NBA Daily Digest: Harden's charge dismissed as Kawhi report and free-agent market shape August 8

Through noon GMT+8 on Aug. 8, there were no NBA games in the preceding 24 hours. The league's useful movement was off the court: Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden's Texas gun charge was dismissed, a new report added another alleged sponsorship agreement to the NBA's investigation of LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, and several free-agent decisions remain open. 1234

There were no scores, recaps or active playoff series to report. NBA.com's live games page currently jumps to an Oct. 9 preseason game between the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks, so there is no standings table to add for this edition. 1

The clearest completed piece of roster business was in Washington, where the Wizards agreed with guard Alondes Williams on an Exhibit-10 contract, according to SI's report citing his agent. The deal is mainly a training-camp invitation: it does not count against Washington's top 15 roster spots, and the team can later decide whether Williams deserves a standard contract. 5

ESPN's Aug. 7 free-agent update, published at 7 a.m. ET, puts the remaining market into four distinct situations:

ESPN reported late Aug. 6 ET that Leonard also had an undisclosed sponsorship agreement, allegedly worth millions, with Daktronics, the company that designed the Intuit Dome's videoboard. The report relied on an anonymous source described as a former Clippers official and another source connected to the arena. It alleged the deal was a way to route money from the Clippers to Leonard and circumvent the salary cap. 3

That is an allegation, not a finding. The Clippers did not respond to ESPN's request for comment, while a Daktronics spokesperson said Leonard does not have an active contract with the company. The report adds a potential document trail, but it does not establish that any cap rule was violated. 3

No new player-specific injury, return or active/inactive announcement with a verifiable Aug. 7 ET publication time surfaced in the NBA.com and ESPN results for this window. That is a reporting boundary, not a league-wide declaration that every player is healthy. The next meaningful availability questions remain attached to players whose roster decisions are still open, especially Duren, Kuminga and Harden, rather than to a newly announced medical event.

Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George adds a different kind of availability question: whether he is willing to stay available to the market by waiting on his own extension. Yahoo Sports' Roundtable Sports article, published Aug. 8 at 1:58 a.m. UTC, quoted ESPN's Tim MacMahon saying a deal completed this summer would not be a max contract, while waiting could produce more money. George averaged 23.6 points and 6.1 assists last season, but Utah will give more touches to Darryn Peterson and Ace Bailey, making the next season a test of impact with a smaller share of the offense. 6

The games page currently marks the Oct. 9 matchup's TV field as TBD. 17