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Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has claimed he was 'conned' and strenuously maintained his innocence as the NBA investigates a claim that Kawhi Leonard was paid millions in secret and indirect payments in an effort to circumvent the league's salary cap.
Reporter Pablo Torre made the claim against the Clippers this week by citing a 2025 bankruptcy filing that names the team and a company owned by Leonard under the list of creditors for Aspiration QFZ, LLC, a subsidiary of fintech and sustainability brand Aspiration Partners Inc.
Torre claimed to have contracts showing Aspiration QFZ, LLC entered into a $28 million 'no-show' agreement with Leonard's company, KL2 Aspire LLC, and later claimed - following a report from the Boston Sports Journal - that Leonard also received a separate $20million 'side deal' from Aspiration.
Ballmer invested $50million in Aspiration, while the Daily Mail is still working to obtain the reported contracts for Leonard's Aspiration deals.
The bankruptcy filing from federal court in Delaware, obtained by the Daily Mail, also shows unsecured claims of $30 million and $7 million for the Clippers and Leonard's company, KL2 Aspire LLC, respectively. Daily Mail has reached out for further comment from Leonard's agent, Mitch Frankel, as well as an attorney who represented Aspiration QFZ in its bankruptcy filing.
And while Ballmer said he was 'embarrassed' that he didn't pick up on any financial trouble from Aspiration, he defended his and the Clippers actions and said they 'weren't involved' in the company's deal with Leonard.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer furiously denied any wrongdoing in an interview with ESPN
The Los Clippers are being accused of indirectly paying star forward Kawhi Leonard millions in secret and indirect payments in an alleged attempt to circumvent the NBA 's salary cap
'These were guys who committed fraud,' Ballmer told ESPN. 'Look, they conned me. 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.'
He later continued: '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.'
Ballmer admitted that he would 'want the league to investigate' if another team was being accused of skirting the league's salary cap rules, but defended the timeline of his introduction of the two parties.
Aspiration became a Clippers sponsor in September 2021 and Leonard signed an extension with the team in August of that year. Separate endorsement deals between players and team sponsors are commonplace and legal.
Ballmer, though, told ESPN that he didn't introduce Leonard and Aspiration until November - three months after the star forward's fresh four-year, $173million pact, and that he did not know the specifics of the agreement.
'I eventually learned that they had reached a deal. I have no idea what the deal was,' he said.
He added of the reported 'no-show' nature of the deal and the large amount of money allegedly involved: 'I don't know why they did what they did, and I don't know how different it is [compared with other endorsement deals].'
Daily Mail obtained a federal bankruptcy filing showing unsecured claims of $30 million and $7 million for the LA Clippers and Leonard's company, KL2 Aspire LLC, respectively
Steve Ballmer, the Clippers owner, shares a laugh with Kawhi Leonard after the All-Star signed with the team in July of 2019. Ballmer is accused of giving impermissible payments to Leonard
Aspiration Partners Inc. co-founder Joe Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud last month, for what authorities described as a $248million scheme to defraud investors.
The team, as it pointed out in a statement, 'ended its relationship with Aspiration years ago, during the 2022-23 season, when Aspiration defaulted on its obligation.'
Furthermore, as reported by Torre, Aspiration QFZ's alleged payments to KL2 Aspire were sent to Dennis Robertson, Leonard's uncle and advisor, who was previously investigated by the NBA in 2019 for allegedly requesting impermissible benefits for his nephew and himself.
That 2019 investigation did not find any impermissible benefits going from the Clippers to Leonard or anyone working on his behalf.
A year later, a self-described acquaintance of Leonard and Robertson named Johnny Wilkes sued the Clippers, claiming he was still owed $2.5 million from the team for helping them to sign the former Spurs and Raptors star.
Wilkes, a self-described acquaintance of Robertson, claimed in the lawsuit that Ballmer would 'fund a $100,000,000.00 marketing campaign for Kawhi Leonard' and the uncle would get his own Southern California home if the All-Star forward agreed to sign with the Clippers.
That lawsuit was ultimately dismissed and neither the Clippers nor Robertson admitted to any wrongdoing.
Ballmer was asked by ESPN if Robertson had asked for any additional, impermissible benefits, and said: 'They know the rules. They meaning Kawhi and his representatives, including his uncle. We know the rules. And if anything's not clear, we remind ourselves what the rules are and we make absolutely clear we're going to abide by those rules and they understand them as well. And it's important for them to abide by them, which they have.'
Leonard has been with the Clippers since 2019 and signed extensions with the team in 2021 and 2024
An NBA spokesman previously confirmed to the Daily Mail that the league was investigating the claims against the Clippers and Leonard.
In a statement to Torre, the Clippers and Ballmer said that any allegations of misconduct were 'provably false,' while he also told ESPN that he and the team had cooperated with the Department of Justice's investigation into Aspiration.
In a public statement, the franchise said: '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 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons before defaulting on its contract.
They continued: 'There is nothing unusual or untoward about team sponsors doing endorsement deals with players on the same team. 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.'
