It’s been more than a decade since former Clippers owner Donald Sterling was forced to sell the team, but new owner Steve Ballmer has a different bombshell controversy.

On Tuesday, the podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out (PTFO) dropped a detailed report alleging that the Clippers circumvented the NBA’s salary cap to pay star Kawhi Leonard an additional $28 million. 

Leonard was paid through a deal with Aspiration, a company that provides sustainability initiatives to its clients. The deal was made in late 2021, around the same time Kawhi Leonard signed a four-year, $176.2 million extension with the Clippers. Torre alleges that it was a “no-show job” as Leonard did not need to fulfill any obligations to the company to receive $28 million.

Pablo Torre, a former ESPN host, spoke with seven former Aspiration employees, from whom he was able to receive documents that outline Leonard’s deal with the company. One of the former employees agreed to a recorded conversation with PTFO under a modulated voice and claimed that there was a “marketing deal” with Leonard that they were told not to ask any questions about.

“If I had any questions about it, essentially don’t, because it was to circumvent the salary cap,” the anonymous former employee said. 

The employee also said that the deal was exponentially larger than all of Aspiration’s other celebrity endorsement deals, which include Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr. 

The Torre podcast alleges that Ballmer wired Aspiration $50 million shortly after Leonard signed with the Clippers.

The Clippers sent a statement to PTFO saying that any assertion of salary cap circumvention and misconduct with Aspiration is “provably false.” The team sent the same message to Front Office Sports when asked for comment.

“The team ended its relationship with Aspiration years ago, during the 2022–23 season, when Aspiration defaulted on its obligations. Neither the Clippers nor Mr. Ballmer was aware of any improper activity by Aspiration or its co-founder until after the government issued its investigation. The team and Mr. Ballmer stand ready to assist law enforcement in any way they can,” the statement read.

Last month, Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud for deceiving lenders and investors worth close to $250 million.

What is the Violation?

The NBA imposes a salary cap to regulate spending across the league. This effectively levels the playing field among owners. Ballmer is by far the richest owner in the league. Forbes estimates his net worth at $152.8 billion, making him the world’s eighth-richest person.

Salary cap circumvention is tricky to prove because it is common for players to agree to lucrative endorsement deals. In this case, however, it could be assumed that Leonard’s compensation violates the CBA, which states that a violation of the salary cap rules comes when “compensation from the sponsor or business partner or third party is substantially in excess of the fair market value of any services to be rendered by the player.”

The CBA indicates that the penalties for the violations include:

• $4.5 million for a first offense, $5.5 million for a second offense
• Forfeiture of one first-round draft pick
• Voiding any player contract linked to the violation

It would also be a violation of the CBA rules if the transaction was not authorized by the league, though it is unclear as of this time if the league was aware of the deal. That would come with stricter penalties, including forfeiture of additional draft picks and a one-year suspension for team personnel involved in the violation.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated his desire to expand both the regular season and the league’s international presence during an interview with NBC on the eve of the 2025 season.

“We always say, ‘What do the fans want? What do the fans really think is important?’ And I think it’s clear they want more regular-season games versus preseason games,” Goodell said Wednesday on Today, the network’s morning show, when asked about the possibility of expanding the regular season from 17 to 18 games.

Goodell has been publicly pushing for an 18-game season since last spring, and admitted Wednesday, “it’s something that we’ll work through” with the NFL Players’ Association. The current collective bargaining agreement is in effect through the 2030 season.

“We continue to make our game safer, and I think that’s at the core of making that kind of a decision,” Goodell said. “Can we do it safely for our players? But it also, I think, represents an opportunity for us to continue to bring higher quality NFL content, ultimately, and a regular-season game is clearly better.”

Goodell said if the NFL moved to an 18-game season, the Super Bowl falling on Presidents Day weekend “would probably occur” fairly often. “I think 18 weeks would get you to that point, and I think it would be a really great move,” he said. With the league’s current calendar, Super Bowl LXI (Feb. 14, 2027, in Los Angeles) will mark the first time the championship game is played on the eve of the federal holiday.

New Borders

With the NFL playing a record seven games outside the U.S. this season, Goodell confirmed the league isn’t done placing contests internationally. “We hope to get to 16 regular-season games that we can play over the season,” he said. “That obviously would be easier with an 18 (regular) and two (preseason) season.”

Goodell said he also thinks a permanent franchise could be supported in London or Germany, but admitted challenges remain on that front. “We need to try to find a way to do it competitively (and) fairly for everybody,” he said.

Scheduling is the biggest issue for any theoretical European franchise. “The ability of teams to make sure they can field a competitive team and put them in the best position,” he said.
”And obviously, teams going over to play there. Can you do that competitively? Those are the core issues for us.”

A burgeoning move by several European men’s pro soccer clubs to play league matches overseas is facing new levels of opposition from fan groups across the continent.

More than 400 supporter groups have petitioned FIFA, UEFA, and national associations to block requests from the Spanish football federation and Italy’s Serie A to allow international matches. LaLiga’s Barcelona is aiming to play Villarreal in Miami in December, while Italian power AC Milan is seeking to have a February 2026 match against Como take place in Perth, Australia.

“Should either of these leagues’ proposals be allowed to go ahead, it would instantly open a Pandora’s box with unpredictable and irreversible consequences,” Football Supporters Europe said in a statement that was co-signed by hundreds of smaller fan groups spanning 25 countries. “Clubs are neither entertainment companies nor traveling circuses. They exist for the benefit of their communities and provide a sense of belonging, where fans have been attending home games for generations. Breaking this vital bond, even temporarily, would undermine the cultural, social, and local roots that give our game its meaning.”

Tension Points

Such a collision between local fan desires for continuity and the expanding business horizons of clubs has been essentially inevitable after a legal settlement last year between Relevent Sports, controlled by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, and FIFA. That resolution led to the governing body reviewing its policy toward blocking domestic games being played in the territories of other federations.

Relevent Sports, which brought the prior legal action and alleged antitrust violations by the global governing body, has since also settled legal claims with the U.S. Soccer Federation and has long worked to play a key role in European soccer powers playing league matches in the U.S. The planned Barcelona-Villarreal match is scheduled to be played at Hard Rock Stadium, also owned by Ross. 

Such events are part of a growing push to turn the clubs into global brands, as well as generate additional revenue amid financial struggles for some clubs, and the Spanish federation approved that particular match last month.

The clubs’ desires for international play also mirror the existing operations of many North American pro sports leagues that have global competition as a core element of their schedules. The NFL, for example, will play a record seven games outside the U.S. in 2025, with an eye toward ultimately reaching a 16-game international schedule. 

A significant outlier in the European soccer push to play elsewhere, however, is England’s Premier League, which, despite growing economic might, has long resisted scheduling any games outside the country. 

UEFA has an executive committee scheduled for next week in Albania, where the international play issue is expected to be raised. Chair Aleksander Ceferin, however, has suggested that despite philosophical objections, the organization’s legal abilities in this area are constrained if the involved federations agree to the moves.