Clippers owner Steve Ballmer explained the origins of Kawhi Leonard‘s endorsement deal with Aspiration during an interview with Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Thursday night on SportsCenter, but he denied that the team did anything inappropriate to circumvent the salary cap.
During the 16-minute interview, Ballmer said the company asked him to provide an introduction to Leonard, which he did in November 2021, shortly after Leonard agreed to a four-year, $176MM contract with the team. Ballmer added that he didn’t have any knowledge of the terms of the endorsement contract that Leonard eventually signed and stated that he had no further role in that process.
Two months before that introduction, Aspiration reached a $300MM deal with the Clippers that included sponsorship in their new arena and a jersey patch. Ballmer told Shelburne that Aspiration was hoping to acquire naming rights for the arena and offered more money than Intuit, which was ultimately chosen.
“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.”
Ballmer also detailed his involvement in a Department of Justice investigation into Aspiration, which filed for bankruptcy in March. Its list of creditors includes KL2 Aspire LLC, with Leonard named as the manager or member. The company owed $7MM to KL2 Aspire LLC.
Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg pleaded guilty in August to two counts of wire fraud for defrauding investors and lenders of more than $248 million.
“We even found the email that makes the first introduction. It was early November,” Ballmer said. “The introduction got made and then they were off to the races on, on their own. We weren’t involved. I eventually learned that they had reached a deal. I have no idea what the deal was.”
Ballmer added that he has no further knowledge of the arrangement between Leonard and Aspiration, which was brought to light in a report by Pablo Torre earlier this week claiming that it was a “no-show” deal and Leonard didn’t actually perform any services for the company.
“These were guys who committed fraud. Look, they conned me. They conned me,” Ballmer said. “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.”
Shelburne points out that there have been numerous allegations about Leonard’s dealings with the Clippers since he joined the team as a free agent in 2019. The NBA conducted an investigation into charges that he and his uncle, Dennis Robertson, made improper requests while negotiating with teams that summer. Those requests reportedly included part ownership of the team, use of a private plane, a house and guaranteed endorsement deals.
Shelburne adds that the Clippers were cleared of any wrongdoing, but the league indicated that it was willing to reopen the investigation if any new information came to light.
“They know the rules,” Ballmer said. “They meaning Kawhi and his representatives, including his uncle. We know the rules. And if anything’s not clear, we remind ourselves what the rules are and we make absolutely clear we’re going to abide by those rules and they understand them as well. And it’s important for them to abide by them, which they have.”
Ballmer also stated that he hasn’t talked to Leonard about Torre’s accusations and he doesn’t plan to, per Law Murray of The Athletic.
“It’s really his business with Aspiration,” Ballmer said. “So I wouldn’t ask about it, no.”
The NBA has opened an investigation into the Clippers’ and Leonard’s dealings with Aspiration, and Ballmer suggested that he welcomes the probe, telling Shelburne that if a similar story had surfaced about another team and its star player, he’d want the league to “investigate (and) take it seriously.”
Nothing new. Of course he is not going to admit he cheated to get around the tax penalties. No different than billionaires cheating on their taxes.
I didn’t read that. It says Ballmer is not implicated. It isn’t his company. The company filed for bankruptcy. Geez do we even know if Kawhi got paid. Nothing new here. Kawhi uncle is a money grubbing individual. We have known than since Spurs. Kawhi has a right to get all the endorsement money he can get.
Let’s wait for all the facts. All star players have endorsement deals with companies that support the local teams.
link to google.com
SMH stop making excuses and crying over a owner getting caught. Your crying is getting out of hand. Wouldn’t an investor of $50 million know about the deal? YES they would. so the big red flag is when did ballmer invest? If it is any time close to when Leonard signed the deal it would show a money laundering by Ballmer.
We have the great fortune of living in a country where you are innocent until proven guilty. That applies to everyone, even if you don’t like how much money they have.
Speculating is fine and leads to conversation. The assertion of guilt however, especially when all of your information is coming from internet articles, is inherently baseless and foolish.
I haven’t seen any real facts yet. I agree totally with you. It’s unfortunate but today most just go with the negative. Even if it was a no-show job. What does Ballmer have to with it. Imo he is best thing to ever happen to Clippers lol.
Excuses ????? This whole board knows the ONLY crybabies on here are Warriors fans.
Ballmer is a great owner imo. I don’t are what he did. Only there is no proof of anything yet. I guess facts don’t matter to you.
look at Al crying again. You will introduce him to this company and I will give him a $176 million contract will you give him the other $24 million. Nothing sounds out of the ordinary that it happens to add up to $200 million around the max contract amount. Come on Al stop the crying he got caught. Why do knick fans cry about everything.
Al, watch Pablo’s podcast. There are plenty of details you’re not familiar with that implicate Ballmer beyond any reasonable doubt.
@KnickAl
Wrt ” It says Ballmer is not implicated”, by “it, you’re actually talking about Ballmer, who was the source.
The question is will there be enough circumstantial evidence for Silver to sanction the Clippers, Kawhi, and/or Ballmer, or will Ballmer’s denials work and nothing happens?
Oh he denied it. Move on then. Why would he lie? Thanks for the update.
How much do these athletes need? This guy’s making 100’s of millions of dollars over the course of his career and still needs to grift more? It’d be one thing if the games were affordable to go or if I could watch my local team without cable. I’m about ready to abandon the NBA like I’ve given up on most every other sport.
$5 million retires almost every single normal person. Why would anyone need more for themselves?
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
It is not about the player’s money but getting around the tax apron so the owner the owner doesn’t get taxed.
Lol, that’s what you got from this story? That the players are too greedy?
“We investigated ourselves and found we did nothing wrong.” – our new spineless USA, 1980-present.
So Ballmer invested $50 million in a company that had signed a $300 million sponsorship deal with the Clippers and then for some unexplained reason that company decided to give the Clippers best player $28 million to do absolutely nothing. Got it. Definitely no conflict of interest or anything unscrupulous going on here. Move along.
Yeah trying to understand the $50 mil investment for a company giving $300 mil to sponsor. Not sure how you can be an investor for a company negotiating a sponsorship deal with one of your players.
I mean this is all juicy but isn’t being a Clippers fan punishment enough? Lol. Let Ballmer spend his money they aren’t that much closer to a title
Then every team owner will do the same so no need to have a cap.
100%…if this goes unchecked then eff it, Lakers should sign Jokic AND Giannis while Guggenheim gives them endorsement deals lmao
I think the Clippers have a chance this year, well, as do many other teams.
Steve Ballmer is distancing himself from Kawhi and Uncle Dennis. Basically, saying that he wasn’t part of the deal between the Aspiration scammers and Kawhi and his demand making Uncle. We’ll see how it all turns out.
i was at Temple during the Mardy run. still have his jersey. good times
Yes they were.
He’s trying, and it may actually work.
> He’s trying, and it may actually work
Watch the Rachel Nichols interview, I think you’d agree he was unconvincing. Ballmer has b**ls of steel. He’s been here before. He knows he’s lost this battle. His goal is to survive.
Tax evasion language used there…
Just basic rich speak for “we dont need to play by the rules”