The NBA survey on Kawhi Leonard’s approval agreement with the bankruptcy sponsor aspiration – a bomb that a bomb The investigation by the Pablo Torre discovers the podcast Called a “non -presentation” agreement designed to be bypassing the salary ceiling – is now underway. It will most likely be for months, perhaps in 2026, before having the results and all the potential consequences for the Clippers and the owner Steve Ballmer.
This did not prevent everyone from the League from talking about the case.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, appearing Tuesday during the Axs Drive of Sports Business Journal event in Los Angeles, said the League will arrive at the bottom of what’s going on.
The NBA commissioner Adam Silver, today, during the sports conference of the front-office, on the Kawhi / Clippers / Aspiration Circvention investigation: “I know nothing about Kawhi’s agreement. Show, no spectacle; we will certainly discover it.”
He also promised: “We will arrive at the bottom of it.”
– Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) September 16, 2025
Silver continues to look like a prudent lawyer in the treatment of this scandle, but added that the NBA may have to reconsider its rules on the investments of players and owners and team sponsors.
“When this ends, we will examine our rules in terms of companies in which players invest and owners.”
Ballmer continues to express his innocence and said that at the same time, Silver was (they did not speak at the same time). Here are the protruding facts of the comments of the owners of Clippers, via business newspaper.
“It’s not a fun thing to get through. I was personally defrauded by our interactions with the company and certain staff members … But the important thing is that our relationship with the company and our player’s relationship with the company were independent, which is important under the NBA rules. I feel quite confident in this area, that we have resulted (by) the rules. So, I welcome the fact that the NBA is made.
“It is much more fun to be highlighted to build a large arena. But that too will pass. And as I said, I feel very well in what we have done, and we welcome the NBA by taking a look and I hope to agree with us.”
The basics of the case, as we know them, arise as this: in September 2021, Ballmer made an investment of $ 50 million in suction, a “green bank” company whose model was to plant trees to develop carbon credits, which it would in turn sell to the companies that needed it. Shortly after, Kawhi Leonard accepted a maximum contract extension of $ 178 million over four years with the Clippers. The aspiration has become a sponsor of the clippers in an agreement worth around 300 million dollars. The company also concluded an approval agreement with Leonard, originally for $ 28 million, but later 20 million dollars in shares were added to the agreement (this stock is now worthless), which brought a Leonard approval agreement to a total of $ 48 million.
The disturbing point for Leonard and the Clippers is that he did not seem to do work for this approval money, which is why he was described as a work of “non-presentation”. There is no evidence that he has made marketing or other promotional work for the company, and he did not even publish on social networks on the company. While the former CEO of the company said that the contract had work requirements, none of this work is obvious. It smells of fish.
Two other things seem difficult to explain. In December 2022, the aspiration had trouble making payments and staying in business. They were surveyed and were also late on a payment of $ 1.75 million due to Leonard. It was at this time that the owner of Clippers minorities, Dennis Wong, made an investment of $ 2 million in the company, and nine days later, Leonard was paid. Then, in March 2023, Ballmer intervened and made another $ 10 million investment in the suction, seeming to throw good money after the bad.
Silver previously said that the burden of evidence concerned the NBA, the organization making the accusation, and not on the mowers (even if many people in the league think that the tsunami of circumstantial evidence against the mowers changes at least part of the charge). Ballmer coherently denied any reprehensible act by himself or the clippers, claiming that there is a separation between the team agreement with the aspiration and the approval agreement of the company with Leonard.
For the moment, everyone is waiting for the league investigation (being done by an external law firm). This did not prevent everyone from talking about what will happen next.
