Kawhi Leonard mumbled his way through a few answers to questions Monday about his endorsement deal with Aspiration Partners that has triggered an NBA investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented the league salary cap.

The Clippers allowed only two reporters to ask about the deal during media day at Intuit Dome, refusing to give the microphone to additional reporters — including one from The Times — who raised their hands to ask questions. Leonard was ushered off the dais and out of sight.

“The NBA is going to do their job,” Leonard said. “None of us did … wrongdoing and, yeah, that’s it. We invite the investigation.”

Asked about his understanding of the endorsement deal and whether he performed any services, Leonard replied, “I understand the full contract and services that I had to do. Like I said, I don’t deal with conspiracies or the click-bait analysts or journalism that’s going on.

“I don’t think it’s accurate” that he provided no endorsement services to Aspiration, he said. “It’s old. This is all new to you guys. But the company went bankrupt a while ago, so we already knew this was going to happen.”

He added that he wasn’t paid all the money due to him, saying, “I’m not sure [how much I’m owed]. I’ve got to go back and look at the books. … The company went belly up and it was fine.”

Lawrence Frank, Clippers president of basketball operations, was insistent that the investigation will exonerate owner Steve Ballmer and the franchise.

“We appreciate that there will be a clear-eyed look at these allegations,” Frank said. “And we are eager for the truth to come out.

“The assumptions and conclusions that have been made are disappointing and upsetting. And we expect the investigation will show that these allegations are wrong.”

The salary cap limits what teams can spend on player payroll to ensure parity and prevent the wealthiest teams from outspending smaller-market teams to acquire the best players. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has called attempts to circumvent it a “cardinal sin.”

Read more:What we know about the NBA investigation into Steve Ballmer’s Clippers

In this case, Leonard agreed to a $28-million contract for endorsement and marketing work for Aspiration, which went out of business in March. Players are allowed to have separate endorsement and other business deals. At issue in this case is whether the Clippers participated in arranging the side deal beyond simply introducing Aspiration executives to Leonard.

The most painful penalties the NBA could impose would be suspending Ballmer for a maximum of one year and docking the Clippers their first-round draft picks for up to five years. The team already is without a first-round pick in 2026 and 2028, having traded them away. Forfeiting the remaining picks through 2032 would make it harder for the Clippers to compete for their first-ever NBA championship.

“I hurt for Steve,” Frank said. “He’s one of the best people, most honorable people I’ve met. He does things the right way for the right reasons. And he constantly reminds us to stay on the right side of the rules.

“I also hurt for our players, our staff and fans. And, on a larger level, as I’ve learned about this over the past month, I feel bad for all the people defrauded by [Aspiration].”

Read more:Clippers considered naming dome after bankrupt firm at center of Kawhi Leonard allegations

Frank said a partition exists between team executives and companies that signed players for endorsements.

“Endorsement contracts are completely separate from player contracts,” he said. “So what a player makes, Kawhi, or any of our other players, in endorsement contracts, I have no idea.”

Ballmer, however, had a 2% to 3% ownership share in Aspiration and made separate investments of $50 million and $10 million in the company. Whether that same partition applied to him is something NBA investigators will examine, according to Michael McCann, a visiting professor of law at Harvard who has followed the situation closely.

Frank emphasized that the Clippers front office takes the salary cap rules seriously.

Read more:Adam Silver says NBA needs clear evidence Clippers made secret deal before lowering boom on Ballmer

“The salary cap governs everything we do,” he said. “Our mission every day is to build the best team we can under the constraints of the cap. There is no gray area. There are no secret shortcuts. It’s clear what we are and are not allowed to do.”

Whether Leonard was as clear about the rules remains unknown. The forward who is under contract for two more seasons and $100 million said the upcoming season is all he’s thinking about.

“I’m not getting into any conspiracy theories or anything like that,” he said. “It’s about the season and what we’ve got ahead of us right now.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

With the Mets falling short and missing the playoffs after such high expectations for the 2025 season, many would like to point the blame at Carlos Mendoza.

President of baseball operations David Stearns is not one of them and expressed his belief in Mendoza’s ability to lead New York on Monday, confirming that he will return as manager of the club for the 2026 season.

“Yeah, Carlos is coming back next year,” Stearns made clear.

Mendoza helped the Mets to an 89-73 record during the 2024 season, knocking off the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Wild Card Series and the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Division Series, before falling to the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in six games in the NL Championship Series.

Stearns acknowledged the 2025 season was a completely different story. The Mets had the best record in baseball on June 12 at 45-24, but due to poor pitching, lack of clutch hitting, defensive issues, and injuries, the team went 38-55 from June 13 on, the fifth-worst record in the bigs over that span and finished outside of the postseason with an 83-79 record. Mendoza is now 172-152 over two seasons.

Despite the second-half downfall, Stearns is still very much confident in Mendoza as manager and personally took the blame for a number of the 2025 team’s issues, including pitching.

“I believe Carlos has all the same traits and assets that I believed in when we hired him two years ago,” Stearns said. “I think over the course of his tenure here, he has demonstrated that.

“We had a tough year this year, there’s no question. We are all disappointed, we are all frustrated. Mendy, as much or more than anyone else. But I still believe he’s a very good manager and I think he’s going to demonstrate that.”

As for the rest of the coaching staff, Stearns said everyone under Mendoza will be evaluated. SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino reported Sunday night that it can be expected for there to be “notable and perhaps widespread changes to the coaching staff” this offseason.

“We’re going to go through an evaluation of our entire coaching staff and we’ll do that over the course of the coming days to a week, and then we’ll make our decisions there,” Stearns said.

He added: “We’re going to certainly sit down and look at everything, including our coaching staff. It’s normal after any season to do a coaching staff evaluation. When you come off a season like this, it’s certainly going to be a little more intense.”

Nikola Jokić had roughly 80 million reasons this offseason to not sign a contract extension with the Denver Nuggets.

On Monday, he addressed his long-term plans at Nuggets media day as he approaches the third year of a five-year, $276 million supermax contract. Jokić declined to answer directly if he intends to sign an extension next offseason. But he did address his long-term plans.

“My plan is to be a Nugget forever,” Jokić said.

As for the direct topic of a extension next summer, Jokić offered a more roundabout response.

“I mean, I don’t think about it,” Jokić said. “I think those contract extensions come as a reward, as something that is natural to the sport. Especially in today’s NBA how you see how the salary cap is growing and everything.”

[Yahoo Sports TV is here! Watch live shows and highlights 24/7]

Jokić is expected to sign extension

There’s little to fear here for Nuggets fans. Jokić, 30, is signed through the 2026-27 season and has a player option for 2027-28. He was first eligible this offseason to sign a three-year, $212 million extension, but declined. The reason? He stands to secure a lot more money by waiting until next offseason to sign an extension. 

Per multiple reports, Jokić stands to earn roughly $80 million more by waiting until next offseason to sign an extension. Nuggets governor Josh Kroenke has made clear the team intends to offer him an extension. Because why wouldn’t they? He’s a three-time MVP in his prime.

And there’s little to indicate Jokić has any reason to turn that kind of money down. The Nuggets, meanwhile, are coming off a second-round playoff exit with a retooled roster in hopes of returning to championship contention.

Nuggets made moves to stay in contention with Jokić

Two seasons removed from the franchise’s first NBA championship, the Nuggets hit a rough patch last season that resulted in the late-season dismissal of head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth. The Nuggets entered the playoffs with then-interim head coach David Adelman. 

They were competitive in their second-round playoff series against the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder, but ultimately saw significant roster deficiencies exposed in a Game 7 loss. 

Since then, the Nuggets have made Adelman their full-time coach. And they made substantial roster moves under front-office tandem Ben Tenzer and Jonathan Wallace to address the depth, defense and shooting flaws from last year’s team. 

Gone is talented, but oft-injured wing Michael Porter Jr., who was frequently a defensive liability. The Nuggets acquired sharpshooting wing Cam Johnson in return for Porter in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets that also freed up salary cap space to address their depth shortcomings. 

They’ve since reunited with wing defender Bruce Brown, who played a vital role on Denver’s 2022-23 championship team. They’ve also added more shooting in veteran guard Tim Hardaway Jr. and much-needed post relief for Jokić in trading for center Jonas Valančiūnas.

The Nuggets will also have 2024 first-round pick DaRon Holmes, who missed his entire rookie season after suffering a torn Achilles tendon. It added up to a hopeful offseason in Denver as the Nuggets made clear they intend to continue to compete for championships around Jokić’s prime. 

Jokić addressed the roster moves Monday.

“Bruce is back. We won with him. Need to save his career again,” Jokić joked. “We have Cam and Jonas — we have a bunch of new guys. We have Holmes healthy.

“We’ll see. It’s a new energy, new beginning for us. Hopefully we can do something.”

Nikola Jokić had roughly 80 million reasons this offseason to not sign a contract extension with the Denver Nuggets.

On Monday, he addressed his long-term plans at Nuggets media day as he approaches the third year of a five-year, $276 million supermax contract. Jokić declined to answer directly if he intends to sign an extension next offseason. But he did address his long-term plans.

“My plan is to be a Nugget forever,” Jokić said.

As for the direct topic of a extension next summer, Jokić offered a more roundabout response.

“I mean, I don’t think about it,” Jokić said. “I think those contract extensions come as a reward, as something that is natural to the sport. Especially in today’s NBA how you see how the salary cap is growing and everything.”

[Yahoo Sports TV is here! Watch live shows and highlights 24/7]

Jokić is expected to sign extension

There’s little to fear here for Nuggets fans. Jokić, 30, is signed through the 2026-27 season and has a player option for 2027-28. He was first eligible this offseason to sign a three-year, $212 million extension, but declined. The reason? He stands to secure a lot more money by waiting until next offseason to sign an extension. 

Per multiple reports, Jokić stands to earn roughly $80 million more by waiting until next offseason to sign an extension. Nuggets governor Josh Kroenke has made clear the team intends to offer him an extension. Because why wouldn’t they? He’s a three-time MVP in his prime.

And there’s little to indicate Jokić has any reason to turn that kind of money down. The Nuggets, meanwhile, are coming off a second-round playoff exit with a retooled roster in hopes of returning to championship contention.

Nuggets made moves to stay in contention with Jokić

Two seasons removed from the franchise’s first NBA championship, the Nuggets hit a rough patch last season that resulted in the late-season dismissal of head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth. The Nuggets entered the playoffs with then-interim head coach David Adelman. 

They were competitive in their second-round playoff series against the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder, but ultimately saw significant roster deficiencies exposed in a Game 7 loss. 

Since then, the Nuggets have made Adelman their full-time coach. And they made substantial roster moves under front-office tandem Ben Tenzer and Jonathan Wallace to address the depth, defense and shooting flaws from last year’s team. 

Gone is talented, but oft-injured wing Michael Porter Jr., who was frequently a defensive liability. The Nuggets acquired sharpshooting wing Cam Johnson in return for Porter in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets that also freed up salary cap space to address their depth shortcomings. 

They’ve since reunited with wing defender Bruce Brown, who played a vital role on Denver’s 2022-23 championship team. They’ve also added more shooting in veteran guard Tim Hardaway Jr. and much-needed post relief for Jokić in trading for center Jonas Valančiūnas.

The Nuggets will also have 2024 first-round pick DaRon Holmes, who missed his entire rookie season after suffering a torn Achilles tendon. It added up to a hopeful offseason in Denver as the Nuggets made clear they intend to continue to compete for championships around Jokić’s prime. 

Jokić addressed the roster moves Monday.

“Bruce is back. We won with him. Need to save his career again,” Jokić joked. “We have Cam and Jonas — we have a bunch of new guys. We have Holmes healthy.

“We’ll see. It’s a new energy, new beginning for us. Hopefully we can do something.”

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Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns was blunt, forthcoming, and reflective on Monday, speaking at Citi Field a day after New York’s season ended in abject failure at the hands of the Marlins in Miami.

“I’m the architect of the team,” Stearns said at the beginning of his news conference. “I’m responsible for it.”

And while taking responsibility, a lot of focus was spent on the Mets’ failure to prevent runs, which was a two-pronged issue caused by the pitching and defense. Stearns also touched on the offense, but much more of his time was spent alluding to what went wrong with the starting rotation — and how to fix things.

“From a roster construction perspective, on the run-prevention side of the ball, we didn’t do a good enough job of fortifying our team when we had injuries midseason,” Stearns said. “Clearly, that was a point in our season where on the run-prevention side of things we went from a very good team to a team that wasn’t good enough to maintain a sizable lead — not only in the division, but in the playoff chase. 

“Our defense wasn’t good enough, and that certainly contributed to our pitching challenges. And then offensively, we had a number of players who had really good years. But we failed to score the runs that we needed to score despite those really good years. You add all that up, and you get to a team that underachieved greatly. We know that. I certainly know that. And we’re gonna work really hard to fix that going forward, learn from this, and do a heck of a lot better.”

After storming out of the gates to a 45-24 record in mid-June, things turned for the Mets.

Before getting injured, Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill had started to regress badly. Kodai Senga also suffered an injury, compounding the rotation issue since Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas were still out while rehabbing injuries suffered in spring training.

Faced with a rotation that was in disarray, the Mets were in a tough spot.

In the weeks after the injuries hit, New York utilized a handful of bullpen games and gave starts to pitchers like Paul Blackburn (they lost all four of his starts in June) and Blade Tidwell.

They also decided to not call Nolan McLean up at that point, even though he was performing in largely dominant fashion for Triple-A Syracuse.

While Stearns said the team should’ve done more over the summer to address the issue, he did not regret not adding to the rotation at the trade deadline.

“I think holistically as I look at our pitching staff, we needed to do more over the course of the season,” Stearns said. “That is very clear. What we were faced at at the deadline? I think our fanbase would be perhaps even more upset if we had made some of those moves. But the entirety of our run-prevention unit was not good enough this year.”

Above, Stearns seemed to be referencing the reported prices for the starting pitchers who weren’t moved, which was relatively outrageous.

Regarding how the Mets will fix the rotation for 2026 and beyond, Stearns wouldn’t rule out anything and noted that adding a top starter via free agency or trade is possible. But he stressed the need to develop top of the rotation starters, which the team might have just done with McLean.

Stearns also touched on what he learned during the season, and cited a need to be more proactive and aggressive.

“I think on a number of levels there are areas where we can probably be a little bit more proactive,” he said. “And I can be a little bit more proactive. I think some of these lessons we’re still investigating and still fully understanding various aspects of our team. But there are clearly times in the season, times over the offseason, where I can be a little bit more proactive.”

He later noted:

“We are making the best decisions we possibly can with the information we have at the moment. I made the best judgments I did — clearly some of them didn’t work out. Now we try to learn and move forward.”

In addition to the struggles of the starting pitchers who were healthy, the Mets were left in a precarious spot when it came to depth. And the bullpen was impacted because the starters didn’t pitch deep enough into games.

Neither issue was lost on Stearns.

“We need more innings out of our starting staff,” he said. “There’s no question about that. We were on the edge for the first two and a half months this year, where we were getting five-plus innings per start pretty consistently. That worked because it was happening every night. The minute you then get your 2 1/3 inning start, you get into trouble. That got us into trouble this year — when we stopped getting the consistent five-plus inning starts, and occasionally there was the really short start. And then the next start was 5 1/3 innings. That gets you into trouble.”

Stearns added:

“Yeah, we were hit by injuries. But every team is hit by injuries, and we have to be able to have sufficient pitching depth to overcome that. And clearly when we got hit by injuries in the middle of the season, we did not have the depth to overcome that.”