Clippers may have circumvented salary cap with superstar's deal

On "Pablo Torre Finds Out," Pablo Torre reported that Leonard signed an endorsement deal with Aspiration, a startup that sold carbon credits to large corporations. The company, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year after one of its co-founders was charged with fraud, signed Leonard to a four-year endorsement deal worth $28M in April 2022 — a deal which didn't require Leonard to do anything at all.

The deal had some highly questionable provisions. According to Torre, Leonard was a paid endorser but could "decline to proceed with any action desired" by Aspiration. In other words, it was free money. The deal would also be voided if Leonard ever left the Clippers. Leonard ensured that wouldn't happen when he signed a three-year extension in January 2024 to stay with the Clippers, a deal that was conveniently less than Leonard's maximum possible salary.

The Clippers have denied any salary-cap circumvention via Aspiration, which was the team's jersey patch sponsor starting in September 2021. 

"The team ended its relationship with Aspiration years ago, during the 2022-23 season, when Aspiration defaulted on its obligations. Neither the Clippers nor Mr. Ballmer was aware of any improper activity by Aspiration or its co-founder until after the government instituted its investigation," a Clippers spokesman said.

However, Leonard signed his suspicious endorsement deal during the 2021-22 season, when the team still had a relationship with Aspiration. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was an investor in the company. It's hard to imagine why a startup would pay Leonard such a massive amount of money for a job with no obligations, especially when it already boasted celebrity investors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr. and Drake.

The team also announced a tree-planting partnership with Aspiration after the 2022-23 season, and their relationship was purportedly over, on the occasion of Leonard's birthday.

The NBA hasn't announced an investigation, but such manipulation of the salary cap has been treated harshly in the past. When the NBA found out the Minnesota Timberwolves had made a secret deal with Joe Smith in 1999, the team was docked five first-round picks and fined $3.5M. The Clippers could well see Leonard's contract voided and other suspensions and penalties.

What does this mean for the upcoming season? The Clippers were looking like Western Conference contenders after adding Brook Lopez and John Collins, and re-signing James Harden. But with the Leonard revelations, the NBA may look at the discounted deals signed by Harden and Lopez to see if they have lucrative side deals that don't count against the cap as well.

Aspiration was a company that defrauded its clients and investors. It's looking like the Clippers may have tried to defraud the league as well.