This one has dragged on so long that a podcast host cracking a joke about it barely feels like news anymore, except now it's actually stalling a real trade. Back on June 30, the Clippers and Raptors agreed to a deal sending Kawhi Leonard to Toronto in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a 2027 first-round swap, and two second-rounders. It's a massive package. And it's stuck in neutral.
The holdup traces back to September 2025, when Pablo Torre reported the Clippers had arranged a $28 million no-show endorsement deal for Leonard through a sketchy tree-planting company called Aspiration, allegedly as a workaround to salary cap rules. The NBA responded by hiring the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to investigate. That was 10 months ago. There's still no ruling.
Sports Central's host summed up the frustration everyone's feeling watching this thing crawl along.
The league reportedly told the Raptors they'd be assuming all risk tied to whatever the investigation finds, which is a wild ask for a franchise trying to close a blockbuster. If Leonard's contract gets voided or he gets hit with a suspension, the entire value of the trade shifts overnight. Toronto is basically being asked to sign off on a deal for a player whose status the league itself hasn't sorted out.
That's the part fueling the pile-on against commissioner Adam Silver. ESPN's Tim McMahon has already called the lack of resolution an embarrassment to the commissioner's office, and the criticism online has only gotten sharper with the trade now visibly hanging in the balance.
The comparison to the Warren Commission's timeline captures just how absurd the wait has gotten.
There's no real precedent for a trade of this size sitting in limbo over an active investigation into the player at the center of it. Until Silver's office actually closes the book on Aspiration, Leonard stays a Clipper on paper, the Raptors stay in wait-and-see mode, and everyone else gets to keep making jokes about it.