Raptors pause Kawhi Leonard trade amid NBA salary-cap probe

Toronto put Kawhi Leonard’s trade on hold after the NBA told the Raptors they could be stuck with any penalty if the league later finds wrongdoing in Leonard’s endorsement arrangement. The dispute centers on whether the Clippers bypassed the salary cap through a reported $28 million deal tied to Aspiration, the now-bankrupt sustainability and green banking company, with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz handling the investigation.

The probe has been open for about 10 months and has drawn Steve Ballmer’s relationship with Aspiration into the review. Kawhi Leonard and his adviser, Dennis Robertson, were interviewed by investigators in early June 2026. The Clippers said they cooperated with dozens of interviews and tens of thousands of documents and denied wrongdoing, while both Los Angeles and Toronto still expect the trade to go through once the league closes its case.

The holdup landed as NBA Summer League opened in Las Vegas, where Kevin O’Connor was breaking down Day 1 with Nekias Duncan and Es Baraheni. The day’s marquee matchups included AJ Dybantsa and the Washington Wizards, Darryn Peterson and the Utah Jazz, and Yaxel Lendeborg with Morez Johnson Jr. in Warriors vs. Mavericks, a fresh reminder that this part of the calendar is built on projection, not certainty.

That contrast captures why Toronto paused rather than assume the risk. Summer League is where teams hunt for cheaper, healthier contributors who can beat their contracts and shape the margins of a roster. A Leonard deal is the opposite kind of bet: an expensive swing on a star transaction that can become far more dangerous if an investigation produces cap penalties after the paperwork is done. For a team trying to manage stars, timing and payroll in the same move, the safest play was to wait.