The Los Angeles Clippers‘ decision to trade James Harden and Ivica Zubac sparked some doubts.
They were playing their best basketball of the season, and since they don’t even own their first-round pick, there was no incentive to tank.
With the latest development in the investigation around Kawhi Leonard and their alleged salary cap circumvention, scrutiny will likely only grow for Steve Ballmer’s team.
According to investigative journalist Pablo Torre, who unveiled this story and has posted several deep-dive episodes about it on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast, the federal government is aware of criminal activity within Aspiration.
The federal government may be aware of the Clippers’ salary cap circumvention scheme
Torre revealed that a whistleblower from inside the company tipped the federal government about wrongdoing within the organization, so there’s a chance that there’s — even more — written evidence of this side deal.
“My question is, if this Aspiration whistleblower who tipped over that first domino of a federal government investigation exists, did they explicitly mention Steve Ballmer and NBA salary cap circumvention to the government?” Torre asked. “‘Cause that would feel like a smoking gun.”
If found guilty, the league would have no choice but to fine the Clippers, strip them of multiple draft picks and maybe even void Leonard’s contract.
Ballmer and the Clippers continue to deny any wrongdoing, but as Torre has exposed in eight episodes of this series, there’s at the very least enough to question if nefarious actions were taken.
This could be the biggest scandal of Adam Silver’s tenure as commissioner, which, considering all the recent gambling stuff, says a lot.