The NBA has launched an investigation into allegations that the Los Angeles Clippers circumvented the salary cap with Kawhi Leonard’s $48 million endorsement deal with Aspiration. Adam Silver pledged that the league will “get to the bottom” of the allegations.
“I don’t know anything about Kawhi’s deal,” said Silver. “Show, no show. We’ll certainly find out.”
“Yes, this investigation will take time,” Silver said. “I mean, we want to be as complete and thorough as possible, and it’s my sense from being involved in these things in the past, we will get to the bottom of this.”
Silver also clarified his prior comments in which he said he’d never heard of the company Aspiration before. Silver’s comment followed a post from Pablo Torre where he indicated he obtained a copy of Aspiration’s $300 million “Founding Sponsorship Agreement” that said the agreement must be approved by the NBA before its enforcement.
“If I said I never heard of it, I meant in the context of the accusations here. I mean, I certainly was aware of the brand,” Silver said.
On Tuesday, Ballmer reiterated his stance that he was defrauded by the company and said he welcomes the NBA’s probe, which will be conducted by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
“This is not a fun thing to be through,” Ballmer said. “I was personally defrauded through our interactions with the company and some of the staff. The fraud sort of extended broadly through that. We had many relationships with the company – sponsor, activation, (it) was through carbon credits, a whole bunch of complicated stuff.”
“But the important thing is our relationship with the company, and our player’s relationship with the company were independent, which is important under the rules of the NBA,” Ballmer said, according to the Sports Business Journal. “I feel quite confident in that, that we abided (by) the rules. So, I welcome the investigation that the NBA is doing. It’s a great way, from our perspective, to get the facts out there.”