Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Kawhi Leonard is still not a Toronto Raptor.
According to NBA insider Jake Fischer, the Los Angeles Clippers are the ones currently holding up the Kawhi Leonard trade to Toronto.
“Prime among reasons why Kawhi Leonard’s trade to Toronto has yet to be finalized: Sources tell @TheSteinLine and me the Clippers are still working through their new front office structure after NBA suspensions for Steve Ballmer, Lawrence Frank.” Fischer reported on Twitter.
Prime among reasons why Kawhi Leonard's trade to Toronto has yet to be finalized: Sources tell @TheSteinLine and me the Clippers are still working through their new front office structure after NBA suspensions for Steve Ballmer, Lawrence Frank.
More NBA: https://t.co/DA9iabgPaL pic.twitter.com/Sgv14NuUj4
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) September 8, 2026
Last week, the NBA announced that they had concluded their investigation into the Clippers and Leonard for their roles in a salary cap circumvention scheme:
The Los Angeles Clippers and Kawhi Leonard were penalized for circumventing the salary cap on Wednesday, but Leonard’s contract was not voided and he was not suspended.
However, the Clippers will forfeit five first-round picks, be fined $30 million, and owner Steve Ballmer, president Lawrence Frank and president of business operations Gillian Zucker will all be suspended. Their first-round picks will be taken away in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033. Ballmer and Zucker will be suspended for one year without pay, and Frank will be suspended for six months.
Leonard will have to pay $700,000 in restitution for improper benefits provided by the Clippers for his uncle and former business representative, Dennis Robertson. Robertson was fired by Leonard in June and is now “banned from conducting business or otherwise engaging with NBA teams and their affiliates on behalf of or with respect to any player, employee, or other league or team personnel for a period of five years,” according to the NBA’s official release.
On top of the hefty financial and pick repercussions, the suspensions of Ballmer and Frank has left the organization scrambling to figure out who their key decision-makers are going to be. Once that is squared away, it’s expected that the trade will be finalized.
The Raptors originally agreed to trade for Leonard on June 30 in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, second-round picks in 2030 and 2033, and a first-round pick swap in 2027.