The NBA's Clippers Investigation: A Whitewash? Plus Von Miller to Dallas, Richardson's Stuck in Indy

The NBA spent over a year investigating whether Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through sponsor deals—specifically a $28 million endorsement agreement between Kawhi Leonard and a now-defunct company called Aspiration—to circumvent the salary cap. According to ESPN, the league found no evidence of wrongdoing. Less than two hours after that report broke, the NBA issued a prepared statement calling the ESPN story "numerous and significant inaccuracies." Ben Maller is not buying any of it.

The Clippers Investigation and the NBA's Response

Maller's skepticism is rooted in what he sees as a pattern. He compares the investigation to Major League Baseball's initial probe of the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal—where the league looked, declared everything clean, and only acted after a whistleblower came forward. "You cannot find something if you've already decided you don't want to find it," he says. The NBA, in his view, had every incentive to avoid digging too deep. Adam Silver, sitting in Midtown Manhattan, has a button that opens a trapdoor to "Crazy Town," and he chose to keep it bolted shut. "Once you seriously start digging into the underbelly around Kawhi Leonard's arrangement," Maller argues, "where does the shovel stop?"