The reports of Kawhi Leonard being traded to the Toronto Raptors were premature.
On Thursday, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania shared a surprising update to the projected Leonard trade that was to send Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected firsts (2031, 2033), two second-round picks and a 2027 first-round pick swap to the Los Angeles Clippers, with the deal on hold as an investigation into possible cap circumvention continues.
In September 2025, podcaster Pablo Torre reported on an episode of “Pablo Torre Finds Out” that after signing a contract with the Clippers, Leonard received a $28M “no show” endorsement package from Aspiration, a now-defunct green-banking company whose co-founder, Joseph Sanberg, received a 14-year federal prison sentence in June following a guilty plea on two wire fraud counts.
Per Torre, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invested $50M and the Clippers agreed to a $300M deal in the company during the months leading up to Leonard’s sponsorship agreement, which a whistleblower alleged to Torre “was to circumvent the cap,” via ESPN.
Both Leonard and the Clippers have denied the allegations.