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Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have opened a criminal investigation into the Clippers following allegations that the team circumvented the NBA’s salary cap to pay Kawhi Leonard more than his typical salary through a series of “no-show” endorsement deals, report Michael S. Schmidt, William K. Rashbaum and Santul Nerkar of The New York Times.

Two people familiar with the matter said the criminal inquiry “is in its earliest stages,” per The New York Times.

According to Schmidt, Rashbaum and Nerkar, the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn began looking at the allegations before the NBA announced the results — and major penalties —  of its investigation, which was conducted by the firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and was initiated by a series of reports last year from investigative journalist and podcast Pablo Torre.

While it’s unclear what exactly the prosecutors are examining for potential crimes, they have issued at least one subpoena to the inquiry, those two sources told the Times.

The Clippers have long maintained they did nothing improper despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The team issued a statement strongly suggesting it was considering a lawsuit against the league; Schmidt, Rashbaum and Nerkar hear that’s one option the Clippers are contemplating, with another being asking a judge to issue a restraining order.

The two people familiar with the federal investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that it was unclear whether the probe would result in criminal charges — or even lead to evidence being presented to a grand jury.

The Eastern District of New York has a long history of bringing cases regarding integrity in professional sports, the author’s note, including multiple investigations to the NBA and illegal sports betting.

This new criminal inquiry is technically the second federal probe into the Clippers’ dealings with Leonard. As Schmidt, Rashbaum and Nerkar write, Daktronics — one of the companies at the center of the NBA’s probe — recently acknowledged in an earnings call that the Securities and Exchange Commission was looking into the company’s endorsement deal with Leonard.