Kawhi Leonard's no-obligation endorsement deal was larger than we thought

Aspiration is a company, currently in bankruptcy, that was founded to sell carbon credits to large corporations, created by efforts like tree planting. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invested $50M in the company, which also sponsored the Clippers' jersey patches, just before Leonard signed his endorsement deal with Aspiration in April 2022.

Pablo Torre reported on his podcast that Leonard's endorsement deal notably didn't require Leonard to do anything he objected to in regards to Aspiration, and since then, the All-Star forward hasn't mentioned the company a single time or appeared on promotional material.

Now, the Boston Sports Journal reports that Leonard has a side deal with Aspiration that gave him $20M in company stock. That, plus the $28M no-show job, adds up to $48M, suspiciously close to the $50M Leonard's team owner invested in the company.

BSJ also reported that Ballmer's $50M came at a price of $11 per share, higher than the $10 per share paid by Oak Hill Capital Management. That's unusual, given Ballmer's fame and stature in the business world, factors that would normally get him a discounted share price, not a higher one.

The Clippers have vehemently denied the allegations that they circumvented the salary cap, but it's hard to come up with a different reason that Aspiration would give Leonard so much money without asking for a single thing in return. The company was a startup, in the process of raising funds, and yet it committed nearly $48M to an NBA superstar who's well-known for how boring he is.

Aspiration has since filed for bankruptcy, so Leonard's $20M in stock is now worthless. But he's still owed $7M, and his LLC, KL2Aspire, is among the company's top creditors. It's important to note that Leonard formed the LLC, seemingly named after his initials, jersey number and Aspiration, four months before inking his endorsement deal — and just after signing a four-year extension with the Clippers.

The Clippers can continue to deny that they were cheating on the cap by funneling extra money to their star, but the new evidence suggests that Torre's allegations weren't absurd at all.