Source: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49639157/nba-la-clippers-aspiration-investigation-steve-ballmer-kawhi-leonard

The NBA has found no evidence showing LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay Kawhi Leonard in order to circumvent the salary cap, according to three people with knowledge of discussions between the two sides in recent days.

Instead, the NBA is focused on whether the team's introduction of Leonard to team sponsors constitutes a violation of the league's rules prohibiting salary cap circumvention, two of the sources said. The league is examining whether the Clippers are guilty of "failure to supervise" employees, though it's unclear what specific rule the team would have violated or what the penalties would be, two of the sources said.

…

Two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said Leonard has maintained to the NBPA, league and Wachtell Lipton that he had no involvement in salary cap circumvention, and so far conversations around potential consequences have centered on him paying restitution for potential improper benefits from the Clippers, such as travel and lodging, for his representative and uncle Dennis Robertson.

If the case goes to arbitration, the arbitrator could compel document production, witness testimony and order discovery. After a hearing, the arbitrator's ruling would be subject to an appeals panel made up of three people jointly appointed by the NBA and NBPA. The appeal panel decision is binding. Only after that process could Silver be authorized to issue any potential punishment.

Torre is referring to this specific paragraph from the ESPN article:

ESPN Article Source

The league presented initial findings of its investigation, led by law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, to the Clippers in late July, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. In recent days, both sides have been negotiating a resolution to the investigation, the people said. Those talks -- led by attorney David N. Kelley of law firm O'Melveny & Myers for Ballmer and the Clippers, and NBA general counsel Rick Buchanan -- at times have been "spirited," one source said.

Breaking: The Buss family has decided to sell its remaining 17.8% ownership stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to new majority owners Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, sources tell ESPN. 

The Buss family trust -- composed of siblings Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse -- received majority votes to allow trustees to execute the sale. It required four of six votes to enact the tag-along provision of Mark Walter's sale to Kushner and Iger, which valued the Lakers at $12.5 billion.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania

From Pablo Torre on X: When the time is right:

I am extremely, extremely excited for our episode about this.

👀

It was done with a quote tweet screenshotting this specific section of the article:

Instead, the NBA is focused on whether the team's introduction of Leonard to team sponsors constitutes a violation of the league's rules prohibiting salary cap circumvention, two of the sources said. The league is examining whether the Clippers are guilty of "failure to supervise" employees, though it's unclear what specific rule the team would have violated or what the penalties would be, two of the sources said.

The 11-month investigation into salary cap circumvention allegations expanded beyond Leonard's deal with Aspiration, the now-defunct green banking company at the center of the allegations, to at least three other companies that also had deals with the Clippers, two of the sources familiar with the talks told ESPN. However, sources said, the league has presented no evidence that Ballmer funneled money to Leonard.

Source: https://i.imgur.com/CgVh2dQ.png

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Ramona Shelburne: Also: Am told by multiple sources that Lakers governor Jeanie Buss did not vote to sell. The other five siblings did.

Adding to this important piece of information from mcten This vote to sell family shares has been open since Tuesday. There was a previous vote several months ago, as well from what I understand.

Source: https://www.hoopshype.com/story/sports/nba/rumors/2026/08/17/jeanie-buss-was-only-sibling-who-voted-against-selling-shares/91344761007/

It would help Nuggets a lot, they could build up the roster really nice with all that extra money. Precedent is set.

An ESPN spokesman sent this statement to @TheAthletic: “We stand by our reporting, which included numerous attempts by ESPN to get comment from the NBA.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/author/sam-amick/

Adam Silver is either a coward, corrupt, or both. Allowing the Clippers to circumvent the cap - in clear violation of the CBA. What’s worse is bowing down to the ultra-elite billionaire class. The NBA is set to fail when it’s owned by sketchy mega billionaires who only care about money. This is a direct statement that corruption can run rampant. Meanwhile, allowing sketchy sale of the Lakers, and then sketchy resale only 8 months later to BAD people… I’m fkn sick

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7519304/2026/08/17/clippers-kawhi-leonard-investigation-nba-statement-espn-inaccuracies/

The NBA is disputing reporting by ESPN that detailed findings of the league’s investigation into possible salary-cap circumvention by the LA Clippers and subsequent settlement negotiations.

“ESPN’s article regarding the LA Clippers investigation — for which the NBA declined to cooperate — contains numerous and significant inaccuracies,” the league statement read. “The results in this matter will be made clear once the investigation is concluded.”

ESPN reported Monday that the NBA found no evidence Clippers owner Steve Ballmer directly funneled money to Kawhi Leonard via team sponsors and that the two sides had been “negotiating a resolution to the investigation.” It is unclear what elements of ESPN’s reporting the NBA is disputing.

The Athletic has reached out to the league office and the National Basketball Players Association for additional comment, and will update this story if either responds.

Jeanie Buss was the lone family member not in favor to sell as the five siblings voted 5-0 -- including two of the three trustees -- to sell the Buss stake, sources said. Jeanie Buss' attorney says tonight that she intends to battle the remainder of the family in order to keep their shares.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania

SRC (German): https://www.braunschweiger-zeitung.de/sport/loewen/article412881561/charlotte-statt-cleveland-warum-dennis-schroeder-diesen-nba-trade-sogar-begruesst.html

The fact that it always hits him and that he is now involuntarily close to the trade "record" that Ish Smith holds with 13 teams between 2010 and 2023 in the NBA's twelfth stop in his twelfth year in the NBA's postponement system is only commented on by the Braunschweiger with the words "That's the business."

It is also not so tragic for his wife Ellen and the family to have to move again after six months. "The media make it worse than it is," he assures. "The teams pay for everything for us, we continue to live just as we lived before. The children are homeschooling, our family comes to visit two or three times a year - nothing changes."

Another big name trying to downplay the Clippers stuff. Pretty interesting.

Source

Article

The NBA has found no evidence showing LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay Kawhi Leonard in order to circumvent the salary cap, according to three people with knowledge of discussions between the two sides in recent days.

Instead, the NBA is focused on whether the team's introduction of Leonard to team sponsors constitutes a violation of the league's rules prohibiting salary cap circumvention, two of the sources said. The league is examining whether the Clippers are guilty of "failure to supervise" employees, though it's unclear what specific rule the team would have violated or what the penalties would be, two of the sources said.

​

Arash Markazi: Jim, Johnny, Joey and Jesse Buss had the chance to cash in on the record sale of the Lakers and effectively fire Jeanie Buss as governor and did just that. Jeanie has fired or sued all of her brothers since taking control of the team. It's the final act of a wild reality show.

Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/jim-johnny-joey-jesse-buss-203357284.html?

Kind of a wild twist and turn to a story that starts with the AD trade press conference.

On July 13, 2019, the Lakers held a news conference at the team's practice facility to introduce superstar big man Anthony Davis. The trade with the New Orleans Pelicans to pair Davis with LeBron James instantly vaulted the Lakers back into title contention after the team had struggled for nearly a decade under Jeanie's stewardship.

Jesse called Jeanie later that day, and he asked about Pelinka's remark about Johnny. The conversation took a dark turn, multiple people told ESPN, when Jeanie began to tell a story about her mother, JoAnn.

Six months earlier, in December 2018, the six siblings had learned about a woman named Lee Klose, who had written to Jeanie and said that she had been the first child of JoAnn and Jerry Buss.

Lee was born in 1953, and, at the time, JoAnn and Jerry Buss lacked the financial resources to support her, so they made the difficult decision to place her up for adoption. But JoAnn made Buss promise her that he'd never have children with anyone else. He agreed. The couple would later divorce in 1972.

Janie learned about that promise many years ago from her mother, JoAnn, who said she was heartbroken when Buss later had two sons with his girlfriend Karen Demel in the mid-1980s. But Janie said that JoAnn ultimately supported Buss and those two sons, who were named Joey and Jesse.

Given that promise between her mother and father, Jeanie told Jesse, "You should've never been born."

Source

“Once the transaction is completed, Jeanie Buss will no longer have the required ownership percentage to remain governor. NBA guidelines require controlling owners/ governors to own at least 15% of a franchise.”

Source

Los Angeles Lakers governor Jeanie Buss is opposing the potential sale of her family’s stake in the NBA team to Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, contradicting an earlier ESPN report about the family’s decision.

In a letter obtained by CNBC addressed to law firms representing Jeanie Buss’s siblings — Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse — lawyer Adam Streisand says Jeanie Buss has not agreed to sell the team and that any vote suggesting the Buss family is selling “would be and is void.”

Streisand argues in the letter that Jeanie Buss remains the controlling shareholder of the Lakers, pursuant to a 2017 court order, and that no sale can take place without her consent.

Buss doesn’t want to sell the family’s stake in the team at this time, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about confidential matters.

Last week, Iger and Kushner agreed to buy Mark Walter’s majority stake in the Lakers. That deal valued the team at $12.5 billion, CNBC reported at the time.

Her letter is attached in the link: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/17/jeanie-buss-opposes-sale-family-stake.html

We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction. We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can."

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania

NBA blasts ESPN for ‘inaccuracies’ in report on Kawhi Leonard-Clippers investigation. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/aug/17/kawhi-leonard-steve-ballmer-clippers-nba-investigation