This isn't over! The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into the Clippers' alleged secret contract with Kawhi Leonard.

According to a report by The New York Times on September 11, citing sources familiar with the matter, the U.S. Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers and their owner Steve Ballmer for allegedly helping Kawhi Leonard sign a secret contract to circumvent the salary cap.

Two sources said the investigation is still in its early stages and is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn. That office has a long history of investigating NBA and professional sports-related cases.

The relevant authorities had already started reviewing the matter before the NBA handed down severe penalties to the Clippers, the team's owner, and two top executives last week. The law firm investigation commissioned by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had previously determined that the Clippers engaged in widespread violations.

The scope of the investigation, the targets, and the potential charges being examined are still unclear. However, two sources said prosecutors have issued at least one subpoena in the investigation.

John Marzuli, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, declined to comment. Spokespersons for the Clippers and the NBA did not respond to inquiries, and did not say whether they are cooperating with the investigation or have received subpoenas.

The investigation is likely to focus on a series of secret endorsement contracts signed by Leonard, and whether team owner Steve Ballmer and other executives helped facilitate these contracts to pay Leonard excess compensation outside the salary cap.

The criminal investigation itself has put all parties involved, including the Clippers, Leonard, and team sponsors, in a more complicated situation. They are already facing the consequences of the league's penalties and the harshly worded investigation report from a top law firm.

Two sources revealed that the Clippers and Ballmer are still studying how to respond to the NBA's penalties, with one option being to sue the league and seek an injunction from a judge.

The sources cautioned that it is impossible to determine whether the investigation will ultimately lead to criminal charges, or even whether evidence will be presented to a grand jury. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to maintain the confidentiality of the ongoing investigation.

For nearly two decades, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn has been handling cases to uphold integrity in professional sports.

In 2007, the office worked with the FBI to prosecute an NBA referee who admitted to betting on games he officiated. Over the past two years, the Eastern District of New York prosecutor has indicted eight current and former professional athletes in cases involving illegal gambling. Among the defendants are NBA Hall of Fame guard Chauncey Billups and MLB star closer Emmanuel Clase, both of whom have pleaded not guilty.

In 2015, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn indicted dozens of defendants in a case that exposed widespread institutional corruption at FIFA. The investigation found that sports marketing executives paid $150 million in bribes to soccer officials in exchange for lucrative broadcasting rights for tournaments.

Reporter Pablo Torre first raised questions about the deal between the Clippers and Leonard as early as September 2025 on his podcast 'Pablo Torre Finds Out.' Subsequently, the NBA launched an investigation and hired the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges to conduct an independent probe.

The NBA sets a salary cap to limit teams' total spending on players, with one of the purposes being to maintain competitive balance in the league. In July 2019, Leonard signed a three-year contract worth over $100 million. However, the investigation report by Weil, Gotshal & Manges showed that Leonard, through his uncle Dennis Robertson, pressured the Clippers to provide additional endorsement contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, a violation of NBA rules.

These endorsement contracts were never publicly disclosed, and Leonard did not perform any public endorsement activities for the companies involved. One of the most notable agreements was a $28 million contract with Aspiration Partners, a sustainability company that has since gone bankrupt. This company also had multiple cooperation agreements with the Clippers and Ballmer.

Earlier this month, the law firm released its findings on the Clippers investigation: the Clippers actively facilitated Leonard's off-court income agreements with four different companies, a violation of NBA salary cap rules.

The NBA stated that it found the Clippers' management had 'a series of misconduct and multiple serious violations' and imposed one of the heaviest penalties in league history: forfeiture of the Clippers' next five draft picks, which will severely limit the team's ability to improve in the coming years. Leonard must pay $700,000 to the league, the Clippers are fined $30 million, and Ballmer is suspended from the league for one year.

Two other Clippers executives involved, as well as Leonard's uncle Robertson, were also suspended.

In response to the NBA's penalties, Leonard issued a statement saying he was willing to 'take responsibility for the poor judgment of people in my inner circle.'

The Clippers, on the other hand, strongly refuted the NBA and Silver.

The Clippers wrote in a statement: 'We strongly disagree with the NBA's findings. This investigation was heavily biased, aimed at finding excuses for predetermined conclusions rather than being based on facts and evidence. What the league told us privately is inconsistent with the version announced publicly today.'

The U.S. Department of Justice is the second government agency to intervene in the investigation of the Clippers and Leonard matter.

Daktronics, a manufacturer of arena scoreboards, is another company named in the NBA report that had a sponsorship contract with Leonard. In early September, the company admitted to investors that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had requested documents from it and from Leonard. The company said it is cooperating with the investigation.