NBA commissioner Adam Silver stated Wednesday there will probably be no rush to judgment by the league on allegations the Los Angeles Clippers circumvented wage cap guidelines via one other firm’s phony endorsement deal for Kawhi Leonard.
“I’m reserving judgment as a result of I don’t know the details right here,” Silver stated at a press convention after the league’s board of governors’ assembly in New York.
“I don’t know what Kawhi was paid. I don’t know what he did or didn’t do. We’ll go away all that to the investigation.”
A podcast report by journalist Pablo Torre alleged this month that the Clippers skirted wage cap guidelines via a now-bankrupt firm known as Aspiration, wherein Clippers proprietor Steve Ballmer was an investor.
Torre reported that Leonard signed a contract value $28 million over 4 years in 2021 to market and endorse Aspiration, however by no means did so, saying an unidentified Aspiration worker advised him the fee was to get round NBA wage cap guidelines.
The Clippers, and Ballmer himself, have vigorously denied the declare, and Silver stated Wednesday it will be as much as the league to show there was any impropriety.
“The burden is on the league if we’re going to self-discipline a crew, an proprietor, a participant, or any constituent members of the league,” Silver stated. “I feel, as with all course of that requires a basic sense of equity, the burden needs to be on the celebration that’s, in essence, bringing these expenses.”
Silver stated the objective of an investigation was to find out “if there actually was impropriety,” and he would “be reluctant to behave if there was form of a mere look of impropriety.”
Leonard signed a four-year contract extension value $173 million with the Clippers in August 2021, and the next month, the crew signed a $300 million sponsor cope with Aspiration, whose title went on crew jerseys.
Ballmer has confirmed that the Clippers “made an introduction” of Leonard to Aspiration, which is suitable beneath league guidelines, however stated the membership had no half in any separate endorsement deal between Aspiration and the participant.
In an interview with ESPN, Ballmer stated that he himself had been “conned” by Aspiration, as had different buyers.
Silver stated he had “very broad powers in these conditions” to levy sanctions however would solely accomplish that if the league probe confirms wrongdoing.
“I’ve been across the league lengthy sufficient in numerous permutations of allegations and accusations that I’m a giant believer in due course of and equity, and we have to now let the investigation run its course,” Silver stated.
Printed on Sep 11, 2025