Kawhi Leonard doesn’t say much. He rarely tips his hand on the court, let alone off it. But right now, the NBA world is babbling not because of something Kawhi said, but because of what might soon be said about him. The punishment for his alleged role in the Clippers’ scandal? That decision isn’t Adam Silver’s alone. It’s the 29 other NBA owners who hold the cards. And according to veteran NBA insider Keith Smith, they may not play those cards lightly.

“Yeah. But when you’re actively cheating, that’s not okay. And that’s that’s that’s where this is uh you know string toward,” Smith explained. “Now, to answer your actual question, like, yeah, it’s a huge deal, and a lot of it’s going to depend how much do the other NBA owners want to make it into a huge deal.” That line changes everything. Silver, often viewed as the league’s ultimate decision-maker, is, in this case, more messenger than judge. The owners decide the weight of the hammer. Smith laid it out clearly.

“Yes, and no, it’s up to Adam Silver as an agent of the owners, and in this case, it would be the other 29 owners, and if the other 29 owners push Adam Silver and say it’s bad enough, then we go into the punishment phase.” What began as whispers about unusual sponsorship payouts has snowballed into one of the NBA’s most closely watched investigations in recent memory. Kawhi Leonard’s $28 million deal with Aspiration, coupled with $20 million in company shares, has drawn scrutiny for its potential to bypass salary cap rules.

Ballmer’s near-$50 million investment in the same company adds another layer of intrigue. While the NBA has “very broad powers” to punish wrongdoing, Silver insists that due process will guide every step, underscoring the league’s need for concrete evidence before any fines, suspensions, or contract voids are handed down. The stakes are high, and the outcome could reshape how sponsorships and player agreements are monitored across the league. Smith, speaking on that, didn’t hold back words again.

“There are some things laid out in the CBA, and one of the things is a $4.5 million fine. Uh, voiding of contracts. Uh, there can be suspensions that are handed down as well as loss of draft picks.” That’s no slap on the wrist. The stakes are higher because the league just introduced the second apron rules to stop big-market clubs from bending the system. If the Clippers are found guilty of using hidden benefits to land or keep Kawhi, it tilts the balance in a way that’s unfair to other franchises. And according to Smith, plenty of owners are furious.

“There’s been some reporting out there that they’re livid and a lot of them are like go after them as hard as you can,” he noted. For Kawhi Leonard, the implications stretch far beyond a few games missed. This isn’t just about suspension headlines. It’s about legacy, contracts, and how the league writes the next chapter of its star governance. Leonard signed a three-year, $153 million extension in January 2024. If his deal gets touched, even partly voided, it would send shockwaves across the entire NBA landscape.

Kawhi Leonard faces power play

The Clippers, meanwhile, built their entire present and future around him, mortgaging picks and depth for their championship pursuit. Now imagine draft penalties stacked on top of it. That’s franchise-altering damage. But Leonard is the face of the storm.

On the court, he’s still producing at an elite clip, averaging 21.5 points per game last season while shooting efficiently in his trademark midrange zones. He remains one of the NBA’s most feared two-way wings when healthy. Yet scandals don’t care about true shooting percentages.

The NBA has seen this before. Smith pointed back to the Joe Smith scandal in the late ’90s, when the Timberwolves were stripped of five first-round picks and fined millions for an illegal contract arrangement. The comparison looms, even if, as Smith said, “that was 25 years ago. Like, we don’t who knows.” For Leonard, though, any punishment, even a short suspension, would be a rare stain on a career built around efficiency and consistency. The irony?

The player who talks least may have the loudest controversy of the season. Smith put it simply, but very bluntly, saying, “I think they are really kind of going to going to go after this hard and I think we will see some form of suspensions.”

And that’s the threatening question now. Will Kawhi Leonard’s name, usually reserved for quiet dominance, become shorthand for one of the NBA’s biggest rule-bending scandals? Or will the owners let this pass with minimal consequence, wary of exposing their own books in the process? 

For now, Kawhi keeps playing. But his fate isn’t in his hands, or even Adam Silver’s, for that matter. It rests with the very people who sign the checks across the league. And those hands, depending on how tightly they grip, could determine if Leonard’s Clippers era takes its most crushing hit yet.