Leave it to the Clippers to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. The NBA world was quiet on Thursday, that was, until ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Los Angeles' Kawhi Leonard trade with Toronto is on hold until the NBA's investigation into the Aspiration scandal is over.
Knowing that there is a real chance that the Clippers thought they were smart enough to circumvent the NBA salary cap by paying Leonard through a scam company is enough for the Los Angeles Lakers (and every other team in the league) to laugh at. Knowing they could've believed that agreeing to trade him would solve what could be their potential problem would be even more hilarious.
The Raptors released a statement, saying the league told them that they would "assume the risk of any potential outcome of the investigation impacting Kawhi," so they want to wait until the NBA investigation is finished. Toronto doesn't want to be in the position to catch any amount of fire for what could've been LA's doing.
Clippers-Raptors Kawhi trade is on hold until investigation is complete
Los Angeles already looked smart for the Leonard trade, trading the oft-injured 35-year-old rather than paying him again. The Raptors agreed to trade Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks, a first-round pick swap, and two second-round picks, an easy deal for the Clippers to accept.
Or, at least, that's what they thought. If the investigation doesn't go in their favor and they still maintain they did nothing wrong, then Los Angeles will have to deal with the punishment and a failed trade.
To think that Kawhi could've pushed to go to the Lakers over the Clippers in 2019, but, luckily, the purple and gold didn't give in to his ridiculously reported demands. Truly, who knows how many headaches Los Angeles avoided by not doing that.
The Clippers just thought they got the last laugh over the Lakers then. Here we are now, seven years later, and they have nothing to show for getting Kawhi other than a singular trip to the conference finals. Dealing with the pain from that wouldn't come close to how they'll feel if the league finds that the allegations are true.
One would assume it won't be that much longer before the league releases its findings, especially now that a trade with Kawhi at the center is hanging in the balance. The Clippers' name could be cleared, paving the way for the trade to go through, or, of course, the opposite could happen, which would make the real LA look even more like the superior organization.
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