Facing allegations that he and his team circumvented the salary cap with star player Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is doubling down on his denial. In an interview with “SportsCenter,” Ballmer disputed the accusation that he arranged a “no-show” endorsement deal for Leonard.
Investigative journalist Pablo Torre recently reported that Ballmer used a $50 million investment in a company, Aspiration, to facilitate a $28 million “no-show” deal for Leonard. Such an arrangement would violate the NBA’s cap circumvention rules, and the league has launched an investigation into the matter.
However, Ballmer refutes Torre’s reporting, saying he and the Clippers had no role in greasing the wheels on a deal between Leonard and Aspiration, which is in the midst of a fraud investigation.
Ballmer and the team did invest in Aspiration in 2021, but he claims to have had no control over any decision-making.
“We made an investment in the company,” Ballmer told ESPN. “All fine. I had no control over this company. This is important under the salary cap rules. I owned less than three percent of the company. There were investors who put in a lot more money than I did. I had no board seat. I had no control. Heck, it was a fraudulent company. It’s possible nobody had control.”
Ballmer also stated Leonard and Aspiration weren’t introduced until months after the six-time All-Star signed his four-year max contract in August of 2021. The Clippers owner said documents provided to the Department of Justice, as part of their investigation into Aspiration, prove Leonard didn’t meet anyone within the company until November of that year.
“At that time, we hadn’t introduced Kawhi to Aspiration,” Ballmer said of Leonard’s four-year contract. “We were done with Kawhi. We were done with Aspiration. The deals were all locked and loaded. Then they did ask to be introduced to Kawhi. Under the rules, we can introduce our sponsors to our athletes. We just can’t be involved. We made an introduction. … Where could any of this circumvention have happened? It didn’t. It couldn’t have.”
Asked why a company like Aspiration would pay Leonard $28 million and expect nothing in return, Ballmer pointed to the company’s misdeeds and admitted he was “embarrassed” by the situation.
“I don’t know why they did what they did,” Ballmer told ESPN. “I really don’t. Any speculation would be crazy. These are guys who committed fraud. 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 what they might have done anything they did, let alone the contract with Kawhi.”
Back in 2019, Leonard’s uncle and adviser, Dennis Robertson, was investigated by the NBA for allegedly seeking impermissible benefits during the free agency process. Ultimately, the league said it didn’t find any evidence to support the accusations, but questions around Leonard and his camp are back due to the Aspiration scandal.
Presented with that connection, Ballmer dismissed it and said the Clippers have always conducted their business in a legal manner.
“I think because he doesn’t speak much, relatively, there’s a lot of mystery around Kawhi,” Ballmer said. “That may be why fans create a narrative, if you will. … The allegations have not been true. What’s most important to me is we’ve done the right thing in all those interactions. Kawhi’s business is Kawhi’s business, but we’ve always done the right thing.”
According to documents obtained by Torre, court filings show that Leonard is still owed $7 million from Aspiration. In terms of his status with the Clippers, Leonard is in the second year of a three-year extension he signed in January of 2024, and he is set to make $50 million.
