SI:AM | Another Questionable Kawhi Leonard Endorsement Deal Revealed

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I think I consumed the Hall of Fame Game in the best way possible. I totally ignored it last night and then enjoyed waking up to the highlights of undrafted quarterback Haynes King making two clutch plays with his legs to win it for the Panthers.

In today’s SI:AM:
🏈 CFB’s most intriguing coaches
🤦‍♂️ Purdue AD’s gaffe
🏀 Sophie Cunningham’s mess

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More trouble for Clippers

The Clippers’ alleged efforts to circumvent the salary cap and funnel more money to Kawhi Leonard may be more significant than originally believed.

According to a new episode of the podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out that was released last night, Leonard had an undisclosed endorsement deal on top of the previously reported agreement with the now-bankrupt environmentally focused financial firm Aspiration.

Torre reported that Leonard had a similar endorsement deal with Daktronics, the company best known for producing stadium video boards. Torre quoted one “high-level” anonymous source as saying that Leonard’s deal “was 1,000% a way to circumvent the salary cap.”

“It was funneling money from the Clippers through Daktronics back to Kawhi,” Torre’s source added. Another source said Leonard’s deal was for “millions of dollars.” Leonard never did any public-facing work on behalf of Daktronics, which built the double-sided “Halo Board” in the Clippers’ Intuit Dome. (A spokesman for Daktronics told Hunterbrook Media, which worked with Torre, that it was his understanding that Daktronics “doesn’t have a deal with Kawhi right now.” When asked for clarification, he said, “I don’t know what the company wants to say, or can say, given the Wachtell investigation and all that.”)

Intuit Dome video board — Daktronics built the video board at the Clippers’ home arena. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer have said that they were victims of fraud in the Aspiration case. Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg pleaded guilty in October 2025 to defrauding investors and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Ballmer invested $60 million in the company, and the company had a separate $300 million, 23-year sponsorship deal with the team. Leonard signed a four-year, $28 million endorsement deal with Aspiration.

Torre also broke the news in September 2025 that the NBA was investigating the Clippers-Leonard-Aspiration relationship. That investigation has dragged on, but NBA commissioner Adam Silver told reporters last month that it “needs to be wrapped up” before the start of the new season. The Clippers and Raptors paused a planned trade to send Leonard back to Toronto, opting to wait until the league hands down its punishment in the case to finalize the deal.

But the Daktronics revelation might not be news to the NBA, so it won’t necessarily delay the investigation further. Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic reported on July 14 that the league was investigating another Leonard endorsement deal on top of the Aspiration case.

The latest revelation increases the chances that the NBA will levy a severe punishment against the Clippers. One instance of salary cap circumvention is bad enough. But two? That’s a pattern. If it was just the Aspiration deal, the Clippers could have credibly argued that they were duped by a bunch of fraudsters. A similar arrangement with a second company blows a hole in that argument.

Does this guy follow college sports at all?

There’s no better way for a coach or administrator to score a couple cheap points when joining a new school than to take a dig at a rival. It’s easy. All you have to say is something like, “We’re gonna do things differently than those chumps up the road.” It shows that you care about winning and you’ve already bought into the rivalry.

You just have to make sure the barb makes sense. You can’t do, for example, what new Purdue athletic director Tommy McClelland did at his introductory press conference yesterday.

“Every recruit and every student athlete will hear this message repeatedly. We are here to win championships,” McClelland said. “If you don’t want to win championships, go to Indiana.”

NEW: Purdue AD Tommy McClelland in his introductory press conference:

"We are here to win championships. If you don't want to win championships, go to Indiana."

(via @BigTenNetwork)https://t.co/pwjsY4Axo9 pic.twitter.com/nqIYR1ks8Q
— On3 (@On3) August 6, 2026

Tommy! Are you a sports fan? Indiana just won a championship last season. In football. The biggest sport there is. It was a pretty big deal because of how historically inept the Hoosiers had been.

The worst part of this gaffe might be that McClelland appears to be reading from prepared remarks. No one took a look at his speech beforehand and told him about the result of the most recent College Football Playoff?

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The top five…

… things I saw yesterday:
5. The Pitt football program’s hilarious graphic touting Panthers alum Kenny Pickett as the starter in the Hall of Fame Game.
4. Pete Crow-Armstrong’s hustle to score the winning run in the 11th.
3. An incredible catch by English cricketer Will Jacks. His momentum was carrying him over the boundary, so he flipped the ball back into the field of play and caught it.
2. Some less impressive outfield defense by the Marlins, resulting in the strangest home run you’ll ever see.
1. Chelsea Gray’s buzzer beater to force overtime, followed by another one to win the game for the Aces.

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