Mark Cuban Shares Harsh Reality for Steve Ballmer Amid Kawhi Leonard Allegations

Steve Ballmer is the richest owner in sports, so of course, there are questions about whether or not he is playing by the rules. Well, a recent development suggests that he is not. Kawhi Leonard signed to an endorsement deal with Aspiration in 2021, guaranteeing him $28 million over four years, as long as he played for the Clippers.

Ballmer invested $50 million into this same company, so Leonard's agreement with them was a bit fishy. Leonard never endorsed Aspiration, so he was getting paid $7 million per year for a "no-show job," and an inside source even outed the Clippers for trying to "circumvent the salary cap."

Of course, the Clippers and Ballmer have both openly denied that there was any wrongdoing here and that they have no clue why Aspiration would pay Leonard millions of dollars to do nothing.

Mark Cuban's harsh truth

Former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was one of the first people to openly defend Ballmer once this was all coming out, and he continued to go at it with Pablo Torre, who outed the news in the first place, on his show. However, Cuban did admit that if this reporting was true, and Ballmer was involved, he would be "toast."

"Look, if you're reporting is right and Steve knew, then it's over, right? It's over, " Cuban said. "He's toast. It's far worse than Joe Smith. Now, the difference is that just because someone said Steve Ballmer knew, it doesn't mean he knew."

Cuban continues to explain what would happen if Ballmer and Lawrence Frank knew about this.

"Lawrence Frank has been through it forever. If [Ballmer] did tell Lawrence and the assistant GMs, they're f---ed too, their careers are toast. Absolute toast," Cuban said. "And there's a 99% chance that at some point it comes out, you know, as they try to protect their career. That's one. Two, the agent is going to be in deep s--t as well, if it ever comes out. And the agent has got to be involved at some level... they're f---ed too."

Of course, Cuban does not believe that Ballmer or anybody within the Clippers' organization was involved, but he admits there would be serious consequences if they were. The NBA announced that it would investigate the situation, so time will tell if anything more comes from this.