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Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard. Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Clippers, Kawhi Leonard scandal intensifies with latest report

By Ernesto Cova | Last updated Sep 11, 2025 10:57 AM ET

The Los Angeles Clippers may have committed a cardinal sin by Adam Silver's standards.

Pablo Torre's thorough, seven-month-long investigation revealed that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer may have used a now-bankrupt company called Aspiration to circumvent the salary cap and pay Kawhi Leonard for a no-show job.

Ballmer and the Clippers, of course, have denied all wrongdoing, even in spite of the thousands of pages of evidence tying shady payments and Ballmer's $50 million investment in the company.

Now, in a follow-up episode, one of Torre's sources revealed that the company, which was already facing financial issues, had Leonard's payments as a "critical priority."

More shockingly, they received a $1.99 million donation from a company owned by Dennis Wong, one of the team's minority owners, at the very same time one of Leonard's payments was running late.

"It really looks like the Clippers, through Dennis Wong, put in $2 million in order for Aspiration to be able to make the $1.75 million payment to Kawhi. That's what it looks like, to me," the source said.

EXCLUSIVE: Kawhi Leonard's $1.75M "no-show" payday was running late.

Then, per new documents obtained by @PabloTorre, the Clippers' co-owner invested $1.99M in the team's broke sponsor.

Nine days later, Kawhi got paid.

"It is beyond shocking," an Aspiration executive says. pic.twitter.com/yxOYGfo3dZ
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 11, 2025

The Clippers won't be punished

Despite significant evidence and the fact that Leonard's camp reportedly demanded similar perks from the Toronto Raptors in free agency, ESPN insider Bobby Marks doesn't expect the Clippers to be disciplined.

"This is just from talking to teams, the teams I've talked to, they're not expecting a penalty here, a significant penalty of anything, just because they realize how significant salary cap circumvention is. If anything, do we maybe see a rule in place where the league takes up more of a understanding as far as vetting what contracts players signed with sponsorship agreements that are related with teams?" Marks said on ESPN.

Teams are not expecting the LA Clippers to receive a significant punishment, per @BobbyMarks42:

“The teams I’ve talked to, they’re not expecting a penalty— a significant penalty— if anything.” pic.twitter.com/3J0DZjSOpB
— APHoops (@APH00PS) September 10, 2025

The salary cap exists for a reason. Steve Ballmer is a winner, a competitor and someone from the corporate world, so he might not necessarily be a fan of having to play this type of fair game.

However, this is exactly why this was put in place. He has way more spending power than other NBA owners, and while this might not be the only instance in which the cap has been circumvented, the league should make an example of the Clippers if its investigation finds that they circumvented the cap.

Regardless, the evidence looks damning at this point.

Ernesto Cova

Ernesto is a bilingual (English-Spanish) sports writer with over eight years of experience covering major leagues such as the NBA, NFL, and MLB. Ernesto’s work focuses on providing insightful, up-to-date coverage of sports, blending his expertise in sports psychology with a passion for analyzing player performance, team dynamics, and trade developments across various sports leagues

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