As Holmes explains, because salary cap circumvention is considered a violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the NBA can’t unilaterally penalize the Clippers and/or Leonard without being subject to a potential arbitration process. Additionally, the Clippers, who have maintained their innocence throughout the process, plan to “fight that to the end,” including through arbitration, a team source tells ESPN. Torre spoke to Aspiration employees who described the arrangement as salary cap circumvention designed to pay Leonard beyond his NBA salary. The arbitrator’s ruling would then be subject to an three-person appeals panel jointly appointed by the NBA and NBPA. According to Holmes, it’s unclear how potential arbitration would impact the timeline of the Leonard trade.