Clippers Issue Official Statement on Kawhi Leonard After Allegations Involving Owner Steve Ballmer

The $28 million contract expose continues to unravel. Pablo Torre revealed an alleged third-party agreement from Steve Ballmer to Kawhi Leonard, which is outside the scope of the CBA. “We are aware of this morning’s media report regarding the LA Clippers and are commencing an investigation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said Wednesday. For hours, all the parties were silent, but now one of them has spoken.

“Neither the Clippers nor Steve Ballmer circumvented the salary cap!” The Clippers’ statement made sure to deny any allegations. “The notion that Steve invested in Aspiration’s co-founders presented themselves as committed to doing right by their customers while protecting the environment.” If Torre had hard evidence against the team, Ballmer and Leonard, then the team’s statement is equally hard to deny any such claims.

“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- 2022 and 2022- 2023 seasons before defaulting on its contract. There is nothing unusual or untoward about team sponsors doing endorsement deals with players on the same team.”

After the NBA issued the statement to pursue the investigation, the Clippers made sure to issue their statement that would help the league to clear the name of their owner. “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.”

This is a developing story…

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