The paper trail for Kawhi Leonard’s “no-show job” with Aspiration has gotten longer.
On Thursday, the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast–which first reported on Sept. 2 about the Clippers star’s arrangement with the failed environmental startup–unveiled more evidence about team ownership’s possible knowledge about the arrangement.
Torre reported that Leonard’s four-year sponsorship worth $28 million with Aspiration was meant to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap, which Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has denied. Additional reports have pushed that figure to nearly $50 million due to a second deal, which included stock options.
The NBA said it is investigating the matter. Following a Board of Governors meeting on Wednesday commissioner Adam Silver told reporters the NBA must prove the Clippers violated the league’s bylaws. Silver has the ability to punish the team immediately based on circumstantial evidence, but prefers to see what the investigation finds first. The NBA hired law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to handle the investigation.
Torre’s latest reporting alleges Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong also invested money in Aspiration while the environmental fintech company was financially struggling to make payments to Leonard. Wong is the Clippers alternate governor and vice chairman, and owns 1% of the team while Ballmer owns 99%. The two were college roommates at Harvard in the 1970s.
The NBA’s CBA does not explicitly say it’s illegal for a team owner to invest in a company that also sponsors one of the team’s players or has a sponsorship with both the team and its players. The San Antonio Spurs have a longstanding partnership with Texas-based grocery chain H-E-B that has seen numerous players land sponsorship money for starring in commercials over the years.
The latest documents are the closest the Leonard saga has had to a “smoking gun,” which would be key for the NBA’s investigation based on Silver’s comments. Ballmer has denied the allegations and has said he has proof of his innocence, but has yet to publicly release any of it. No evidence explicitly showing Ballmer and Wong’s investments were for Leonard’s endorsement payments has come to light either.
“I was only quasi-joking with someone earlier, when people talk about a smoking gun, that’s obviously circumstantial. It means the gun is still smoking. It must have been recently fired,” Silver said Wednesday. “I’d say in the case of the league we have our investigators look at the totality of the evidence. I would be reluctant to act if there was a mere appearance of impropriety.”
“The Clippers situation is currently under investigation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement Thursday when asked about Torre’s latest reporting.
Wong’s daughter also worked at Aspiration, according to Torre, but she wasn’t named in the podcast. The revelation makes it harder for Ballmer and Wong to claim they were unaware of Aspiration’s financial struggles. Aspiration declared bankruptcy in March and is under federal investigation for fraud. Ballmer previously said he was “embarrassed” for not sniffing out Aspiration’s antics when he originally invested.
“These were guys who committed fraud,” Ballmer said of Aspiration in a SportsCenter appearance on Sept. 4. “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.”
In December 2022, Wong invested $2 million in Aspiration while the company was running out of money, laying off employees and freezing outgoing payments, according to Torre. Included in the payment freeze was Leonard’s deal with Aspiration, which paid $7 million annually in quarterly payments of $1.75 million. Wong’s investment, Torre alleges, was to pay Leonard and honor Aspiration’s contractual obligations.
Wong’s investment came nearly a year after Ballmer invested $50 million into Aspiration in September 2021, which was two months before Leonard registered his LLC KL2 Aspire, according to Torre’s reporting. The Clippers reached a $300 million sponsorship deal with Aspiration in September 2021.
Wong’s limited partnership firm DEA 88 Investments bought less than 1% of Aspiration in December 2022, according to a stock purchase agreement obtained by Torre. The document says Aspiration was “in default” according to Torre, which implies Wong was aware of the failed startup’s financial situation when he invested.
Leonard’s first payment came on July 6, 2022, according to Torre, which was a week after the contractually set date of June 30. Aspiration failed to pay Leonard on time again that fall, and his second payment came in December, after Wong’s investment. Despite Aspiration’s lack of liquidity in December 2022, Leonard’s payments were marked as “critical,” according to a document obtained by Torre.
Wong and the Clippers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
