Steve Ballmer

Latest On Clippers, Kawhi Leonard

September 13th, 2025 at 9:54am CST by Rory Maher

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer made a second investment worth nearly $10MM in the now-bankrupt “green bank” company Aspiration, according to legal filings reviewed by Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

The previously unreported investment, which occurred in March 2023 when the company was “hemorrhaging cash, laying off employees and struggling to raise funds,” was corroborated by a former Aspiration executive, Vorkunov reports.

On September 3, Pablo Torre reported on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast that Ballmer agreed to invest $50MM in Aspiration in September 2021 (the actual payment occurred in December 2021). Multiple sources tell Vorkunov the Clippers also made a separate $50MM+ investment in Aspiration for “carbon offsetting toward the goal of becoming carbon neutral.”

In April 2022, Kawhi Leonard signed a four-year, $28MM endorsement deal with Aspiration but there’s no evidence he ever performed any work for it.

A subsequent report from Boston Sports Journal, which was confirmed by Torre, indicated that Leonard made a separate side deal with Aspiration to receive an additional $20MM in company stock. That $20MM came directly from co-founder Joe Sanberg.

“I am personally contributing stock to Kawhi to make this partnership possible,” Sanberg wrote members of his leadership team in a May 2022 email obtained by The Athletic. “Aspiration’s CEO judged the deal to be not worth doing. For avoidance of doubt, any and all benefit to Aspiration from the Kawhi deal is being subsidized by my contributing my equity to make this happen.”

Sanberg pled guilty last month to two counts of wire fraud for defrauding investors and lenders of more than $248MM.

Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star also reported that Leonard’s camp was seeking essentially the same deal he got with Aspiration when he was a free agent in 2019.

Ballmer’s second investment in Aspiration came three months after his college roommate and the Clippers’ lone minority owner, Dennis Wong, invested approximately $2MM in the company after it failed to make a $1.75MM quarterly payment to Leonard, as reported by Torre. Leonard was paid nine days later, on the same day Aspiration laid off 20% of its workforce.

The NBA is investigating whether the Clippers and Leonard circumvented the salary cap through their deals with Aspiration.

Leonard’s contract had certain obligations he was supposed to meet but it also permitted him to refuse to do anything “not consistent with his beliefs,” according to Vorkunov. Former CEO and co-founder Andrei Cherny disputed that Leonard had a “no-show” deal,” Vorkunov adds.

However, Leonard’s contract drew “confusion and frustration” within the company, with one former top executive telling Vorkunov the deal “materialized essentially out of the ether.”

Another former Aspiration executive told Vorkunov that celebrity endorsers Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr. both received less than $2MM in their deals.

Kawhi Leonard Received Endorsement Payment After Minority Owner Invested In Aspiration

September 11th, 2025 at 8:10am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Clippers‘ lone minority owner made a nearly $2MM investment in Aspiration while the company was in dire straits. The San Francisco-based environmental firm then made a $1.75MM quarterly payment to Kawhi Leonard on the same day the company laid off 20 percent of its workforce, Pablo Torre reports on his latest “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast as relayed by The Athletic’s Joe Vardon.

It’s the latest development regarding the potential salary cap circumvention by the Clippers. Last week, Torre broke the story that Leonard signed a $28MM endorsement deal with the company, then performed no work after Aspiration received a $50MM investment from Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. A subsequent report indicated that Aspiration agreed to pay Leonard an additional $20MM in company stock.

The NBA has hired a law firm to investigate the matter, and commissioner Adam Silver said on Wednesday that the burden of proof is on the league to find any wrongdoing by the Clippers.

Under the terms of the endorsement deal, Leonard was to be paid $1.75MM on a quarterly basis for four years. In December 2022, Clippers minority owner and vice chairman Dennis J. Wong made an investment of almost $2MM in Aspiration despite the fact that its independent auditor, KPMG, had resigned, and the company was already facing lawsuits worth millions for missed payments.

Aspiration missed a payment to Leonard in the fall before paying him in December, following Wong’s wire transfer to the firm, according to documents obtained by Torre. Payments to Leonard were marked as “critical.”

Leonard’s uncle and business manager Dennis Robertson had repeatedly contacted the company about the missed payment.

“There’s a huge freeze because there’s no money to be spent. So from the finance team’s perspective, we feel like we’re on the other end of collections calls. People are constantly coming in asking for their money. Between those months when all of this is missing – so September, October, November, and leading up to December, the actual certainty of the company even existing is up for grabs,” a former Aspiration employee told Torre. “At that point, are we gonna get paid as employees? Why does Uncle Dennis keep calling us? We have such bigger concerns that we’re thinking about, which is our own salaries. Are we gonna have to go through layoffs? Where is the money gonna come from? But lo and behold. Uncle Dennis gets paid.”

The Clippers issued a statement to Torre, which read, “The details of our relationship with Aspiration are under NBA investigation, but it is clear the company was a house of cards that defrauded Steve and many others. We look forward to sharing the facts with the league and providing them with all the information they need.”

Adam Silver: Burden Of Proof Is On League In Clippers Investigation

September 10th, 2025 at 6:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Commissioner Adam Silver said investigators will carry the burden of proof in the NBA’s probe of potential salary cap circumvention by the Clippers, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday at his annual preseason news conference following the conclusion of the Board of Governors meeting, Silver said the league needs to focus on “the totality of the evidence” rather than the “mere appearance” of impropriety.

“The burden is on the league if we’re going to discipline a team, an owner, a player or any constituent members of the league,” Silver told reporters. “I think as with any process that requires a fundamental sense of fairness, the burden should be on the party that is, in essence, bringing those charges.”

The NBA hired a law firm this week to handle the investigation of whether owner Steve Ballmer and the team violated league rules through Kawhi Leonard‘s $28MM “no-show” job with Aspiration. Ballmer was an investor in the green banking company, which has since gone bankrupt.

Sources told Bontemps that Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz plans to conduct a thorough investigation, and no firm deadline has been set to reach a conclusion.

Silver added that he’s “a big believer in due process and fairness,” and said other NBA owners feel the same way about the case.

“At least what’s being said to me is a reservation of judgment,” Silver said. “I think people recognize that that’s what you have a league office for. That’s what you have a commissioner for — someone who is independent of the teams. On one hand, of course, I work collectively for the 30 governors, but I have an independent obligation to be the steward of the brand and the integrity of this league. … To the extent we have had discussions (with the board of governors) — they’ve been limited — we communicated to them that we engaged Wachtell to do this investigation. And maybe I cut off any further conversations and said, ‘Let’s all withhold judgment, let’s do this investigation and then we will come back to you in terms of our findings.'”

Silver addressed a few other topics in today’s news conference:

He confirmed the new All-Star Game format, which will feature two teams of American-born players and one international team in a round-robin competition. Silver expressed hope that the new approach will help to motivate the players. “I think in the case of the NBA, this is what I’m trying to convey, particularly to younger players, is that All-Star is a big deal,” he said. “There’s been great traditions out there. People have great memories of these All-Star Games. It’s part of the fabric of this league, the excitement that comes from it and the engagement from our players.”
Discussions are continuing on a potential new NBA-run European league, and Silver said he and deputy commissioner Mark Tatum traveled this summer to Europe, where they met with stakeholders. Silver also denied speculation that the venture in Europe will replace NBA expansion efforts. He called them “completely different entities” and said expansion was discussed at the board meeting, although there’s nothing new to report. “Part of the difficulty in potentially assessing it is a sense of long-term value of the league, and a little bit maybe it’s a high-class problem, but as with some of the recent jumps in franchise valuations, that sort of creates some confusion in the marketplace about how you might even price an expansion franchise,” Silver said. “I’ll only say it’s something that we continue to actively look at.”
Silver refused to say if there are any limitations on Malik Beasley‘s availability while the league investigates his role in a gambling scandal. “I’ll only say there that the investigation is ongoing,” Silver said. “As I understand it, there’s still a federal investigation that’s ongoing of Malik Beasley as well. We will address whatever is presented to us in his case.”

Latest On Kawhi Leonard, Clippers

September 9th, 2025 at 3:30pm CST by Luke Adams

Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star (subscription required) has added another fascinating detail to the Kawhi Leonard/Clippers saga, reporting that when the Raptors were negotiating with Leonard in 2019’s free agent period, his camp asked the team for an arrangement that lines up with the deal the star forward eventually got with the company Aspiration. According to Arthur, the demands made by Leonard’s uncle and representative, Dennis Robertson, included $10MM per year in extra sponsorship income.

The Raptors weren’t permitted to negotiate or have any involvement in those off-court sponsorship deals, but suggested there would be corporate sponsors eager to have Leonard as a promoter. However, they were told by Leonard’s camp that he didn’t want to have to do anything for that extra money, such as filming advertisements or making promotional appearances.

“That’s when the Raptors realized Leonard wasn’t asking to be introduced to Toronto’s lucrative corporate community,” Arthur writes. “They were being asked to arrange no-show jobs, and arrange no-investment investments. (They) rejected both proposals.”

Arthur previously reported that Leonard’s camp asked for a stake in the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, who share an ownership group with the Raptors.

Leonard and the Clippers are being investigated by the NBA after reports indicated that Aspiration – a Clippers sponsor that received a $50MM investment from team owner Steve Ballmer – agreed to pay the two-time Finals MVP $28MM, plus an additional $20MM in company stock.

While it was ostensibly an endorsement deal, Leonard wasn’t contractually obligated to actually do anything to earn that $28MM, which represented an unusually high amount for any sort of off-court sponsorship agreement. The league is looking into whether the Clippers were essentially funneling money to Leonard via Aspiration in order to circumvent the salary cap.

Here are a few more notes on the subject:

Appearing on NBA Today on Monday (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that Aspiration offered almost double the $550MM that Intuit did for the naming rights to the Clippers’ arena, but the Clippers opted to go with the more well-established brand. “That gives you an indication of the kind of money that (Aspiration) was throwing around back in those days,” Shelburne said.
During that same NBA Today segment (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said that a Clippers source likened a tampering violation to a speeding ticket and salary cap circumvention as a “murder charge,” the implication being that the team knows not to cross that red line. The team has conveyed that it is “welcoming” the NBA’s investigation into the matter, McMenamin adds.
Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report explores three potential outcomes of the NBA’s investigation into the Clippers and Leonard, ranging from the Clippers getting off scot-free to the organization (and Leonard) facing a Timberwolves/Joe Smith-style punishment. When the NBA learned in 2000 that the Timberwolves had entered into an illegal contract with Smith to circumvent the cap, it fined the organization $3.5MM, took away five first-round picks (two were later returned), and voided Smith’s contract.

NBA Hires Law Firm To Investigate Clippers, Leonard

September 6th, 2025 at 9:52am CST by Rory Maher

The NBA has hired law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to investigate the allegations that the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard used an endorsement deal with fintech company Aspiration to circumvent the salary cap, a source tells Joe Vardon, Sam Amick and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

While the New York-based firm will lead the investigation, the NBA also has its own investigator who will serve as a consultant, according to The Athletic.

The NBA previously used Wachtell Lipton in a pair of high-profile investigations of ownership misconduct, per The Athletic’s trio, and both resulted in the owners selling the teams. The first case was back in 2014 with former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, and the second occurred in 2022 with ex-Suns owner Robert Sarver.

Wachtell Lipton was also recently employed by the Celtics as part of the team’s sale, Vardon, Amick and Vorkunov add.

On Wednesday, Pablo Torre reported that Leonard signed a $28MM endorsement deal with now-bankrupt Aspiration but performed no work for the company. A follow-up report from Boston Sports Journal stated that Leonard also made a side deal with Aspiration to receive an additional $20MM in company stock.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer had previously made a $50MM investment in Aspiration — allegedly with “light-to-no diligence” — and at a higher share price than other investors.

Ballmer and the Clippers have denied any wrongdoing and have said they will fully cooperate with the investigation.

Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg pled guilty last month to two counts of wire fraud for a $248MM scheme to defraud lenders and investors.

If the investigation proves the salary cap was circumvented, the NBA has a wide range of possible sanctions it could impose on the Clippers, Ballmer and/or Leonard, the authors note.

In that scenario, Jason Lloyd of The Athletic argues that commissioner Adam Silver should levy severe penalties on the involved parties. However, Lloyd points out that there’s no specific burden of proof that needs to be reached, so there’s no guarantee the investigation will lead to said penalties.

Clippers Owner Denies Any Wrongdoing In Kawhi Leonard’s Deal With Aspiration

September 5th, 2025 at 9:00am CST by Arthur Hill

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.”

Latest On Kawhi Leonard, Clippers

September 4th, 2025 at 9:47pm CST by Luke Adams

Following up on Pablo Torre’s report on the possibility of salary cap circumvention involving the Clippers and star forward Kawhi Leonard, John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal provides some fascinating additional details, citing a “high-level” source who says Leonard made a side deal with the company Aspiration to receive an additional $20MM in company stock on top of the $28MM from his original endorsement agreement.

Co-founder Andrei Cherny didn’t run the $28MM endorsement deal Leonard signed by the company’s board of directors, according to Karalis, who says the agreement was presented to Aspiration’s executive team “as is,” without consulting them or giving them an opportunity to be involved in negotiations. If the executive team had been privy to the talks, it would have advised against the deal, Karalis explains, since management viewed it as a “poor use of cash resources.”

While Cherney signed the deal against the wishes of management, Aspiration’s marketing and management teams saw “no brand synergy” with Leonard and and opted against using his services, preferring to work with climate-focused influences, Karalis continues.

Regarding the $50MM that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invested in Aspiration, Karalis says that investment was described as having been made with “light-to-no diligence” and came at a rate higher than the one Oak Tree Capital Management had paid during the company’s rounds of fundraising. As Karalis observes, it wouldn’t have been unusual for a well-known investor like Ballmer to be offered a discounted share price, since his involvement would create positive buzz for the company. Instead, the $11 he paid per share was a dollar higher than what Oak Tree paid.

Here’s more on the Leonard situation:

Although the Clippers asserted in a statement on Wednesday night that there’s “nothing unusual or untoward about team sponsors doing endorsement deals with players at the same time,” rival executives who spoke to Sam Amick of The Athletic pointed out that Ballmer’s investment in Aspiration and the size of Leonard’s endorsement deal are red flags on their own, even before taking into account the fact that the star forward did no promotional work for the company. “This (sort of endorsement deal) does not happen,” one general manager told Amick.
Executives who discussed the issue with Chris Mannix of SI.com conveyed a similar sentiment. “If this is what it looks like, I think (commissioner) Adam (Silver) has to make an example of them,” one team executive said.
It’s worth noting that the Clippers were previously investigated in 2019 due to rumors that Leonard’s uncle Dennis Robertson was asking teams for improper benefits during Kawhi’s free agency negotiations that summer. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) hears that Leonard was seeking an extra $15MM in endorsement money from the Raptors that offseason, while Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star cites sources who say “Uncle Dennis” was asking for an ownership stake in the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs during talks with the Raptors.
Nate Jones, who works as an agent and marketer at Goodwin Sports, shared some insights into the situation in a Twitter thread, explaining why the Clippers, Ballmer, and Leonard may all have plausible deniability if there’s no smoking gun laying out a quid pro quo arrangement. Still, as Kurt Helin of NBC Sports relays, citing Zach Lowe’s podcast, the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement allows for cap circumvention to be proven by circumstantial evidence if the terms of a deal “cannot rationally be explained in” another way.

Clippers Deny Circumventing Cap For Kawhi Leonard

September 4th, 2025 at 12:39am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Clippers wing Kawhi Leonard found himself the subject of unwanted scrutiny Wednesday, when it was reported by Pablo Torre on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast that the six-time All-Star had inked a $28MM endorsement deal for “tree brokerage” Aspiration, a former team sponsor that filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. L.A. owner Steve Ballmer invested $50MM into the company.

The 6’7″ swingman reportedly didn’t do any work for the allegedly phony tree-planting company, leading to speculation that the endorsement agreement was a route for Leonard to earn additional money on top of his NBA salary in a manner that would have helped L.A. circumvent the salary cap. Other involved celebrities, including movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr., apparently did perform actual work for Aspiration.

The NBA is now investigating the situation to determine if there was indeed any impropriety.

The Clippers initially released statements to Torre and then to The Los Angeles Times denying any wrongdoing. Now, the team has issued an extended denial, as Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link) relays.

“Neither the Clippers nor Steve Ballmer circumvented the salary cap,” the Clippers’ statement reads. “The notion that Steve invested in Aspiration in order to funnel money to Kawhi Leonard is absurd. Steve invested because Aspiration’s co-founders presented themselves as committed to doing right by their customers while protecting the environment.

“After a long campaign of market manipulation, which defrauded not only Steve but numerous other investors and sports teams, Aspiration filed for bankruptcy. Its co-founder, Joseph Sanberg, recently pleaded guilty to a $243 million fraud. Neither Steve nor the Clippers had knowledge of any improper activity by Aspiration or its co-founder until after the government initiated its investigation. Aspiration was a team sponsor for the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons before defaulting on its contract.

“There is nothing unusual or untoward about team sponsors doing endorsement deals with players on the same time. Neither Steve nor the Clippers organization had any oversight of Kawhi’s independent endorsement agreement with Aspiration. To say otherwise is flat-out wrong.”

“The Clippers take NBA compliance extremely seriously, fully respect the league’s rules, and welcome its investigation related to Aspiration. The Clippers will also continue to cooperate with law enforcement in its investigation into Aspiration’s blatantly fraudulent activity.”

Torre responded to the Clippers’ claims (via Twitter), standing by his reporting and challenging some of the language in the Clippers’ statement.

Kawhi Leonard ‘No-Show’ Endorsement Deal May Have Violated Salary Cap Rules

September 3rd, 2025 at 2:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

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.

Latest On Bradley Beal

July 17th, 2025 at 11:08pm CST by Luke Adams

After he was hired as the Suns‘ head coach in June, Jordan Ott met with Bradley Beal and shared his plan for how the team could use the veteran shooting guard next season, writes ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. However, according to Windhorst, Beal had already decided after meeting with agent Mark Bartelstein that he wanted to move on from Phoenix.

“We couldn’t take the chance [of another lost year],” Bartelstein told Windhorst. “This decision was about basketball. Bradley wants to play in big games and in big moments.”

When Phoenix traded Kevin Durant to Houston for a package headlined by another shooting guard – Jalen Green – it cemented Beal’s decision.

According to Windhorst, the Suns and Timberwolves had discussed the possibility of a Durant package that would’ve included Rudy Gobert, Donte DiVincenzo, Terrence Shannon Jr., and the No. 17 pick in this year’s draft, which could’ve left an opening for Beal in the Suns’ lineup. But with Durant uninterested in playing in Minnesota, the Wolves were unwilling to move forward on those talks and Phoenix pivoted to the Rockets’ offer.

After the Durant trade was completed, the Suns gave Beal and Bartelstein permission to speak to other teams, and more than 20 showed interest, sources tell ESPN. Beal ultimately met via Zoom with about a half-dozen of them, and after trading Norman Powell to Miami earlier this month, the Clippers emerged as the clear frontrunner.

According to Windhorst, while Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and head coach Tyronn Lue spoke to Beal about what the club could offer him, the most noteworthy pitch came from star guard James Harden, who lobbied the front office to pursue Beal and then reached out directly to the guard (and to Bartelstein) to recruit him.

In addition to selling Beal on the Clippers’ depth and how he would fit in with the current group, Harden pointed out that his own career has been rejuvenated in Los Angeles after disappointing stints in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, Windhorst notes. After a couple discouraging years in Phoenix, Beal is in a similar spot — he’ll be looking to bounce back next season and views L.A. as a good spot to do it.

“No one wants to be released. There’s heartache with that,” Bartelstein said. “But Bradley wants to be in a position where no one remembers he got released, that they’ll remember how he plays next season.”

Here’s more on Beal:

The Suns needed Beal to give up at least $13.9MM of the $110.8MM still owed to him in order to legally waive-and-stretch his contract. Phoenix’s front office actually pushed for the 32-year-old to give up more than that, resulting in buyout talks getting “heated,” per Windhorst, who says Beal ultimately forfeited not a penny more than he needed to for the Suns to use the stretch provision. “There were some intense conversations,” Bartelstein said.
Bartelstein also spoke to Mark Medina of Sportskeeda about why things didn’t work out for Beal in Phoenix and why he chose the Clippers over other suitors. Citing Beal’s existing relationship with Lue, along with the Clippers’ vision for his client, Bartelstein explained that L.A. checked all their boxes. “He was heavily pursued by pretty much everybody in the NBA and certainly almost every top-tier team,” Bartelstein said. “I had made it known in conversations around the league that we were looking to go somewhere where he could play in really big games and big moments. We knew there were places he can go to and score 30 points a game again. But he really wanted to go to a place where he can compete for a championship. With that in mind, we quickly narrowed down to six or seven teams that we thought were in that world and with the roster shaped up, it would be a great fit for Brad. … It was a really tough choice. … We felt at the end of the day that the Clippers was the very best fit.”
The Suns’ trade for Beal will go down as one of the biggest missteps in franchise history, contends Doug Haller of The Athletic. Haller doesn’t blame Beal, noting that he was willing to change his game and continued to score efficiently. However, his production didn’t match his salary, Haller writes, which was a microcosm of the Suns as a whole — the league’s most expensive roster failed to win a playoff game during the two years after acquiring Beal.

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