Clippers may punish Kawhi Leonard with Raptors trade still pending

Somewhat surprisingly, the NBA laid the hammer on the Los Angeles Clippers.

Investigators found that they had elaborated a complex scheme to funnel money under the table and circumvent the salary cap to pay Kawhi Leonard.

That led to a loss of five first-round picks, as well as suspensions and fines for their lead decision-makers.

According to CBS Sports' Robby Kalland, the Clippers may not want to help Kawhi Leonard and trade him to the Toronto Raptors anymore, since he came off the situation rather easily.

The Clippers might not want to trade Kawhi Leonard

“Some have posited that the Clippers could be dragging their feet on completing the trade out of spite for Leonard (and the league), and that they aren’t obliged to help Leonard get to his preferred destination, with Marc Stein reporting earlier this week that plenty of folks in the league have pondered this,” Kalland wrote. 

Leonard was only forced to give back $700,000 after he and the NBPA settled with the league.

He's still expected to be traded to the Raptors, though there's no way to finalize the trade until the Clippers get their own front office together:

“For the deal to be finalized, the Clippers need to appoint a new head of basketball operations — with the expectation that GM Trent Redden would be the choice — and a new acting governor,” Kalland added.

At the end of the day, the Clippers don't have any real reason to drag this situation much further.

If anything, they should be more eager to get the trade done than before, as it will help him recoup a couple of the five draft picks lost with this scandal.

For now, it looks like both parties will just have to wait, but this saga seems far from over.