Pablo Torre of Pablo Torre Finds Out is back with new information about Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and Aspiration.
Ballmer donated $1.875 million to Aspiration 1.5 years after the Clippers deal ended. Leonard was also personally guaranteed another $20 million in Aspiration equity.
Ballmer invested $10 million in Aspiration in March 2023. The billionaire invested $50 million in Aspiration 18 months before that.
Ballmer introduced Aspiration to Leonard in November 2021, three months after the Clippers had agreed to a four-year, $173 million extension with Leonard. Two months earlier, in September 2021, the Clippers announced a lucrative $300 million partnership with Aspiration.
Aspiration paid Leonard $1.7 million days after Clippers minority owner Dennis J. Wong made an almost $2 million investment in the company. This took place in December 2022.
Leonard also got $20 million in Aspiration shares directly from co-founder Joe Sanberg.
Ballmer and the Clippers invested $118 million in Aspiration in 18 months. LAC’s chief financial officer signed off on a $21 million payment from the team to fund various “carbon projects” for Aspiration in June 2022. The $21 million was enough for Leonard’s first quarterly payment as part of his “no-show” endorsement deal with Aspiration. It also hit Aspiration’s fundraising target.
Even before that $21 million investment was made, Torre uncovered documents that showed the Clippers made a $3 million prepayment for carbon credits on April 1, 2022, and made another prepayment of $32.4 million three days later on April 4.
Torre also noted that the April 4 date is the same day Leonard signed his KL2 Aspire contract worth $28 million.
Torre’s reporting also includes a screenshot of a February 2022 text message sent by Dennis Robertson, Leonard’s uncle and designated representative on his primary Aspiration contract, to Sanberg.
The text reads, “Good morning Joe, hope you had a wonderful weekend. Just a heads up things are still dragging. Mike has the contract for about 14 days now, haven’t heard back. Thanks Just keeping you informed.”
According to Torre, the text is referring to Leonard’s $20 million equity deal with Aspiration that was on top of his endorsement contract.
Torre first broke the news of Aspiration paying Kawhi Leonard $48 million for a “no-show job” intended to circumvent the NBA salary cap. The NBA is investigating Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers.