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Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer suggested he would welcome the NBA taking a closer look if another franchise was accused of attempting to circumvent the league’s strict salary-cap parameters.
“I’d want the league to investigate, take it seriously,” Ballmer told ESPN on Thursday. “The salary cap circumvention rules are important to the league, and I’d want the league to investigate.”
On Wednesday, the NBA confirmed that a probe was underway. The league is “aware of this morning’s media report regarding the LA Clippers and [is] commencing an investigation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement.
Ballmer said he was “embarrassed” and experienced “sadness” amid the fallout from sports media personality and podcaster Pablo Torre’s report that asserted Ballmer and the Clippers evaded the NBA’s salary cap policies when Kawhi Leonard re-signed with Los Angeles in 2021.
“We did things by the book,” an adamant Ballmer said.
Torre reported that the Clippers facilitated a no-show endorsement deal for the two-time NBA Finals MVP. The deal, with Aspiration Partners Inc., carried an estimated value of $28 million. Aspiration, a “green” financial services company, has since filed for bankruptcy.
The company’s logo was featured on a Clippers jersey patch after it reached a $300 million sponsorship deal in 2021, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported at the time. Ballmer was also one of the company’s investors.
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Ballmer acknowledged that Aspiration asked to be introduced to Leonard but denied he was aware of the endorsement agreement the sides ultimately signed. Ballmer also made it clear that the company was operating under his direction.
Despite the reported multimillion-dollar deal, Leonard effectively was never required to perform any services for the company.
Leonard and the Clippers reached a four-year contract extension reportedly worth $173 million in August 2021. Ballmer noted Leonard was not introduced to Aspiration until November of that same year.
“We were done. We were done with Kawhi. We were done with Aspiration. The deals were all locked and loaded,” Ballmer said. “Then, they did request to be introduced to Kawhi, and, under the rules, we can introduce our sponsors to our athletes. We just can’t be involved.
“We made an introduction. That was in early November.”
Ballmer also said that, in cooperation with the Department of Justice probe into Aspiration, reviews of the interaction with the company are ongoing. In August, Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud.
“These were guys who committed fraud. Look, they conned me. They conned me. I made an investment in these guys thinking it was on the up-and-up, and they conned me at this stage. I have no ability to predict why they might have done anything they did, let alone the specific contract with Kawhi.”
This isn’t the first time the NBA has investigated Leonard. In 2019, Leonard and his associates, primarily his uncle Dennis Robertson, allegedly made improper appeals to teams during the small forward’s free agency. The Athletic reported at the time that Leonard’s representatives asked for private jet access, part ownership of a franchise and off-court partnership guarantees.
In 2020, Johnny Wilkes filed a lawsuit raising accusations about the Clippers’ pursuit of the then-free-agent Leonard. The suit alleged then-Clippers consultant Jerry West promised to pay Wilkes $2.5 million if he helped the team land Leonard. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed, and the NBA did not penalize the Clippers.
Ballmer was asked to comment on the numerous controversies Leonard has been involved in during his time with the Clippers.
“I don’t know. I think because he, relatively, doesn’t speak much, I think there’s a lot of mystery around Kawhi. And that may be why fans kind of tell themselves, [or] you know, create a narrative, if you will. I’ve had a great relationship with Kawhi. I’ve gotten to know him a little bit. We sit down a couple times a year and just kind of talk about how the team’s doing.”
Leonard appeared in 37 games during the 2024-25 season while battling injuries.
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