Clippers deny Leonard had $28 million fake job to evade salary cap
The Los Angeles Clippers have denied claims that the franchise paid star player Kawhi Leonard $28 million for a job that didn’t exist.
unbranded – Sport
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the Kawhi Leonard investigation during a press conference in New York after a Board of Governors meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
The NBA is investigating allegations that the Los Angeles Clippers reportedly facilitated a $28 million “no-show” endorsement deal for Leonard with a now-bankrupt sustainability company, Aspiration, allegedly to circumvent the NBA salary cap.
“When the podcast came out, it was news to me,” said Silver, in referencing to Pablo Torre’s “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast as the sports reporter outlined the allegations last week.
“I’d frankly never heard of the company Aspiration before, and I’d never heard a whiff of anything around an endorsement deal with Kawhi or anything around engagement with the Los Angeles Clippers. So it was all new to me. I heard it. I saw some of the follow-up information.”
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said he was “conned” in a recent ESPN interview.
“These were guys who committed fraud,” Ballmer said. “Look, they conned me. 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, let alone the specific contract with Kawhi.”
Wachtell Lipton, the New York law firm, is overseeing the investigation.
“I’ve been around the league long enough in different permutations of allegations and accusations that I’m a big believer in due process and fairness, and we need to now let the investigation run its course,” Silver said.
Silver said his powers as a commissioner include financial penalties, draft picks and suspensions.
“The burden is on the league if we’re going to discipline a team, an owner, a player or any constituent members of the league,” Silver said. “I think as with any process that requires a fundamental sense of fairness, the burden should be on the party that is, in essence, bringing those charges.”
Leonard is entering his sixth season with the Clippers after leading the Toronto Raptors to the 2018-19 NBA championship.
Ballmer purchased the Clippers for a then-record $2 billion in 2014.
“The goal of a full investigation is to find out if there really was impropriety,” Silver said. “Also in a public-facing sport, the public at times reaches conclusions that later turn out to be completely false. I’d want anybody else in the situation Mr. Ballmer is in now, or Kawhi Leonard for that matter, to be treated the same way I would want to be treated if people were making allegations against me.”
Mat Ishbia paid $4 billion to land the Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury in 2023. That number has been surpassed by William Chisholm, who purchased the Boston Celtics for $6.1 million in March of this year.
Silver said he’s had conversations with team owners about Leonard’s situation and is asking them to “withhold judgment” until the investigation is complete.
“At least what’s being said to me is a reservation of judgment,” said Silver when asked the feedback from the remaining 29 owners outside of Ballmer.
“I work collectively for the 30 governors, but I have an independent obligation to be the steward of the brand and the integrity of this league. At least what those governors have said directly to me, to the extent we have had discussions, they’ve been limited. We communicated to them that we engaged Wachtell, as I said earlier, to do this investigation. And maybe I cut off any further conversations and said, let’s all withhold judgment, let’s do this investigation and then we will come back to you in terms of our findings.”
Also on Sept. 10, the Board of Governors approved a change to the coach’s challenge rules that will go into effect this upcoming 2025-26 NBA season.
The replay center official will now decide whether a foul should’ve been called on an out-of-bounds violation challenged by a coach. The adjustment was approved to expedite the replay review process.
Last season marked the first time a referee could determine a foul on a challenge of an out-of-bounds violation. The on-court crew chief made the decision, but the replay center official has that duty now.
The NBA competition committee and the league office unanimously recommended the change.
The league also announced the NBA Cup semifinals will be played at the home arena of the higher-seeded team in each conference starting in 2026-27.
The semifinals and championship game will once again be played in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena. Next season, only the championship will be played at a neutral site.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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