DAN GARTLAND

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch a second of the MLB All-Star Game. 

🇪🇸 Spain marches into final

⚾ Verducci’s MLB trends

🏀 College hoops chaos

Brad Penner/Imagn Images

NBA commissioner Adam Silver told reporters last night in Las Vegas that the league’s investigation into allegations the Clippers circumvented the salary cap is “going on longer than I would have hoped” but that it “needs to be wrapped up” before the start of the next season. 

The league has hired Manhattan law firm Wachtell Lipton to look into allegations that the Clippers used a no-show endorsement deal with a now-bankrupt financial technology and sustainability services company, Aspiration, to attempt to pay Kawhi Leonard $28 million on top of his NBA salary. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invested $60 million in the company. (Ballmer has denied any wrongdoing; the Clippers have said they were victims of a fraud and didn’t funnel money to Leonard through Aspiration.) Leonard never publicly endorsed the company, but he and former Aspiration CEO Andrei Cherny have denied that the deal was a no-show arrangement. Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg pleaded guilty in October 2025 to defrauding investors and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The league’s investigation, which could result in harsh penalties for the franchise (such as forfeiting draft picks and even the voiding of Leonard’s contract), led the Clippers and Raptors last week to pause a planned trade that would send Leonard back to Toronto. 

Silver’s press conference came hours after The Athletic reported that Wachtell Lipton has investigated whether Leonard had a second endorsement deal with another company, as well as whether the Clippers improperly covered expenses for Leonard. 

The Clippers were already expected to face harsh consequences if found to have violated league rules with the Aspiration deal. If the scope of the alleged cap circumvention goes beyond that, then the league will really throw the book at them. 

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

Well, I hope I was wrong when I wrote yesterday that I expected Spain-France to be the better of the two World Cup semifinals. 

It was a great game for Spain, at least. The Spaniards were clearly the superior team in the 2–0 victory, even if many of the underlying stats were fairly equal. Both teams had 10 shot attempts, and Spain held the slightest advantage in possession (51%). France actually held the edge in touches inside the box (19–13), but that’s a bit deceptive. Spain was much more dangerous throughout the game, accumulating 1.63 expected goals to France’s 0.31. 

It was incredible to see France, which had marched through the tournament with relative ease, suddenly rendered completely inept. Spain was much more fluid on offense, and continued to be impressively stout on defense. Spain has now recorded a clean sheet in six of its seven games at this World Cup, with the only blemish being Belgium’s first-half goal in the quarterfinal. 

Spain will face the winner of this afternoon’s England-Argentina game, and you have to think Spain will be the favorite in the final no matter what the matchup is. England and Argentina have both had concerning performances earlier in the tournament. England couldn’t break through in a 0–0 draw against Ghana in the group stage, then needed to mount a furious late comeback to beat DR Congo in the first knockout stage match. Argentina, meanwhile, managed only narrow wins in its three knockout matches against Cabo Verde, Egypt and Switzerland. (The Cabo Verde and Switzerland games required extra time.) 

But if we’ve learned anything in this World Cup, it’s that it doesn’t matter who the favorite is. Spain, England and Argentina have all been taken to the limit by underdogs in this tournament. It’d be foolish to say with any certainty what will happen on Sunday in New Jersey. 

 Mark Blinch/Getty Images

… things I saw yesterday: 

5. A great long pass from Ousmane Dembélé that almost led to a scoring opportunity for France. (Yeah, it didn’t amount to anything, but you try finding five good sports highlights during the All-Star break.)

4. A really tough fadeaway by the Mystics’ Shakira Austin. 

3. The Philly fans booing ballhawk bozo Zack Hample after he got a ball at the end of an inning. (If you’re unfamiliar with him, I wrote a few years ago about Hample’s antics and his pathological pursuit of baseballs.)

2. Dani Olmo’s assist on Pedro Porro’s goal. 

1. Ernie Clement’s beautiful play at second base. 

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