By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Following a report uncovering potential wrongdoing regarding an endorsement deal connected to a contract extension between the Los Angeles Clippers and Kawhi Leonard in early 2024, team owner Steve Ballmer sat down with ESPN to talk about his role in the situation, stressing that the NBA should indeed investigate the allegations.
“Salary cap circumvention rules are important to the league, and I’d want the league to investigate,” he said.
The case, revealed by Pablo Torre of The Athletic on Wednesday, raises concerns about sidestepping various restrictions and potentially committing a salary-cap violation, warranting a league investigation. Directly, it amounts to a $50 million investment into the since-bankrupt company, Aspiration, by Ballmer and especially an uncommon $28 million endorsement deal to Leonard.
“These were guys who committed fraud. Look, they conned me,” explained 69-year-old billionaire Ballmer, “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 why they might have done anything they did, let alone the specific contract with Kawhi.”
“I reviewed, my staff reviewed primarily fraudulent financials,” he described the examination of the company. “Now, should I have sniffed it out? Maybe I feel embarrassed and kind of silly that I didn’t sniff it out, but I didn’t.”
Midway through the 2023-24 season, the Clippers reached a deal on a three-year contract extension for $153 million with the two-time NBA champion, which eventually led to an additional endorsement deal.
“We were done with Kawhi, we were done with Aspiration. The deals were all locked and loaded,” noted Ballmer, “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.”
“The allegations have not been true. But what’s most important to me is we’ve done the right thing in all those interactions. You know Kawhi’s business is Kawhi’s business. But we’ve always done the right thing,” he added, confirming the official approach by the Clippers.
“Neither the Clippers nor Steve Ballmer circumvented the salary cap,” the team previously underlined in a press release to The Athletic and The Los Angeles Times, “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.”
Aspiration filed for bankruptcy in March. In late August, co-founder Joe Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud.