Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard Got $20 Million in Aspiration Shares Directly From Co-Founder

NBA star Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers got $20 million in Aspiration shares directly from co-founder Joe Sanberg, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

That deal came just months after Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration.

“Additionally, Kawhi Leonard received $20 million in company shares directly from its co-founder, Joe Sanberg, according to multiple sources briefed on the deal,” Vorkunov wrote. “That deal came just months after Steve Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration at a higher per-share cost than another investor at the time. Ballmer owns 1.981 percent of the company, according to bankruptcy filings that list its equity holders.

“This March, Sanberg was arrested, and Aspiration filed for bankruptcy. Sanberg has agreed to plead guilty to defrauding investors of $248 million, as charged by the U.S. Department of Justice. He is set to appear in federal court next week.”

Aspiration paid Leonard $1.7 million days after Clippers minority owner Dennis J. Wong made an almost $2 million investment in the company, according to Pablo Torre of Pablo Torre Finds Out. This took place in December 2022.

On the first episode of the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, when Torre broke this story, seven anonymous former employees for Aspiration said Leonard got $48 million for a “no-show job” intended to “circumvent the (NBA) salary cap.”

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.

“I think the goal of a full investigation is to find out if there really was impropriety,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said on Wednesday. “In a public-facing sport, the public at times reaches conclusions that later turn out to be completely false. I would want anyone else in situations Mr. Ballmer is in now — and Kawhi, for that matter — to be treated the same way I would want to be treated if people were making allegations against me. We’re not a court of law at the end of the day, either.”

Leonard signed with the Clippers in 2019. The franchise has never been to the NBA Finals.