The NBA won’t have a resolution on the Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers salary cap circumvention investigation until after the All-Star Game.
The Clippers are hosting the 2026 All-Star Game.
According to Pablo Torre of Pablo Torre Finds Out, the now-bankrupt company Aspiration paid Leonard $48 million for a “no-show job” intended to circumvent the NBA salary cap.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invested $10 million in Aspiration in March 2023. The billionaire invested $50 million in Aspiration 18 months before that.
Ballmer introduced Aspiration to Leonard in November 2021, three months after the Clippers had agreed to a four-year, $173 million extension with Leonard. Two months earlier, in September 2021, the Clippers announced a lucrative $300 million partnership with Aspiration.
Aspiration paid Leonard $1.7 million days after Clippers minority owner Dennis J. Wong made an almost $2 million investment in the company. This took place in December 2022.
Leonard also got $20 million in Aspiration shares directly from co-founder Joe Sanberg.
Ballmer and the Clippers invested $118 million in Aspiration in 18 months. LAC’s chief financial officer signed off on a $21 million payment from the team to fund various “carbon projects” for Aspiration in June 2022. The $21 million was enough for Leonard’s first quarterly payment as part of his “no-show” endorsement deal with Aspiration. It also hit Aspiration’s fundraising target.
Even before that $21 million investment was made, Torre uncovered documents that showed the Clippers made a $3 million prepayment for carbon credits on April 1, 2022, and made another prepayment of $32.4 million three days later on April 4.
Torre also noted that the April 4 date is the same day Leonard signed his KL2 Aspire contract worth $28 million.
Torre’s reporting also includes a screenshot of a February 2022 text message sent by Dennis Robertson, Leonard’s uncle and designated representative on his primary Aspiration contract, to Sanberg.
The text reads, “Good morning Joe, hope you had a wonderful weekend. Just a heads up things are still dragging. Mike has the cont[r]act for about 14 days now, haven’t heard back. Thanks Just keeping you informed.”
According to Torre, the text is referring to Leonard’s $20 million equity deal with Aspiration that was on top of his endorsement contract.
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