The NBA's investigation into alleged salary cap circumvention involving the LA Clippers and Kawhi Leonard has no set end date, with interviews still ongoing nearly seven months after the probe began.

"Wachtell's investigation is ongoing," an NBA spokesperson said. "There is more work to be done and no set timeline."

The inquiry, led by law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and attorney David Anders, centers on a $28 million endorsement deal between Leonard and Aspiration, a now-bankrupt green banking company in which Clippers owner Steve Ballmer had invested. Sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed that investigators are still conducting interviews with Clippers officials and former Aspiration employees familiar with the sponsorship arrangement. It remains unclear whether Leonard himself, or anyone in his circle, has been interviewed.

The investigation follows reporting by Pablo Torre, whose work cited internal documents showing Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration through his personal LLC in September 2021. That same month, the Clippers signed a $300 million deal with Aspiration. Six months later, Aspiration executed the endorsement agreement with Leonard.

Ballmer has acknowledged introducing Leonard to Aspiration but denied directing the company to sign him.

"We just can't be involved," Ballmer told ESPN. "We made an introduction."

Both Leonard and Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank have publicly welcomed the investigation and denied any wrongdoing.

"We are glad there's an investigation, and we welcome it," Frank said at the team's media day. "We appreciate that there'll be a clear-eyed look at these allegations, and we're eager for the truth to come out."

Leonard was equally direct.

"None of us did any wrongdoing," said Leonard. "That's it. We invite the investigations. It's not going to be a distraction for me or the rest of the team."

Former Aspiration co-founder and CEO Andrei Cherny also denied the circumvention allegations, stating the deal included extensive obligations for Leonard and followed thorough internal deliberation. However, three former senior executives chief financial officer Rojeh Avanesian, chief operating officer Mike Shuckerow and chief technology officer Eric Anderson issued a joint statement contradicting that account.

"The team expressed concerns at the time regarding the high cost of the arrangement and its lack of alignment with Aspiration's brand and business strategy," the executives said. "In our judgement, the Leonard Deal was not in the company's best interest. It was strategically difficult to justify then, and it remains so today."

ESPN separately obtained Leonard's 19-page contract with Aspiration and showed relevant language to five player agents and a National Basketball Players Association source familiar with endorsement agreements. The consensus among those sources was that the contract contained largely standard provisions.

"This is standard. Nothing unusual here," said one agent. A second added: "There's nothing in there that jumps out to me." Two agents flagged the contract's "beliefs" clause — which allows Leonard to decline obligations inconsistent with his personal values — as unusually broad, with one calling it "an amazing negotiation and/or an inexperienced lawyer on behalf of Aspiration."

The NBPA source reached the same conclusion.

"There is nothing in that contract that is inconsistent with the regular course of business," the source told ESPN, noting the beliefs clause was the only notable provision.

The five agents and the NBPA source collectively found nothing in the contract itself suggesting the deal was structured to circumvent the salary cap.

Should Wachtell Lipton's findings merit discipline, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver would not act unilaterally. Under the league's collective bargaining agreement, Silver would present the firm's conclusions to a neutral arbitrator jointly appointed by the NBA and the NBPA. That arbitrator would determine whether sufficient evidence exists to authorize penalties.

The investigation's complexity has drawn acknowledgment from Silver himself. At All-Star Weekend, hosted by the Clippers, he noted the challenges involved

"You have a company in bankruptcy. You have thousands of documents, multiple witnesses that have been needed to be interviewed." Silver added that the Clippers have been "fully cooperative."

A previous Wachtell Lipton investigation into former Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver, also led by Anders, involved 320 interviews and more than 80,000 documents reviewed, taking 10 months to conclude. Aspiration founder Joseph Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in August 2025 and is scheduled for sentencing April 27 in Los Angeles federal court.