Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer broke his silence Thursday night, telling ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne he had “no knowledge” of an alleged $28 million no-show marketing agreement between Kawhi Leonard and the now-bankrupt financial startup Aspiration.
The deal suggested Leonard was paid $21 million and is still owed $7 million through his company KL2 Aspire, LLC, first reported by journalist Pablo Torre on his podcast.
Torre said the agreement required Leonard to “essentially do nothing” and included a clause that terminated if he retired or left the Clippers.
Ballmer, who invested $50 million into Aspiration back in 2021, denied any involvement.
“We made an investment in the company,” Ballmer said. “I had no control over this company. At the time, it was an exciting deal for us to go do. We had already signed our deal with Kawhi Leonard. At that time, we hadn’t even introduced Kawhi to Aspiration. Then they request to be introduced to Kawhi. Under rules, we can introduce our sponsors to our athletes. We just can’t be involved.”
The billionaire owner went further, insisting there was never any attempt to work around NBA cap rules.
“Where could any of this circumvention have happened? It didn’t. It couldn’t have,” Ballmer said. “The introduction got made. And they were off to the races on their own. We weren’t involved. I eventually learned that they reached a deal. I have no idea what the deal was.”
When reminded of reports that Leonard’s contract with Aspiration was worth $28 million, Ballmer pointed directly at the company’s co-founders.
“These are guys who committed fraud,” Balmer said. “Look, 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.”
Ballmer added that both Leonard and his representatives “know the rules” and that the Clippers organization has consistently reminded them of compliance standards.
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