The NBA handed down sweeping penalties to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, team executives, the team and Kawhi Leonard following an investigation into allegations the group circumvented the league\u2019s Collective Bargaining Agreement.<\/p>\n
The NBA issued the following sanctions after a third-party probe determined Ballmer invested $60 million in a now-defunct company that in turn agreed to pay Leonard $28 million for endorsements he never fulfilled:<\/p>\n
The Clippers had asserted they had done nothing wrong and are expected to appeal sanctions.<\/p>\n
The findings announced Wednesday were the result of a nearly yearlong investigation conducted by Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, a high-powered New York law firm the NBA frequently uses when attempting to determine off-the-court wrongdoing by team owners, players or referees. <\/p>\n
The probe was triggered when the \u201cPablo Torre Finds Out\u201d podcast aired an episode Sept. 3, 2025, detailing the contract Leonard received from Aspiration, a self-described \u201csocially-conscious and sustainable banking services and investment products\u201d firm. <\/p>\n
The deal with Leonard came to light in Aspiration\u2019s bankruptcy documents. Joseph Sanberg, co-founder of the company, pleaded guilty<\/a> in October to federal charges<\/a> of conspiring to bilk investors out of $248 million and on June 1 was sentenced to 14 years<\/a> in federal prison.<\/p>\n One of the primary investors in Aspiration was Ballmer, the former longtime CEO of Microsoft whose estimated net worth<\/a> is $139 billion. He has owned the Clippers since 2014. <\/p>\n Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration in September 2021. A month later, the Clippers announced a $300-million sponsorship deal with the company. Ballmer nearly granted Aspiration naming rights<\/a> to the team\u2019s new $2-billion arena, but instead chose financial services firm Intuit.<\/a> <\/p>\n Two years later when Aspiration was experiencing severe financial difficulties, Ballmer invested an additional $10 million and Clippers co-owner Dennis Wong \u2014 Ballmer\u2019s former college roommate \u2014 invested $1.99 million in Aspiration nine days before Leonard received a $1.75 million payment from the company. Leonard was paid $21 million of the $28 million agreed upon in his contract with Aspiration.<\/p>\n Leonard was traded to the Toronto Raptors on June 30 for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and a slew of draft picks, but the deal was put on hold pending the outcome of the investigation. Leonard led the Raptors to the NBA championship in 2019. <\/p>\n Leonard would not talk about the allegations during the 2025-26 NBA season because the investigation was ongoing and brushed it off during media day in September.<\/p>\n \u201cNone of us did … wrongdoing and, yeah, that\u2019s it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe invite the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if he performed any endorsement work for Aspiration, Leonard said, \u201cI understand the full contract and services that I had to do. Like I said, I don\u2019t deal with conspiracies or the click-bait analysts or journalism that\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Players are allowed to have endorsement and business deals, but at issue was whether the Clippers participated in arranging the side deal<\/a> beyond simply introducing Aspiration executives to Leonard. Doing so would be a violation of Article 13 of the NBA collective bargaining agreement. <\/a><\/p>\n