A new report suggests the fact-finding phase is finished, which means the franchise's long wait now comes down to the league office.
The question hanging over the Los Angeles Clippers all summer has never been whether the league would finish its investigation, but when.
A meaningful answer finally arrived Thursday, when Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic said during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show that the investigative phase of the NBA's probe into the team and Kawhi Leonard has wrapped up.
"The investigation, I think, is over now," Vorkunov said.
He explained that the league is currently reviewing what its outside law firm found and weighing whether any punishment should follow, a process that could still wind through settlement talks and appeals before anything becomes official.
How the Clippers Got Here
The NBA opened the inquiry last September, hiring the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz to examine whether the franchise circumvented the salary cap through Aspiration, a now-bankrupt green banking company.
The sponsor held a reported $300 million agreement with the team and gave Leonard a reported $28 million endorsement deal, according to ESPN, and Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg has since been convicted of fraud and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Los Angeles has denied wrongdoing from the beginning, describing the organization as a victim of the fraud rather than a participant in it.
Commissioner Adam Silver has grown publicly impatient with the pace.
"This [investigation] needs to be wrapped up before the beginning of next season. It's going on longer than I would have hoped, there's no question about that," Silver said at Summer League earlier this month, per ESPN.
A league spokesperson added around the same time that the firm was expected to finalize its work in the coming weeks.
A Trade Frozen in Place
The stakes stretch well beyond potential fines.
Los Angeles agreed on June 30 to send Leonard to Toronto in a deal centered on Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and future draft capital, but both teams paused the trade until the investigation ends.
The front office has been openly anxious about what the findings might contain, and the freeze has complicated the rest of the summer, including restricted free agency talks with Bennedict Mathurin.
The organization had already been told a resolution was weeks away even before Vorkunov's update landed.
Leonard remains a massive on-court piece whenever the business side settles.
He averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists across 65 games last season while shooting nearly 39 percent from deep at age 34.
The Clippers finished 42-40 and ninth in the Western Conference, and Leonard is entering the final season of his contract at $50.3 million, per Front Office Sports.
What Comes Next
Vorkunov cautioned that the road ahead could still be slow, since the players union would get involved if any discipline touches Leonard, and the collective bargaining agreement builds in an appeals process.
Reported possibilities over the past month have ranged from fines and draft penalties to suspensions for team executives.
Nothing is settled until the commissioner's office speaks, but the fact-finding chapter appears closed, and everyone from Toronto's front office to Leonard himself finally has reason to believe an answer is coming.
