The ongoing saga surrounding Kawhi Leonard’s alleged “no-show” deal with Aspiration took another turn this week, as Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban once again jumped in to defend Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.
In response to Pablo Torre’s latest report on Pablo Torre Finds Out, which outlined Ballmer’s financial ties to Aspiration and their possible link to Leonard’s $28 million endorsement, Cuban pushed back hard on social media.
“Will you now admit that you and your sources who said it was common knowledge the $50m was for cap circumvention were incorrect? And the Wong 2m and 10m weren’t directed to KL? And you focus too much on the dates,” Cuban wrote on X. “A contract paid quarterly is always going to be close to any investment.”
Pablo. Glad I could help!
Will you now admit that you and your sources who said it was common knowledge the $50m was for cap circumvention were incorrect ? And the Wong 2m and 10m weren’t directed to KL ?And You focus too much on the dates. A contract paid quarterly is… https://t.co/eVMAYghrnC
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) September 18, 2025
Cuban then offered his own explanation of how Aspiration’s carbon credit model functioned.
“I’m not an expert here but generally, when you buy carbon credits, the way Aspiration was selling them, it wasn’t like buying a physical product, unless they had purchased already verified credits. Which are really expensive,” Cuban explained. “They are supposed to plant the tree or whatever kind they bought, and you get the credits at a certain point after they are verified. So putting up the cash would allow Aspiration to spend the money to start the CC process.
“BUT you have to confirm what they truly cost to figure out how much cash they had to put up front and what, if any, profits or losses they had on them.”
Torre responded on his show by acknowledging that Cuban’s explanation lined up with what his sources had described, but the investigation continues.
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