One of the more surprising developments of Pablo Torre’s exhaustive reporting on the Los Angeles Clippers’ alleged salary cap circumvention scheme involving Kawhi Leonard has been the emergence of Mark Cuban as one of Torre’s biggest critics.

And on the latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, the Meadowlark Media host not only strengthened the connection between the Clippers and Leonard’s alleged no-show endorsement deal, but answered some of the Shark Tank star’s biggest questions in the process.

In the episode, Torre and Dan Le Batard reflected on Cuban’s recent social media spree questioning Torre’s reporting. Specifically, the ex-ESPN writer drew attention to a post from the Dallas Mavericks’ minority owner, in which he asked why Clippers owner Steve Ballmer didn’t simply purchase an excess of carbon credits from Aspiration as a means to fund the company’s alleged no-show deal with Leonard.

This is an informative article that discusses how Sanberg tried to use foreign celebrities, companies he controlled and unknown sources of cash.

Important to note that KPMG, their auditor resigned, as did other accountants they hired.

Also of note, I think Pablo reported… https://t.co/0tjrlosXSM

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) September 12, 2025

As he is wont to do, Pablo Torre found out. And as it turns out, Cuban was certainly onto something.

According to new documents obtained by PTFO, the Clippers purchased nearly $21 million worth of carbon credits from Aspiration in June 2022. The purchase came amid the company’s ongoing financial struggles and two weeks before Leonard’s initial payment was due.

Citing two sources who had direct familiarity with the purchase, Torre reports that the deal was “agreed and put into motion very promptly.” The development strengthens an apparent trend that has emerged throughout PTFO‘s previous reporting, in which the Clippers seemed to either invest in Aspiration or make purchases from the company shortly before Leonard’s payments were due.

Presented with Cuban’s post asking why the Clippers didn’t make purchases from Aspiration in order to help keep the company afloat if they were trying to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap, an anonymous former senior executive at the company told Torre that’s exactly what happened.

“They did that,” the ex-executive said. “Literally, [Cuban] described one of the few ways that the Clipper and Ballmer got money into Aspiration. He literally described exactly what they did. So he’s right, he’s completely correct. That would be one of the avenues that you would use to circumvent the cap.”

EXCLUSIVE: Two weeks before Kawhi’s first “no-show” payday, the Clippers bailed out Aspiration with a $21M deal signed by the team CFO.

(Yes, @mcuban sent @PabloTorre down this rabbit hole: “He literally described exactly what they did,” a source says, “to circumvent the cap.”) pic.twitter.com/5lQNMLm8Or

— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 18, 2025

Le Batard proceeded to point out that the paper trail linking the Clippers to Aspiration and the timing of such deals have already reached the point that they have become impossible to ignore. Meanwhile, the Clippers reiterated their claim that Ballmer had been duped and stated that the purchases were made as a part of the franchise’s efforts to make the Inuit Dome environmentally friendly — although Torre noted that they were made two years before the arena even opened.

Despite the exhaustive nature of Torre’s reporting, plenty of questions remain about the alleged scheme, which is currently being investigated by the NBA. As for Mark Cuban, it’s still not clear why he’s been so vocal in questioning the story. But as it turns out, his criticism only appears to have strengthened Torre’s reporting.