Dealing with allegations that he and his crew circumvented the wage cap with star participant Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers proprietor Steve Ballmer is doubling down on his denial. In an interview with “SportsCenter,” Ballmer disputed the accusation that he organized a “no-show” endorsement deal for Leonard.
Investigative journalist Pablo Torre not too long ago reported that Ballmer used a $50 million funding in an organization, Aspiration, to facilitate a $28 million “no-show” deal for Leonard. Such an association would violate the NBA’s cap circumvention guidelines, and the league has launched an investigation into the matter.
Nonetheless, Ballmer refutes Torre’s reporting, saying he and the Clippers had no function in greasing the wheels on a deal between Leonard and Aspiration, which is within the midst of a fraud investigation.
Ballmer and the crew did put money into Aspiration in 2021, however he claims to have had no management over any decision-making.
“We made an funding within the firm,” Ballmer advised ESPN. “All positive. I had no management over this firm. That is essential underneath the wage cap guidelines. I owned lower than three % of the corporate. There have been traders who put in much more cash than I did. I had no board seat. I had no management. Heck, it was a fraudulent firm. It is potential no one had management.”
Ballmer additionally acknowledged Leonard and Aspiration weren’t launched till months after the six-time All-Star signed his four-year max contract in August of 2021. The Clippers proprietor mentioned paperwork supplied to the Division of Justice, as a part of their investigation into Aspiration, show Leonard did not meet anybody inside the firm till November of that yr.
“At the moment, we hadn’t launched Kawhi to Aspiration,” Ballmer mentioned of Leonard’s four-year contract. “We had been performed with Kawhi. We had been performed with Aspiration. The offers had been all locked and loaded. Then they did ask to be launched to Kawhi. Below the foundations, we will introduce our sponsors to our athletes. We simply cannot be concerned. We made an introduction. … The place may any of this circumvention have occurred? It did not. It could not have.”
Requested why an organization like Aspiration would pay Leonard $28 million and anticipate nothing in return, Ballmer pointed to the corporate’s misdeeds and admitted he was “embarrassed” by the state of affairs.
“I do not know why they did what they did,” Ballmer advised ESPN. “I actually do not. Any hypothesis can be loopy. These are guys who dedicated fraud. They conned me. I made an funding in these guys pondering it was on the up-and-up, and so they conned me. At this stage, I’ve no means to foretell what they could have performed something they did, not to mention the contract with Kawhi.”
Again in 2019, Leonard’s uncle and adviser, Dennis Robertson, was investigated by the NBA for allegedly looking for impermissible advantages in the course of the free company course of. Finally, the league mentioned it did not discover any proof to help the accusations, however questions round Leonard and his camp are again as a result of Aspiration scandal.
Offered with that connection, Ballmer dismissed it and mentioned the Clippers have all the time performed their enterprise in a authorized method.
“I feel as a result of he would not converse a lot, comparatively, there’s lots of thriller round Kawhi,” Ballmer mentioned. “That could be why followers create a story, if you’ll. … The allegations haven’t been true. What’s most essential to me is we have performed the suitable factor in all these interactions. Kawhi’s enterprise is Kawhi’s enterprise, however we have all the time performed the suitable factor.”
In line with paperwork obtained by Torre, courtroom filings present that Leonard remains to be owed $7 million from Aspiration. When it comes to his standing with the Clippers, Leonard is within the second yr of a three-year extension he signed in January of 2024, and he’s set to make $50 million.
