2:54 pm: “We are aware of this morning’s media report regarding the L.A. Clippers and are commencing an investigation,” NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said in a statement, per Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The Clippers, meanwhile, issued a longer statement to Steve Henson of The Los Angeles Times strongly denying that they engaged in any sort of cap circumvention.
“Neither Mr. Ballmer nor the Clippers circumvented the salary cap or engaged in any misconduct related to Aspiration,” the statement reads. “Any contrary assertion is provably false: The team ended its relationship with Aspiration years ago, during the 2022-23 season, when Aspiration defaulted on its obligations.
“Neither the Clippers nor Mr. Ballmer was aware of any improper activity by Aspiration or its co-founder until after the government instituted its investigation. The team and Mr. Ballmer stand ready to assist law enforcement in any way they can.”
Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg pled guilty last month to two counts of wire fraud for a $248MM scheme to defraud lenders and investors.
8:01 am: A $28MM endorsement deal signed by Kawhi Leonard could land the Clippers in hot water with the league.
According to an investigation by Pablo Torre on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast, Leonard performed no work for an allegedly fraudulent tree-planting company funded by $50MM from Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.
The endorsement deal could be construed as a means to circumvent the salary cap, which would carry heavy penalties from the league.
After leading the Raptors to the 2019 championship, Leonard declined his player option and became an unrestricted free agent. Leonard chose to sign with the Clippers on a three-year, $103.1MM deal in July of that year. He has subsequently signed a pair of extensions with the franchise.
The “tree brokerage” company named Aspiration filed for bankruptcy in March 2025. Among the list of creditors is KL2 Aspire LLC with Leonard named as the manager or member. The company owed KL2 Aspire LLC $7MM.
Torre couldn’t find any evidence that Leonard actually performed any work for the company, unlike other celebrity endorsers. Torre interviewed seven former employees of the company, one of whom provided a document showing Leonard was to receive $7MM over four years in the marketing agreement, which began in 2022. According to a former Aspiration employee who worked in the finance department, Leonard “didn’t have to do anything.”
The Clippers denied any wrongdoing. The organization provided Torre with a statement that read, “Neither Mr. Ballmer nor the Clippers circumvented the salary cap or engaged in any misconduct related to Aspiration. Any contrary assertion is provably false.”
Back in 2000, the league and then-commissioner David Stern issued harsh penalties against the Timberwolves due to salary cap violations. Minnesota signed former No. 1 overall pick Joe Smith to a series of one-year contracts below market value with the promise of giving him a long-term deal that would pay him up to $86MM over seven seasons.
As Spotrac contributor Keith Smith notes (Twitter link), Smith’s contract was voided and the Timberwolves were fined $3.5MM and had five first-round picks forfeited (the team later recouped two of those picks). Owner Glen Taylor was suspended and general manager Kevin McHale was forced to take a leave of absence.
For what it’s worth, Stern had a reputation for handing out harsher discipline than current commissioner Adam Silver. In recent years, teams found to have engaged in free agent gun-jumping or tampering violations have typically been docked a single second-round pick. However, if an NBA investigation determines the Clippers were circumventing the cap via this agreement with Leonard, it seems safe to assume the penalty would be more significant than that.
Oh boy. This might get ugly and Clippers might be set as an example for other owners/franchises/players.
> Clippers might be set as an example for other
> owners/franchises
20 years ago, most NBA teams had sole owners. No more. I believe the Clippers are one of only 2 NBA franchises with a single owner (Rockets are owned solely by Tillman Fertita).
As such, Ballmer can act as an individual, accountable only to himself, because the Clippers lack the formal oversight and accountability of a Board of Directors, which would have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the rest of the Clippers shareholders.
IMO, if this is true, Adam Silver will force the Clippers to to move to diversified ownership and the kind of formal governance other teams have. If Ballmer is allowed to retain majority ownership of the team, he’ll be restricted from day-to-day operations.
Does Tsai solely own the Nets?
> Does Tsai solely own the Nets?
Good question. Until last year, yes, but no longer.
The Tsais (his wife holds 1/2 their shares) sold 15% of the team to the Koch family (yes, the dark money Koch bros) at a $6B valuation in 2025. The money was mostly used to pay off debt on building Barclay’s Center.
This is exactly how all pro sports leagues want their franchises to work: diversified ownership with deep pockets and proper governance. (Koch bros are probably not cool with the legal risks of paying players by fraudulent transfer using shell companies.)
Thats right. One of the Kochs is dead so its just the one left. I think it was a daughter or something that was the actual person with shares. They had a couple other brothers that werent giant pieces of shiet.
They are not going to go that far. At most a few first round picks, $4.5 million fine (the maximum) and Ballmer can’t govern for a year, and same with the GM.
Silver is works for the NBA owners. Yes, they want to dissuade others doing this, but owners are not going to go too far, such as Ballmer having to give up ownership.
If the league goes too far Ballmer can take this to a legal court. Will be interesting to see if there is enough evidence to win there, even if the car is lower as it’s a civil matter.
Why would he need a no-show job? He already has one. He has barely played half of his teams total games over the past 7 seasons.
JS… which clearly shows the no-show $7mil job was perfect for him.
If he actually had to show up for that measly 7mil, none of us would believe he’d do it.
But the no-show for 7? That type of situation should be named after Kawhi.
He had TWO no show jobs. Even the Mafia would blush at going that far.
Clippers are forever the toilet franchise of the nba if this gets them punnished and they lose more of what they already don’t have in picks.
No 7 year rule on docking picks. They may not have one of their own for a long long time.
Doesn’t sound legit at all. You are paying a guy $7 million to do nothing. All the money should go against the cap.
Clippers find an owner who isn’t a human demon challenge: impossible difficulty
Anyone who ever offered or took money from a no-show job should be in prison. No exceptions. No-show jobs are pure corruption and tax theft.
Quote: “The “tree brokerage” company… filed for bankruptcy in March 20025.”
Should be: “… WILL file for bankruptcy in March 20025.”
Clairvoyant but erroneous English nevertheless.
Not sure what the whole fuzz is about. A company that aspires to last for the next 18,000 years sure must have done its homework. Neither Ballmer nor Leonard will be alive at that point anyway. The remnants of humankind have probably move on by then, in order to destroy another planet.
This is exactly why I laugh when people say “such and such player is selfish/greedy and won’t take a pay cut to help his team win under the salary cap” bs. The salary cap is NOT about owners inability to pay a player or a players needs to take $10 million less. The salary cap is there to protect cheap owners who don’t want to win and instead only want to maximize profit. And it’s to protect those owners against owners like Ballmer, who will pay anything to see their team successful.
This entire ordeal shows that there are owners who WANT and are able to spend and there are owners who don’t.
Stop blaming employees for rules cheap employers put in place to depress salaries.
Its not about paying players but avoiding the cap to cheat. This is cheating so why not put teh money against his cap and make him pay and restict spending on future free agents. Every fan wishes their team could cheat like teh Clippers are cheating to sign more players.
It’s definitely about paying players. Does it escape you that Ballmer avoided the cap TO PAY KAWHI LEONARD?
Who do you think is advancing such a punitive salary cap that certain owners are willing to circumvent it to pay their players? Cheap owners. So instead of saying, damn why won’t my owner pay like Ballmer, you’re worried about cheating a system put in place to artificially lower employee salaries. You’re a good company man.
You’re correct, every fan wishes they had a franchise willing to spend whatever.
Of course balmer did it to escaper the tax apron. He should get punished for doing that more than just money but not allow them to sign any free agents above vet min. I also wonder if any other owner is going to get caught doing it too.
Oh I’m definitely not saying that they didn’t technically cheat or that they should not be punished. Should be punished severely, both the owners and players association agreed to play by these rules.
Jerry Reinsdorf are you taking notes??? Wins by all means necessary….JK guys but actually not really bc we’re headed towards orphan status soon enough.
:(
He got the money back when he came over from Raptors. Clippers were up against competition then. No wonder he signed with Clippers. In reality Ballmer paid for damaged goods. It hasn’t helped. Still he did try and cheat the system. And got caught. Silver will have to do something.
Clippers have a chance to really do something this year. So this is bad timing.
This is funny
Oh the irony. Does Davey J realize the Warriors owners are billionaires? Steph Curry is close to becoming one. LeBron, Durant and Giannis are well on their way reaching that milestone. I guess they are all evil.
Don’t use logic when trying to digest Davey’s unhinged carping. None was used to form the original thought so you just end up going nowhere lol
Yup, all evil. Thanks for playing. Why are my takes driving your comments again? Talk NBA and hoops rumors or shut your yapper. Stop talking about me, no one wants this. K bye!
Your takes are “driving comments” because they’re universally seen as so stupid that they can’t be real thoughts had by a real human. You are literally the one thing everyone on this site can agree on lmao.
You also want to tell people to stick to talking about ball but have been on a tirade about evil billionaires for months under any article you want. Probably because the only team that you’re half way informed on has been stagnant since the start of free agency.
We’re not laughing WITH you Davey. You still don’t get that.
Uncle Dennis got caught slippin
I might be crazy but didn’t this somewhat surface when he first signed in LA?
They probably didn’t want to open up the can of worms if other teams also do it. There’s probably a ton of grey areas in regard to outside work associated with the team, etc.
You’re right but I think it was all more shady and indirect. Like hiring people associated with him etc
Why should we care? The Large market teams will always be getting the big name free agents. Big market teams like the Bulls spend like they are always near insolvency and they never sign any trio of combination all stars who are looking for a new home and are looking to pair up with fellow players/friends with the hopes of creating a new mega sports championship dynasty n the hopes of contending on a regular basis. That takes money. But the owners like Jerry R., prefer the pauper route, Revenue sharing, just putting enough cash in tomkeep the fans coming thru the gates, buying overpriced merchandise. And finally, the team partners can hit up the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois every couple of years seeking billions of tax free dollars in order to build a new state of the art super duper stadium to replace that old and now considered outdated dilapidated stadium which had to go even that they just built it ten short years ago and the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois (Read tax payers ) will continue on footing both the costs building the new stadium and the interest payments for both the new construction bonds and the old stadium bonds from ten years ago. Nothing plays a fool better than us funding chumps for billionaires!
I didn’t know he was part of the Soprano crew.
The Kawhi Leonard contract. . .whateva happened there
Ballmer was the billionaire who donated money to support a tax increase that was very self serving at the expense of the rest of us. Thankfully the voters didn’t go for it. I hope they throw the book at him and the Clippers. Of course they never “engaged in any misconduct”. Give me a break.
There needs to be a significant penalty for paying under the table compensation to get FAs to sign. Silver had better not screw this up.
Integrity of the game. It’s amazing how folks are not seeing how serious this will be if it really happened like the New York Times article said.
It’s basically the death penalty Kahwi and Ballmer. Both of them. Book it.
Kahwi’s contract is void just like Joe Smith’s was void.
Silver can make Ballmer sell the team and he will.
You gotta strip a 1st for this to set a precedent
Let’s not kid ourselves this is going on in many facets around the league but if you let this slide ( w /out ) penalty it will surely continue stronger in a tightened cap world
a 1st is a major ding today and I think it’s the appropriate measure
Crunch- IMO, Ballmer and Fertita are the only owners that would do this because they operate as sole owners.
Regardless, if true (these are allegations only), this will cost way, way more than a draft pick. The situation goes way, way beyond the NBA regulatory legalities around Minnesota and Joe Smith case.
As far as immediate, on-court ramifications, if the NBA determines the allegations are true, then, per the CBA, Kahwi’s current contract would be nullified. The CBA strictly prohibits any “unauthorized agreements” or side deals that provide a player with compensation outside of the official contract. Again, if this is true, Kahwi’s contract is void.
Then there are a mess of civil liability issues around fraudulent transfer. Kahwi’s LLC is already being sued by the (bankrupt) Aspiration company’s creditors, who want to claw back the $7M payment as fraudulent transfer. It’s horrible PR for the NBA. IMO, it’s the appearance of impropriety that would trigger Silver to use his broad discretionary powers to suspend Kahwi for several years.
There’s more to the fraud angle. Keep in mind that Ballmer funded Aspiration (that’s a fact, not merely an obligation). The argument is that Ballmer directed this specific transaction with Kahwi for the benefit of the Clippers at the expense of Aspiration, (which Ballmer funded). Again, Silver won’t wait for the legal wrangling to play out before he uses his discretionary powers.
I hear ya Ari but I’ve seen things “ go away “ too many times over the years to hold my breath
It will be interesting for sure
Think Silver / league will want this to go away quietly as possible
It’s going to be very hard to keep this quiet though – the latest report is that Ballmer paid above standard price for shares in Aspiration which were funneled to Kawhi, making the total close to $50 mil (!)
link to bostonsportsjournal.com
Exactly. It’s called fraudulent transfer. It’s also why suits have reportedly been filed by Aspiration’s creditors against Ballmer. That money should have gone to Aspiration’s day-to-day operations, not be passed through to Kahwi. The other Aspiration investors also likely have grounds to sue Ballmer. Silver will move to distance the league from this ASAP.
BTW, all of that is in the original report from Torres from 36 hours ago.
I’m old enough to remember the NBA voiding the then biggest contract in NBA history (Juwan Howard to the Heat in 1995) because of how his signing bonus was worded. The heat were fined millions for this….. simply because of how it was worded. It changed NBA history at the time (the heat were said to be getting “too good, too fast”) and David Stern made an example of it…… this in comparison to the accusations here is like shoplifting compared to a mafia hit lol….. this could be very ugly.
Unfortunately, David Stern is no longer with us or there would be a significant penalty here. Silver seems spineless by comparison. Stern loved to wield his power.
If you were around in 2013, you might say the opposite is true.
Silver made Donald Sterling sell the Clippers within 3 weeks of public disclosure of his racist telephone calls. David Stern never did anything remotely as severe. He’s viewed as much more closely aligned with owners than Silver is.
I’m expecting Stern to make Ballmer sell the team.
I’m fairly sure that was Stern in his last year of being commish
No, it was Adam Silver link to youtu.be
well stern was in office until Feb 2014 sooooo
I’d suggest taking a few first round draft picks from them, but based on their recent draft history, they don’t know what to do with them anyway.
if they cheated the cap 28 mill they should be forced to be cap compliant by the end of the season or get taxed at the highest rate possible for the duration of Kawhi’s contract…. draft picks hurt the team.. ballmer needs to be punished financially for this.
You can’t punish him financially in a way that would significantly matter because he’s so rich. That’s why this new cap is restrictive in team building ways.
This guy would gladly pay a penalty. He’s d cheating the cap because he cares about the Clipper’s success.
Has to be picks. Maybe even pick(s) and/or taking the midlevel exception off the table for a few seasons.
Exactly correct. The only way to actually impact Ballmer would be to essentially disable the Clippers ability to be competitive for many seasons. And by many Im talking like 10 seasons.
Given Silver’s record, I doubt he views killing a franchise’s fanbase as a favorable outcome. Unless the ultimate goal would be to get Ballmer to sell and move the team.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
If all this is true, Silver will, at the least, prevent Ballmer from being involved in team operations and, more likely, force him to sell the team like he did with Sterling. That will be punishment for Ballmer, but Clipper fans don’t need to worry.
Being in LA, the best market in the country, and with a state-of-the-art arena, there will be no shortage of highly qualified ownership groups lined up to buy the Clippers.
Because of explosive popularity in international markets, the NBA is growing revenues at about 32% per year (NFL is at around 24%), more than any major pro sport league worldwide. Clippers are currently worth $8M-$10M. Ballmer bought the team for less than $2B in 2014, so he stands to make $6B-$8B in 11 years. Nice work if you can get it.
Exept that if the punishment is that the Clippers need to forfeit frps (the prevention set in the past) they have a very limited chance of being competitive in the West for YEARS.
If Ballmer is forced to sell the team, he is just gaining money. And whoever buys the team is forced to do business in California as the 3rd best team in the state and an indefinite future where that’s the case. If you were going to buy the Clippers rn your best bet at turning a profit early is to move the team to either Vegas or Seattle (something the NBA would love).
I view your take of LA being the best market in the country to be extremely misleading. If you are the Lakers then you have a point. But you’re talking about the Clippers who have historically been outcasts for their entire existence. You’re comparing the Yankees to the Liberty (hyperbole of course but you understand my point)
As Ballmer is the sole owner of the Clippers, forcing him to sell for a profit doesn’t seem like much of a punishment? Especially considering he has so much money that he’ll buy into another league and grow money that way.
My point was that the NBA wants to punish Ballmer (if all of this is correct) and simply cannot without punishing the entirety of a franchise that has been punished enough by merely existing. That doesn’t seem to be Silver’s MO given his record.
Again. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I do get your point about punish ing the owner at the expense of the franchise. But this is different.
We have misconduct and, likely, fraud by two individuals: namely, Ballmer and Kahwi (along with his agents). This was Ballmer operating on his own, as only a sole owner can, bypassing the GM and front office.
Ballmer made the fraudulent $50M investment in Aspiration and Kahwi knowingly accepted the fraudulent transfer. They deserve to be punished. I don’t see taking away multiple draft picks as a fitting or commensurate punishment.
Kahwi’s contract will be nullified, per the CBA. I suspect he’ll be suspended at least 2 years. That’s a devastating blow to the Clippers’ competitiveness, but the hardship won’t last for more than 2-3 years. The Clippers might lose 1 or 2 additional first round picks. But, like you say, further penalties to the team hurt the fans too much.
As for Ballmer, the fact that Ballmer is wealthy beyond imagination isn’t germane. The league has to treat him the same as any other owner, which means the maximum fine it can levy will be inconsequential to Ballmer.
But it will hurt Ballmer deeply on a personal level to lose control of the Clippers. He lives for the success of the franchise. Beyond a suspension and fine, that’s really all the NBA can do.
(BTW, the Clippers are in the top 5-7 most valuable NBA franchises, per Forbes. That’s because of the LA market. Ticket revenues and local television contracts are the proof. That will continue after Ballmer’s departure.)
Clippers may lose an FRP or two, but they
Mark Cuban did stuff like this with Dirk for years, so what’s the problem now?
example? And don’t do a form of “trust me bro” cuz I’ll call that right out… I hate the Mavs.. but that’s libel homie
Trust him, bro.
Tony, Christopher, Paulie Walnuts would have been proud.
Why mention it now?
Ballmer is the best thing to ever happen to Clippers. Willing to take on the Lakers in LA. Spends his own money. Doesn’t look for handouts from City. And wants to win and perform. He is nothing like Sterling.
Sterling has nothing to do with this. Lost commentary.
I don’t see Sterling doing much. He has already been hurt by Kawhi himself. Fine isn’t really a punishment. Losing a first rd pick. Is definitely a lot worse. Especially since Clippers are aging now. I like Ballmer. Imo he is one of best owners in NBA.
I don’t see Silver doing much …,. Zoops
If the NBA had a real commissioner, then the LAC would have a real problem. Even as it is, they may anyway. Depends on the status shadow legal proceedings going on behind this. Ballmer likely believes, correctly, that Silver, and his keystone cops, won’t uncover anything on their own, at least not anything that they’d be willing to act on on their own, and that Silver’s endless love of consensus means he’ll always prefer a plea deal. Still, though, Silver’s spinelessness could be a double edge sword, so I’d advise Ballmer to consider getting out ahead of this to get that plea deal in place ASAP.
Are we talking about the same Adam Silver?
Silver made Donald Sterling sell the team within 3 weeks of his offense, which was for personal misconduct. And he did it against vehement opposition from most of the league owners.
There was no precedent. No commissioner in any American pro league has ever exercised authority as decisively.
I’d expect Silver to be more severe with Ballmer than Sterling.
Clippers contract must be a no work contract as well
Taking away draft picks punishes fans/don’t do that. I think Kawhi should have his contract voided and a 2 year suspension (1 year if he repays the 28 million). And Ballmer should receive a 5 year ban from participating in any decision making regarding the team/any NBA team in which he has an ownership stake (except that he could sell the team…he could make that decision).