The Clippers on Wednesday denied a blistering report that owner Steve Ballmer knowingly circumvented NBA salary cap rules when he funded a multi-million no-show endorsement deal for All-Star Kawhi Leonard with an environmental company.
The $28 million deal was intended to be part of a marketing campaign for a start-up environmental company called Aspiration but allegedly was not made public to avoid questions about whether the deal circumvented rules, according to podcaster/investigative reporter Pablo Torre, formerly of ESPN.
The NBA said Wednesday that it will investigate whether the contract with Aspiration Fund Adviser, LLC, allowed the Clippers to circumvent the salary cap.
“We are aware of this morning’s media report regarding the L.A. Clippers and are commencing an investigation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said Wednesday.
Torre announced on his podcast Wednesday that he had reviewed more than 3,000 pages of documents from Aspiration, whose aim was to supply carbon credits and plant trees to offset the emissions of its clients.
The company later declared bankruptcy after its co-founder was arrested on felony fraud charges, listing several creditors. Among them were the Clippers, who were owed roughly $30 million, and a company called KL2 Aspire LLC.
Leonard is listed as the manager of that company in California filings, according to the Associated Press. Torre said he obtained a copy of the endorsement agreement between Aspiration and KL2 Aspire, which called for Leonard to be paid $7 million annually for four years. Given that timetable, Leonard still would have been owed the final $7 million at the time of Aspiration’s bankruptcy filing.
The Clippers issued a statement Wednesday saying that “neither Mr. Ballmer nor the Clippers circumvented the salary cap or engaged in any misconduct related to Aspiration. Any contrary ascertain is provably false.”
Before signing Leonard, Aspiration had already secured public endorsements from celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Drake and amassed $250 million in funding. Ballmer and Oaktree Capital Management committed an additional $315 million in financing, with the Clippers owner coming up with $50 million.
Ballmer announced in 2021 Aspiration as one of the Clippers’ founding partners to help make the team’s new Intuit Dome “the most sustainable arena in the world.”
Torre cited internal emails, bank statements, contracts and pitch decks obtained over the past seven months, in addition to interviews with seven former Aspiration employees in his report, many of whom raised concerns about Ballmer’s involvement.
The team stated that it ended its relationship with Aspiration years during the 2022-23 season when the company defaulted on its obligations and was not aware of any improper activity by Aspiration.
“The team and Mr. Ballmer stand ready to assist law enforcement in any way they can,” the statement said.
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