Steve Ballmer says he was ‘conned’ by company that had endorsement deal with Kawhi Leonard

Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer says he was a victim of fraud with the company that had an alleged multimillion-dollar endorsement deal with Kawhi Leonard — not a partner in some scheme to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap.

The NBA is investigating the Clippers after a bombshell report from Pablo Torre claimed the team used a phony endorsement deal with a tree-planting company called Aspiration in order to funnel additional money to Leonard. Aspiration filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, and Ballmer claims he was “conned” by the company.

In an interview with ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Ballmer said the Clippers entered into a $300 million partnership with Aspiration in September 2021. The deal included an arena sponsorship and a jersey patch. Two months later, Ballmer said Aspiration asked him to introduce the company to Leonard, which is permissible by NBA rules. The introduction came three months after Leonard signed a four-year, $173 million extension with L.A.

Ballmer says the introduction — made via email — was the extent of his involvement in anything pertaining to Leonard and Aspiration.

“We were done. We were done with Kawhi, we were done with Aspiration. The deals were all locked and loaded,” Ballmer told Shelburne. “Then, they did request to be introduced to Kawhi, and under the rules, we can introduce our sponsors to our athletes. We just can’t be involved. … We even found the email that makes the first introduction. It was early November. The introduction got made and then they were off to the races on, on their own. We weren’t involved.

“I eventually learned that they had reached a deal. I have no idea what the deal was.”

Aspiration filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Co-founder Joe Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud for defrauding investors of more than $248 million. Ballmer says he was among those victimized by the fraud.

“These were guys who committed fraud. Look, they conned me. They conned me,” Ballmer said. “I made an investment in these guys thinking it was on the up-and-up, and they conned me at this stage. I have no ability to predict why they might have done anything they did, let alone the specific contract with Kawhi.”

Torre was unable to find anything that ever publicly linked Leonard to Aspiration, which is viewed as a major red flag. Documents showed that Aspiration agreed to pay Leonard $28 million, but the former NBA Finals MVP never did any marketing for the company. One anonymous former Aspiration who was interviewed by Torre said he or she was told not to ask about Leonard’s arrangement because it was “essentially to circumvent the salary cap.”

Fans already seem to think the Clippers are guilty, but Ballmer is confident the NBA will not uncover any wrongdoing.