The NBA has now completed its investigation into the LA Clippers’ dealings involving Kawhi Leonard, and the fallout has been enormous. The franchise lost five future first-round picks, while several key figures received fines or suspensions. Charles Barkley did not hold back when discussing the fallout.
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Speaking with Bill Simmons after the league announced its punishment, Charles Barkley did not mince words when the discussion turned to how the Clippers handled Leonard’s endorsement arrangements.
“Yeah, like, even if you did a commercial, you could at least cover it up a little bit,” Barkley said. “Yeah, like, you get paid for not doing anything. That’s really bad cheating.”
Charles Barkley was reacting to the unusual nature of the deals uncovered during the investigation. The findings centered on a series of endorsement arrangements involving Leonard and four companies that did business with the Clippers. In fact, the NBA said the organization helped facilitate those opportunities and also covered personal expenses for Kawhi Leonard and his representatives. So, Charles Barkley then took his criticism a step further.
“They could at least put him in some kind of a fake commercial or something like that to try to cover their ass,” Barkley said. “Which honestly, if we’re going to be honest, that’s what they probably should have did.”
It was a sarcastic comment. The NBA icon was not suggesting that the Clippers could have legally avoided punishment by producing a commercial. Simmons pointed to another red flag from the investigation. Some of the companies involved had never really operated like traditional sports sponsors.
“And sponsors I’d never heard of. People that didn’t normally have sponsorship agreements with anybody,” Simmons said. “And that’s when, once you get to four, pretty tough to cover up this stuff.”
According to the league, the Clippers “affirmatively” initiated off-court income opportunities between Leonard and four companies doing business with the team: Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics and Lockton Insurance. The league said the Clippers facilitated endorsement agreements and induced the companies to enter those deals by offering them business from the team.
The Aspiration agreement became the most prominent part of the controversy. The deal was worth $28 million and drew scrutiny because of the connection between Aspiration and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.
That was enough to make Barkley question how the Clippers thought the arrangements would hold up under scrutiny. The NBA’s investigation, conducted by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, concluded that the Clippers engaged in a pattern of misconduct connected to Kawhi Leonard.
The league determined that the organization used outside arrangements to provide Kawhi Leonard with benefits that violated NBA rules. The Clippers were fined $30 million and forfeited their 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033 first-round picks.
Owner Steve Ballmer received a one-year suspension, president of business operations Gillian Zucker received a one-year suspension, and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank received a six-month suspension.
Leonard received a $700,000 fine. His uncle and longtime adviser, Dennis Robertson, was also banned from engaging in NBA team business for five years. Charles defended Commissioner Adam Silver while acknowledging how ugly the entire situation looked for the NBA.
“They put Adam in a very bad situation,” Barkley said. “They got hammered rightfully so, plain and simple.” He also argued that Kawhi Leonard should never have left the Toronto Raptors after leading the franchise to its first championship in 2019.
The comments come nearly a year after Barkley first joked about Leonard’s situation. In October 2025, he famously said, “Well, Kawhi got 2 jobs… He can’t work 2 jobs and play basketball.” That comment came before the NBA completed its investigation.
Now that the league has released its findings, Charles Barkley’s tone is far more serious. Chuck stated that the Clippers crossed a line, and even the lack of obvious promotional work did not help their case.
If anything, it made the arrangements harder to defend. The Clippers have disputed the NBA’s findings and are challenging the punishment.