What’s next after NBA’s Clippers punishment? Five lingering questions about Kawhi Leonard trade, appeals, more

The Kawhi Leonard investigation has concluded, and the NBA has dropped the hammer on the Los Angeles Clippers. Based on the findings of the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the NBA has announced the following punishments:

The Clippers released the following statement through ESPN soon after the NBA's announcement rejecting the league's punishments and findings:

"We vehemently reject the NBA's findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence. What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure it's fairness and accuracy.

For the past year, we cooperated fully and in good faith and we will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence.

We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process."

So what happens now? What does a possible appeal look like? Will Leonard ultimately get traded to the Toronto Raptors? What does this say about circumvention at large? Let's dig into…

Original source: https://www.cbssports.com/