship &#8220;activations&#8221; involving &#8220;KL,&#8221; an apparent reference to Leonard. In one exchange, a Daktronics executive responded to a reminder from the team by writing, &#8220;Thanks for the reminder! Go Clippers!&#8221; <\/p>\n<p data-start=\"716\" data-end=\"1205\">The emails are notable because previous reporting had raised questions over how involved the Clippers were in Leonard&#8217;s multimillion-dollar agreement with Daktronics, the company that constructed the massive Halo Board inside Intuit Dome.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"716\" data-end=\"1205\">Allegedly, the arrangement was designed to funnel money from the Clippers through Daktronics to Leonard in an effort to circumvent the NBA salary cap. Those allegations have not been proven.<\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/a\/status\/2088242718720004593\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">  Clippers&#8217; involvement comes under further scrutiny <\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1262\" data-end=\"1638\">The newly revealed correspondence does not by itself establish that the Clippers arranged Leonard&#8217;s compensation or violated salary-cap rules.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1262\" data-end=\"1638\">However, it indicates that members of the organization were communicating directly with Daktronics about Leonard-related sponsorship activity, adding another element for investigators to examine. <\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1640\" data-end=\"1963\">The Daktronics agreement emerged while the NBA was already investigating a separate $28 million endorsement deal between Leonard and former Clippers sponsor Aspiration. The Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer have denied wrongdoing in connection with the broader salary-cap investigation. <\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1965\" data-end=\"2216\">Leonard&#8217;s situation has also affected his basketball future, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/teams\/648-toronto-raptors.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Toronto Raptors<\/a> previously putting their planned trade for the two-time Finals MVP on hold while awaiting the outcome of the NBA investigation. <\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2218\" data-end=\"2423\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">The latest emails now add another layer to the central question facing the league: how much the Clippers knew about, or participated in, the outside sponsorship arrangements involving their franchise star.<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/plus?utm_source=basketnews_com&amp;utm_medium=bn_plus&amp;utm_id=UA-259273-31&amp;utm_campaign=banners_free_content_for_not_members_bottom_1\" class=\"banners_paid_content_info_block_white banners-paid-content-info-block-white\" data-google-interstitial=\"false\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>                                                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"bn-plus-img img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bn-plus.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                            Thank you for being with us! 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It helps us a lot, and we are committed to delivering you the very latest basketball news.<\/p>\n<p>                                            <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New internal emails suggest the LA Clippers were directly involved in scheduling Kawhi Leonard&#8217;s sponsorship activations with Daktronics.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-855542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}