Cap circumvention has migrated from under-the-table cash to endorsement deals.
As direct off-book payments draw record penalties, leagues and prosecutors now treat outside sponsorship and partnership income as disguised salary — freezing trades, stripping draft picks, and opening criminal files until side-deal money is fully explained.
The same conclusion keeps arriving from across the workspace's research — 1 topics independently instantiate this theme. Filter the evidence by where it came from:
Sponsorship money is now treated as disguised salary, freezing the Toronto trade until the side-deal payments are fully explained.
Outside sponsorship income paid to a star is now scrutinized as disguised salary under the cap-circumvention lens.
Endorsement-structured side money drew the harshest cap punishment in league history, with the Trent Jr. investigation extending the doctrine to the next deal.