u/YujiDomainExpansion

Source: [https://www.espn.com/nba/story/\\\_/id/49639157/nba-la-clippers-aspiration-investigation-steve-ballmer-kawhi-leonard\](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/\_/id/49639157/nba-la-clippers-aspiration-investigation-steve-ballmer-kawhi-leonard)

The NBA has found no evidence showing LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay Kawhi Leonard in order to circumvent the salary cap, sources tell ESPN.

Source: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49639157/nba-la-clippers-aspiration-investigation-steve-ballmer-kawhi-leonard

The NBA has found no evidence showing LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay Kawhi Leonard in order to circumvent the salary cap, according to three people with knowledge of discussions between the two sides in recent days.

Instead, the NBA is focused on whether the team's introduction of Leonard to team sponsors constitutes a violation of the league's rules prohibiting salary cap circumvention, two of the sources said. The league is examining whether the Clippers are guilty of "failure to supervise" employees, though it's unclear what specific rule the team would have violated or what the penalties would be, two of the sources said.

…

Two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said Leonard has maintained to the NBPA, league and Wachtell Lipton that he had no involvement in salary cap circumvention, and so far conversations around potential consequences have centered on him paying restitution for potential improper benefits from the Clippers, such as travel and lodging, for his representative and uncle Dennis Robertson.

If the case goes to arbitration, the arbitrator could compel document production, witness testimony and order discovery. After a hearing, the arbitrator's ruling would be subject to an appeals panel made up of three people jointly appointed by the NBA and NBPA. The appeal panel decision is binding. Only after that process could Silver be authorized to issue any potential punishment.

More from Bobby Marks: https://espnpressroom.com/bio/bobby-marks/

Swapping out Dennis Schroder for Tre Mann creates savings below the apron for Cleveland.

First apron: $32m below

Second apron: $44m below

The figures do not include a new contract for James Harden.

For now, Cleveland is likely to have the $6.1m tax midlevel exception.

A sign-and-trade (incoming salary) hard caps them at apron 1.

________

Welcome to Cleveland, Jonathan Kuminga!

Source: https://huddleup.substack.com/p/inside-the-lakers-record-breaking

Bloomberg is reporting that Mark Walter has been in talks with investors to raise money to pay down the loans he is being investigated for. That's why he sold the Lakers for $12.5B — in a deal that came together in just 72 hours — less than two years after he purchased the team.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7507200/2026/08/12/nuggets-payton-watson-contract-negotiation-cavaliers-bucks-clippers/?unlocked\_article\_code=1.41A.sc8J.QYUuixa7rfdz&source=user\_shared\_article&smid=ta-ios-share

There is, at some point, a Peyton Watson plot twist yet to come.

Maybe the Denver Nuggets’ restricted free-agent wing eventually gets the money and role he’s seeking by way of sign-and-trade, with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Milwaukee Bucks and LA Clippers all remaining in the hunt for the 23-year-old. It’s possible he strikes a deal with the Nuggets, whose present offer — four years, $70 million, with a team option in the fourth season, per a league source — falls well short of where he sees his worth.

Source: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/\_/id/49590362/josh-kushner-bob-iger-buy-lakers-12b

The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold to American businessman Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for a record breaking price over $12 billion, multiple sources told ESPN.

Kushner and Iger were involved in the expansion process in Las Vegas, but a stunning turn, they pivoted to make an aggressive offer to buy the Lakers from Mark Walter, who had purchased a controlling interest in the team from the Buss family last year.

Source: https://marcstein.substack.com/p/lots-more-late-night-nba-intel?r=nuq3a&utm\_medium=ios

One source close to the process told The Stein Line that a recent report suggesting that Russell Westbrook was in talks to sign abroad with Hapoel Tel Aviv was "laughably false."

Westbrook to this point has not considered leaving the NBA after 18 seasons, winning MVP honors in 2017 and his strong production last season in Sacramento at age 37: 15.2 points and 6.7 assists per game as well as 58 starts.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7507061/2026/08/11/steph-curry-contract-warriors-future-nba/?unlocked\_article\_code=1.4lA.xkM7.NSIYa7IUyMa2&source=user\_shared\_article&smid=ta-ios-share

“We’re super aggressive,” Dunleavy said. “If people knew the cold calls I made offering a lot of stuff for players, I think they’d realize how hard we’re trying. And frankly, it’s not as much the guys that end up getting moved. There’s a lot of guys that we really, really value that don’t get moved, and that’s probably because those teams (feel the same). I think we call on the guys we really think can make an impact and change our direction. But that’s the nature of every offseason, every trade deadline. That’s the way it works. I think as we get into this season, the trade deadline, the Dec. 15 date, I’m confident in our ability to do deals if we need to based on a couple things.”

Dunleavy offered two reasons for that optimism.

“One, we’ve done them in the past,” he said. “So, we have experience with that. But then, I think if you just look at our books, our assets, all that stuff, we’ve got a lot of ways to entice teams and make things available and worthwhile for them to do a trade with us. So, for those reasons, I feel pretty confident that if we have to improve the roster in the middle of the season, we can.”

In other updates, Dunleavy said there was no timeline for the return of injured swingmen Jimmy Butler (torn ACL) and Moses Moody (ruptured patellar tendon) as they continue their respective rehabs. Dunleavy remains hopeful that the Warriors can come to terms with fourth-year guard Brandin Podziemski on a rookie extension before the new season begins.

Source: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brian-windhorst-the-hoop-collective/id293376147?i=1000782661598

Acquiring Peyton Watson may be difficult for both the Hawks and Bucks as they attempt to stay below the luxury tax line. Atlanta is $3.8M and Milwaukee is $8.1M below the luxury tax line.

[Begins at the 38:12 mark.]

Source: https://open.substack.com/pub/marcstein/p/the-kawhi-leonard-latest?r=nuq3a&utm\\\_medium=ios

The Raptors made the decision on July 9 to press pause rather than complete the trade until the NBA announces a resolution to the long-running external investigation it has commissioned into allegations of salary-cap circumvention by the Clippers to pay Leonard beyond his contract dating to 2021. Yet league sources tell The Stein Line that Leonard continues to operate under the belief that he will be able to join the Raptors for training camp.
Hopeful that the additional of Leonard can soon be finalized to compete with rest of a resurgent Eastern Conference, Toronto is scheduled to begin the season with its annual Media Day scheduled for Sept. 28 before team practices commence the following day in Quebec City, Canada.

Sources say that Leonard's agent, Harrison Gaines, has maintained frequent contact with the NBA Players Association while the firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz — which was hired by the league office last September — proceeds with an investigation that has consumed 11 months.

And Leonard, sources say, strongly believes that the trade will ultimately go through, enabling him to rejoin the Raptors in time for training camp. The trade was agreed to, sources say, with the idea that the 35-year-old would also negotiate a multiyear extension with Toronto to extend the reunion beyond the coming season. Leonard is due to earn $50.3 million in 2026-27 in the final year of his current contract.

Sources add that the Clippers, meanwhile, are prepared to go to arbitration depending on the severity of the potential penalties that the league office could order after digesting the investigation's complete findings. At a mid-July news conference at the league's annual summer league in Las Vegas, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he could not provide a firm timeline for a resolution to the long-running saga, saying only "this summer" when asked when he anticipates clarity on Leonard’s future.

The Clippers have maintained from the start that they did not funnel funds to Leonard through Aspiration or otherwise violate the league's collective bargaining agreement and that owner Steve Ballmer will seek any remedies available to them to counter possible sanctions. Leonard, meanwhile, appears to have the support of the players' association, whose new executive director David Kelly told reporters in Las Vegas last month that the union does not believe "there's a there there" when it comes to finding wrongdoing directly from the player regarding the various endorsement deals he secured during his tenure as the Clippers' franchise player.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7355567/2026/08/07/brandon-clarke-death-overdose-cocaine-heroin/?unlocked\_article\_code=1.3lA.b3r2.NrDxpnFdvPis&source=athletic\_user\_shared\_gift\_article\_twitter&smid=tw-share-ta

Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke’s death has been ruled an accidental overdose of heroin and cocaine, according to a report released Friday by the L.A. County Medical Examiner.

Clarke, a beloved teammate who spent his entire NBA career with the Memphis Grizzlies, died May 11 at a residence in Southern California. The 29-year-old had been found unresponsive in his bedroom, according to the coroner’s report. The medical examiner also listed as a significant contributing condition the “combined effects of multiple prescription medications.” Those prescriptions were not named in the report.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7497003/2026/08/06/trail-blazers-arena-funding-multnomah-county/?source=user\_shared\_article&unlocked\_article\_code=1.3VA.-8Ta.Dz3zpU9OZhjg&smid=ta-android-share

The Portland Trail Blazers moved one step closer to receiving the public funding they have requested to renovate the Moda Center after the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners approved a term sheet that would approve up to $101.6 million to redo the 31-year-old arena.

The board voted 4-1 to approve the funding, which is $13.6 million more than the original $88 million proposed in March. The increase budgets for maintenance and service costs, though two commissioners questioned from where and how the funding will come.

…

Some Multnomah county commissioners seemed uneasy with releasing so much money for the arena and the team but ultimately did so Thursday.

“I want to make this clear to the NBA,” Meghan Moyer, one of five commissioners, said. “Although I personally would like our contribution to be less, I want to be very clear that I have heard — although I will say indirectly because nobody from the Blazers has ever talked to me — that it is incredibly important to show our intent that they have $88 million from us in the capital stack. How that got to be, I have feelings about, but is not relevant to this conversation. The thing that I believe we are hearing, and I want to make clear to the NBA, is we’ve been asked for that level of contribution as an important symbol of this region’s commitment to the Blazers. This amendment gets us to what has been asked for by Rip City Management, which is the Blazers, and the understanding of the NBA.”