Overview
- Pablo Torre Finds Out won the Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting on Monday for its series on the Los Angeles Clippers and Kawhi Leonard.
- The podcast reported that environmental startup Aspiration gave Leonard a four-year, $28 million no-show endorsement to route extra pay outside NBA salary-cap limits.
- The NBA opened an outside probe led by law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which Adam Silver called enormously complex and which has no set timeline.
- Steve Ballmer and Kawhi Leonard deny wrongdoing, with Ballmer saying he was conned by Aspiration and unaware of any $28 million deal.
- If investigators confirm cap circumvention, league rules allow fines, loss of draft picks, or voiding Leonard’s contract.