The smoke around the fire that is Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers potential cap circumvention violation keeps getting thicker.
Last week sportswriter and podcaster Pablo Torre alleged that Leonard had been paid $28 million for a “no-show” endorsement agreement with a firm called Aspiration, into which Clippers owner Steve Ballmer had invested $50 million. Aspiration has since gone bankrupt and Leonard was named as one of the potential litigants in the ensuing court proceedings.
In the interim,
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the matter at a press conference, saying that the league would need conclusive proof, not just allegations, before levying penalties against the Clippers.
Now Torre has come out with the next round of paperwork, showing that Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong invested $1.99 million in Aspiration during a confluence of two events:
- The corporation was losing money at a rapid rate.
- Their payment to Leonard was late.
Wong’s investment came on December 6th. Aspiration’s promised payment to Leonard was made on December 15th.
You can see Torre’s podcast in the embed just below. Kurt Helin of NBC Sports also has a good summary write-up of the situation.
It’s likely that Leonard and his agent (who is also his uncle) had a large role in bringing the situation to the public spotlight. As Helin relays, they reportedly asked other teams for special–and illegal–considerations during Leonard’s 2019 free agency and raised a stink when the payment from Aspiration was late.
The latest PTFO reporting focuses on the final months of 2022: In September of that year, Aspiration missed a quarterly $1.75 million payment to Leonard as the failing company was coming apart at the seams. This had Dennis Robertson — “Uncle Dennis,” Leonard business manager and uncle who had asked the Raptors for no-show endorsements during free agency in 2019, and asked the Lakers and Clippers for much more like a piece of the organization, a home, and use of a plane — hounding Aspiration for the money Leonard was owed (which flowed into a specially formed LLC for this endorsement money).
The Clippers have denied any wrongdoing through any of these actions.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement between NBA players and the league defines and limits potential penalties for salary cap circumvention. They include voiding contracts and endorsement agreements, forfeiture of draft picks, suspension of team officials, and financial penalties.
