Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has pushed back against allegations that he and his franchise orchestrated an illegal salary cap workaround involving Kawhi Leonard.
In a recent interview with SportsCenter, Ballmer rejected a report from journalist Pablo Torre that claimed the Clippers helped arrange a $28 million “no-show” endorsement contract for Leonard through a company called Aspiration.
Torre reported that Ballmer’s $50 million investment in the firm was linked to the alleged payout.
If true, such an arrangement would constitute a serious violation of NBA salary cap rules. The league has opened an investigation.
Ballmer’s take
Ballmer, however, insists there was no wrongdoing. He acknowledged investing in Aspiration in 2021 but said his stake was under three percent and came with no board seat or influence.
“We made an investment in the company. All fine. I had no control over this company. This is important under the salary cap rules. I owned less than three percent of the company. There were investors who put in a lot more money than I did. I had no board seat. I had no control. Heck, it was a fraudulent company. It’s possible nobody had control,” Ballmer said.
According to Ballmer, Leonard didn’t even meet with anyone from Aspiration until November 2021, months after he had signed his four-year max contract with the Clippers that August.
“At that time, we hadn’t introduced Kawhi to Aspiration,” Ballmer explained. “We were done with Kawhi. We were done with Aspiration. The deals were all locked and loaded. Then they did ask to be introduced to Kawhi. Under the rules, we can introduce our sponsors to our athletes. We just can’t be involved. We made an introduction. … Where could any of this circumvention have happened? It didn’t. It couldn’t have.”
When asked why Aspiration would pay Leonard millions with little to no visible return, Ballmer placed the blame squarely on the company, which is currently under federal investigation.
“I don’t know why they did what they did,” Ballmer said. “I really don’t. Any speculation would be crazy. These are guys who committed fraud. They conned me. 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 what they might have done, let alone the contract with Kawhi.”
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