The NBA stated on Wednesday that it’s going to examine if a USD 28 million endorsement contract between Kawhi Leonard and a California-based sustainability companies firm allowed the Los Angeles Clippers to bypass league wage cap guidelines, following a report by journalist Pablo Torre.
The Clippers strongly denied that any guidelines had been damaged and stated they welcomed the league’s investigation.
The probe will concentrate on ties between Leonard, the Clippers and an organization referred to as Aspiration Fund Adviser, LLC, which filed for chapter this 12 months. It listed a number of collectors at the moment, amongst them the Clippers (who had been owed about USD 30 million) and an organization referred to as KL2 Aspire LLC that was owed USD 7 million.
Leonard is listed because the supervisor of that firm in California filings. KL is his initials, and a pair of is his jersey quantity. Emails despatched to his listed representatives in search of touch upon Wednesday weren’t instantly returned.
“We’re conscious of this morning’s media report concerning the LA Clippers and are commencing an investigation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass stated Wednesday.
Clippers proprietor Steve Ballmer made a USD 50 million funding in Aspiration, and the corporate and the crew introduced a USD 300 million partnership in September 2021. That was a couple of month after Leonard signed a four-year, USD 176 million extension with the Clippers.
The crew ended its relationship with Aspiration after two years, saying the contract was in default.
“Neither the Clippers nor Steve Ballmer circumvented the wage cap,” the crew stated.
“The notion that Steve invested in Aspiration in an effort to funnel cash to Kawhi Leonard is absurd. Steve invested as a result of Aspiration’s co-founders introduced themselves as dedicated to doing proper by their clients whereas defending the atmosphere. After an extended marketing campaign of market manipulation, which defrauded not solely Steve however quite a few different traders and sports activities groups, Aspiration filed for chapter. … Neither Steve nor the Clippers had information of any improper exercise by Aspiration or its co-founder till after the federal government initiated its investigation,” it added.
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Aspiration’s co-founder, Joseph Sanberg, agreed to plead responsible final month after going through federal expenses of wire fraud. Prosecutors stated he defrauded traders and lenders out of USD 248 million, including that, “Aspiration’s monetary statements had been inaccurate and mirrored a lot increased income than the corporate in actual fact acquired.”
Torre, in his reporting, obtained a duplicate of the endorsement settlement between Aspiration and KL2 Aspire, one which referred to as for Leonard to be paid USD 7 million yearly for 4 years. On condition that timetable, Leonard nonetheless would have been owed the ultimate USD 7 million on the time of Aspiration’s chapter submitting.
There isn’t any proof that Leonard did something to publicly endorse Aspiration.
“There’s nothing uncommon or untoward about crew sponsors doing endorsement offers with gamers on the identical crew,” the Clippers stated.
“Neither Steve nor the Clippers organisation had any oversight of Kawhi’s impartial endorsement settlement with Aspiration. To say in any other case is flat-out incorrect,” the crew added.
The league — which beforehand appeared into claims that Leonard’s representatives requested for sure issues that might be thought of cap circumventions when he was a free agent a number of years in the past — can concern stiff penalties if cap guidelines are discovered to have been damaged by a crew, together with a high-quality of as much as USD 7.5 million, the voiding of contracts and the forfeiture of future draft picks.
Revealed on Sep 04, 2025