The Kawhi Leonard reunion with the Toronto Raptors has taken on a strange new layer, and it starts with who was in position to watch over it.
Pablo Torre recently flagged a twist on social media: Raptors outgoing owner Larry Tanenbaum also serves as chairman of the NBA’s Board of Governors. That matters because, as Michael Grange reported in September 2025, “It will be Tanenbaum, who has led the NBA BoG since 2017, who will have a front-row seat into the investigation into the Clippers owner being conducted by a New York law firm at the behest of NBA commissioner Adam Silver,” and “it will be Tanenbaum who will presumably have a voice in what - if any - sanctions are levelled against Ballmer and the Clippers.”
The timing makes the Leonard situation feel even more loaded. The Clippers had reportedly gone from not wanting to move Leonard to sending him back to his former team, even though Toronto hardly looked like an obvious championship destination. Leonard’s history only sharpened the surprise: he is known as a tough negotiator, and he left Toronto after just one year.
Now the larger issue is what Torre laid out about the Clippers, owner Steve Ballmer, and Leonard. Torre presented a paper trail connecting Aspiration, Ballmer, and Leonard’s uncle, Dennis Robertson, arguing that the company was used to funnel Leonard no-show endorsement money and other benefits that the league’s CBA does not allow.
If the NBA treats this as salary-cap circumvention, the consequences could be severe. The Clippers could lose multiple first-round picks, and Leonard’s deal could be voided.
That is why the Raptors angle feels so unusual. With Tanenbaum in line to have a role in any discipline, the setup raises obvious questions about whether the organization that landed Leonard could ever be fully separated from the investigation hanging over the Clippers. Ballmer, meanwhile, would be trading away the face of the franchise, collecting some assets back, and trying to avoid losing valuable draft capital.
Taken together, the deal has the look of something more than a simple basketball move. All things considered, it’s hard not to wonder if there weren’t ulterior motives involved.
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