Clippers Stand Firm Amid NBA Investigation
The Los Angeles Clippers, while awaiting the results of the NBA’s investigation into Kawhi Leonard and a California company with which he had a sponsorship agreement, assure that the pending decision has not affected “anything we do”. This includes two surprising trades last week that sent James Harden to Cleveland and Ivica Zubac to Indiana.Last September, a report alleged that the Clippers violated NBA salary cap rules through a $28 million sponsorship deal between Leonard and a California-based sustainability services company, now bankrupt, called Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC. Leonard has denied any wrongdoing, saying he did not receive all the money he was owed from the company, and the Clippers have also strongly denied any rule violations. It’s been a strange season for the Clippers, who started the year with a 6-21 record, but recently climbed the standings, winning 19 of their last 25 games before Tuesday night’s game against Houston. Amidst the winning streak, the Clippers decided to trade Harden and Zubac, something Frank said was not originally in the plans until Cleveland called to inquire about Harden and Indiana sent a “Godfather-type offer” for Zubac. The Clippers received Darius Garland in exchange for Harden and two first-round picks, along with fourth-year forward Bennedict Mathurin for Zubac. Zubac grew with the Clippers after coming from the Los Angeles Lakers. He set personal records last season and became one of the best defensive big men in the league as the active player with the most time on the team. The night before Zubac’s trade, Frank told him that a team “was getting very, very aggressive” in their pursuit. At the same time, Frank said he “hoped they wouldn’t” meet the Clippers’ threshold to make the deal. In the end, the Pacers did it. Zubac called to ask if he could still go to the Clippers’ training facility. His final visit turned into a six-to-eight-hour celebration, with teammates, coaches, staff, and business operations employees saying goodbye. “There were a lot of tears,” Frank said on Monday. “It’s difficult because we all know what Zu means to us.” Making it more personal, Zubac’s wife had just given birth to their first child. “None of us felt good. He’s a special guy,” Frank said, citing Zubac’s ability to tell the truth to his teammates in difficult times and take responsibility when others pointed fingers. Meanwhile, Harden and the Clippers had talked about what the next few years would be like for the team. At 36, Harden had played a lot of minutes while carrying the team during the stretches when Leonard was injured. Trading him for Garland, who is 10 years younger than Harden, was a way for the Clippers to “win now and still get younger,” according to Frank. Frank said Leonard was “hurt and disappointed” that the Clippers had traded Harden and Zubac when it seemed they had straightened the course mid-season, but added that he has been “a great teammate” through this. “He understands that to be sustainable, you have to make very, very difficult decisions,” said Frank.We haven’t learned anything more than we knew in September. We know it’s there, we know that a decision will be made at some point. We feel the same way we told you in September, that we are on the right side of this. It really doesn’t affect anything we do on a daily basis.
Lawrence Frank, president of basketball operations
