Clippers wing Kawhi Leonard found himself the subject of unwanted scrutiny Wednesday, when it was reported by The Athletic’s Pablo Torre on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast that the six-time All-Star had inked a $28MM endorsement deal for “tree brokerage” Aspiration, a former team sponsor that filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. L.A. owner Steve Ballmer invested $50MM into the company.
The 6’7″ swingman reportedly didn’t do any work for the allegedly phony tree-planting company, leading to speculation that the endorsement agreement was a route for Leonard to earn additional money on top of his NBA salary in a manner that would have helped L.A. circumvent the salary cap. Other involved celebrities, including movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr., apparently did perform actual work for Aspiration.
The NBA is now investigating the situation to determine if there was indeed any impropriety.
The Clippers initially released statements to Torre and then to The Los Angeles Times denying any wrongdoing. Now, the team has issued an extended denial, as Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link) relays.
“Neither the Clippers nor Steve Ballmer circumvented the salary cap,” the Clippers’ statement reads. “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.”
Torre responded to the Clippers’ claims (via Twitter), standing by his reporting and challenging some of the language in the Clippers’ statement.