A lot has happened in and around the league ever since the news of Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers allegedly circumventing the salary cap broke through first. Notably, there has been a lot of curiousity regarding how NBA commissioner Adam Silver will handle this situation, especially if the Klaw and his team are found guilty during the independent review conducted by the league.

With the NBA All-Star Weekend set to tip off this Friday night at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, the home of the Clippers, reports suggest that Wacthell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are set to present their review after the festivities conclude. And according to The Athletic’s Joe Cardon and Mike Vorkunov, things don’t look too bright for Leonard.

“If the NBA determines that Leonard’s deal with Aspiration was a form of cap circumvention, it could punish the Clippers by fining them up to $7.5 million, stripping future draft picks, even voiding Leonard’s deal, or suspending members of the front office or Ballmer,” they wrote in their latest report.

Visibly, a lot is riding on that report for Kawhi Leonard. After all, he could be stripped of his $50.3 million remaining from the three-year $149.5 million extension he inked with the franchise. Not just that, he might even get further fined or suspended for the same. That said, the league is continuing to look at whether the financial arrangement between the superstar and Aspiration constituted of improper benefits.

A part of which includes Clippers’ minority owner Dennis J. Wong investing around $2 million into the company, shortly after which Leonard received a $1.75 million payment from Aspiration, which matched the quarterly payment structure of his outlined contract. Months later, Steve Ballmer also invested another $10 million as part of a fundraising round in which Wong was reportedly the only new investor.

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“The stakes for the NBA are high,” Cardon and Vorkunov further noted. “Opposing team executives are watching closely to not only see if the Clippers will be punished but also for an indication of how closely the league could prosecute allegations of cap circumvention in the future.”

While there’s no doubt there’s a lot of pressure on the Klaw and the Clippers, the stakes are pretty high for the league as well. That’s because if they don’t punish the people involved accordingly if they’re found guilty, the rest of the league could then follow similar paths to hand players no-show jobs on top of their regular NBA contracts. Nonetheless, while we await the highly anticipated report, Leonard is gearing up for the All-Star Weekend.

Kawhi Leonard wants to give back to local fans during the All-Star Weekend

Despite all the off-court stuff, on the hardwood, the Los Angeles Clippers are heading to the All-Star Weekend on a high note. Kawhi Leonard and Co. have been firing on all cylinders lately, which has been enough for the 34-year-old to get his seventh All-Star nod. And being the only Clippers player to participate in the All-Star Game, he’s a man on a mission.

“Just the fans. Giving back to the fans,” Leonard told the reporters after they asked him what it meant to be playing the All-Star Game at his home arena. “When I was growing up, I loved going to the games and to the convention center and seeing some type of NBA players…having fun in that basketball game.”

Indeed, it’s a special occasion for the two-time Finals MVP, who grew up in the Los Angeles area and even went to high school in Riverside. What makes it even more special for Leonard is the fact that he was initially controversially left out of the All-Star selection, and it wasn’t until later that Adam Silver selected him to satisfy the necessary number of players for the U.S.A. vs. the World format.

Either way, Kawhi Leonard without a doubt deserved that spot. More so, because he has been LA’s standout performer thus far, averaging 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game. In fact, he’s a huge reason why the Clippers have been able to make a remarkable turnaround despite their sluggish start to the season, as we hope to see him replicate some of that form during the All-Star Game later this week.