Twelve days. That’s how long it’s been since the NBA closed its investigation into Kawhi Leonard’s salary cap situation, fined him $700,000, suspended Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and GM Lawrence Frank, and told the Clippers and Raptors they were free to file the trade whenever they wanted.
Nobody has filed anything.
We’ve been writing about this saga since the league first froze the deal back in July, through an August stretch where reports had the investigation potentially dragging into 2027. That doomsday version never happened. The NBA actually wrapped its business fast once it decided to. Per Marc Stein’s reporting, the trade “isn’t being held up by the NBA” at all — both sides can co-submit for league approval at any time.
So why is Scottie Barnes still running a Raptors roster that’s supposedly one signature away from adding a two-time Finals MVP?
Turns out the holdup isn’t a fax machine sitting in a drawer. On September 10, the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into the same circumvention scheme the NBA just spent a month prosecuting internally. That’s federal prosecutors, not a league office memo. The NBA can clear a guy for trade. It can’t clear him of a DOJ inquiry that started eight days after the league’s own probe closed. Any front office doing real diligence on a $700,000-fined, federally investigated asset is going to have lawyers take a second look before anybody signs anything.
Then there’s the more boring, non-conspiratorial explanation. Jake Fischer reported the Clippers front office is still working through a new structure after the Ballmer and Frank suspensions, which means the people who’d normally be finalizing this trade got suspended in the middle of finalizing this trade. That’s an organization rebuilding around two open executive chairs, not a front office quietly trying to wriggle out of a deal.
And if you want a tell on how seriously the league’s findings actually landed, look at Ballmer. Shams Charania confirmed the Clippers owner is complying with the punishment and won’t pursue legal action:
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is complying with the NBA's punishments of the franchise for salary cap circumvention, deciding not to pursue any legal action. Statement from Ballmer:
This has been a very difficult time for everybody associated with the Clippers, and for that, I…
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 14, 2026
Ballmer didn’t stop there. In his own statement, he called this “a very difficult time for everybody associated with the Clippers” and said he accepts responsibility “as principal owner.” A guy who thought he got railroaded doesn’t write that. He fights it, or he stonewalls. Ballmer did neither. He apologized, ate the penalties, and moved on, which is about as clear a signal as you’ll get that the investigation found something real.
None of that means the deal is dead. Kawhi’s already running drills with Toronto at an informal camp in Miami like he’s on the roster. Both teams are behaving like this is happening. It’s just not official yet. Until the DOJ situation and the Clippers’ front office rebuild sort themselves out, Barnes keeps being the best player on a team that’s supposedly getting an upgrade any day now.
Bring your own popcorn, Toronto — the lawyers are apparently still working on this one.
