LA Clippers Slam Controversial Kawhi Leonard Report in New Announcement

"Neither the Clippers nor Steve Ballmer circumvented the salary cap," the release read. "The notion that Steve invested in Aspiration to funnel money to Kawhi Leonard is absurd. Steve invested because Aspiration's co-founders presented themselves as committed to doing right by their customers while protecting the environment."

As mentioned in the release, the Clippers justified by mentioning that Aspiration served as a team sponsor for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, which is well-documented through articles online.

"After a long campaign of market manipulation, which defrauded not only Steve but numerous other investors and sports teams, Aspiration filed for bankruptcy. Its co-founder, Joseph Sanberg, recently pleaded guilty to a $243 million fraud. Neither Steve nor the Clippers had knowledge of any improper activity by Aspiration or its co-founder until after the government initiated its investigation."

Standing Firm

The Clippers ended the lengthy statement with another firm, outright denial, and made it clear that the deal that Leonard signed with Aspiration while they were a team sponsor had nothing to do with Ballmer or any procedural operations with the Clippers franchise.

"There is nothing unusual or untoward about team sponsors doing endorsement deals with players on the same team," the statement read. "Neither Steve nor the Clippers organization had any oversight of Kawhi's independent endorsement agreement with Aspiration. To say otherwise is flat-out wrong."

To finish it off, the Clippers made sure to share that they welcome any investigation and don't see any reason why they should be punished.

"The Clippers take NBA compliance extremely seriously, fully respect the league's rules, and welcome its investigation related to Aspiration. The Clippers will also continue to cooperate with law enforcement in its investigation into Aspiration's blatantly fraudulent activity".