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TORONTO, ONTARIO – JUNE 02: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors reacts late in the game against the Golden State Warriors during Game Two of the 2019 NBA Finals at Scotiabank Arena on June 02, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gregory Shamus\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
In a surprising development, the proposed Kawhi Leonard trade between the LA Clippers<\/a> and Toronto Raptors may go through after all, allowing \u201cThe Klaw\u201d to return to the franchise he brought an NBA championship to in 2019.<\/p>\n Per SportsNet\u2019s Michael Grange<\/a>, the NBA is expected to discreetly resolve its investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented salary cap rules with undisclosed endorsements for Leonard, ultimately allowing the trade to be completed as planned.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most likely outcome? A negotiated settlement where the\u00a0NBA<\/a> gets to enforce some version of its rules, [Steve] Ballmer can save face and Leonard can play for the Raptors,\u201d the NBA insider reported on Friday after fresh allegations surfaced involving Leonard, the Clippers and videoboard manufacturer Daktronics.<\/p>\n Kawhi Leonard Trade on Hold<\/p>\n The trade was paused after the NBA signaled that Toronto would inherit any penalties against Leonard\u2014including a potential suspension or contract voiding\u2014should he be found guilty. Unwilling to take on that liability, the Raptors placed the deal on hold, though insiders report the team remains committed to completing the move once the investigation concludes. As per the original deal, the Clippers were set to receive two-time All-Star Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and two first-round picks.<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s Baxter Holmes<\/a> reported last month that both the Raptors and Clippers are keen to complete the trade eventually, even if the investigation drags into early next year.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth the Clippers and Raptors have said that they still intend to complete the deal, though it\u2019s unclear how an arbitration process might impact their ability to do so,\u201d wrote the insider, adding that the NBA was aware of the stakes.<\/p>\n Kawhi Leonard-Clippers Fiasco Intensifies<\/p>\n Grange\u2019s report on Friday came shortly after award-winning journalist Pablo Torre dropped a new bombshell alleging that Leonard had an undisclosed sponsorship deal worth millions of dollars with Daktronics \u2014 the company that designed the Clippers\u2019 videoboard inside the Intuit Dome.<\/p>\n Amid the latest allegations, Grange noted that\u00a0the NBA had unofficially finished its investigation and was nearing a resolution.<\/p>\n \u201cPer league sources, there\u2019s a belief the investigation has already moved beyond its fact-finding stage and the parties involved \u2014 specifically the Clippers and the NBPA (which is monitoring the situation to see what if any consequences befall Leonard) \u2014 are working quietly to get the entire issue resolved, something [Adam] Silver hinted at back on July 14 when he last spoke publicly on the issue,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n The insider, however, said it remains unclear if Torre\u2019s latest findings linking Leonard to Daktronics have been incorporated into the league\u2019s ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether Torre\u2019s latest finding is new information to the NBA\u2019s investigation or not \u2014 a report in The Athletic last month said a second no-show endorsement deal was already part of the investigation \u2014 the sense is that it won\u2019t affect the next stage of the process, namely figuring out what the league is going to do with the information it has collected.<\/p>\n \u201cAn NBA spokesperson refused comment when reached by Sportsnet about the status of the investigation. A representative of the NBPA didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment,\u201d Grange added.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sportswriter with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty TORONTO, ONTARIO – JUNE 02: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors reacts late in the game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-851243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}