If Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is nervous about the NBA looking into whether he gave Kawhi Leonard impermissible benefits during his free agency, Ballmer isn’t showing it. Ballmer said he welcomed the NBA’s investigation into the situation Tuesday.
Ballmer made those comments at the Sports Business Journal’s Drive event Tuesday, where he was a featured speaker. When asked about the situation, Ballmer said he was defrauded and that the NBA will find that the Clippers’ relationship with Aspiration and Leonard’s relationship with Aspiration were “independent.”
Ballmer added that he’s “quite confident … that we abided the rules.” And said he welcomed the NBA’s investigation because it will “get the facts out there.”
Ballmer, the Clippers and Leonard are being investigated by the NBA after reports emerged suggesting a company in which Ballmer invested paid Leonard $28 million for “no-show jobs” as a way to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap.
That company, Aspiration, reportedly treated Leonard’s payments as a critical priority, going so far as to pay Leonard $1.75 million despite the company being in rough financial shape. The company made that payment shortly after Clippers co-owner Dennis Wong invested $1.99 million in Aspiration, a possible sign Wong — or another member of the Clippers — was aware of the payments.
Those connections were unearthed by journalist Pablo Torre. While Torre did not find direct evidence proving the Clippers and Ballmer used Aspiration as a way to pay Leonard to circumvent the salary cap, Torre connected enough dots to reignite the NBA’s investigation into the situation.
Following those revelations, both Ballmer and the Clippers denied the allegations, saying Ballmer was defrauded by Aspiration and that the team and Ballmer had “no oversight” into Leonard’s independent endorsement agreement with Aspiration.
Ballmer reiterated those comments Tuesday, and implied the NBA would not find anything suspicious when re-opens its investigation. The league originally investigated Leonard’s free agency in 2019, after it was rumored his uncle, Dennis Robertson, asked teams for impermissible benefits as those teams courted Leonard. The league found no evidence that was the case at the time of the original investigation.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke about the Leonard investigation Wednesday, saying the NBA would need strong evidence in order to issues punishments against Ballmer and the Clippers.
Ballmer’s comments Tuesday indicates he believes the league will find that the Clippers acted appropriately during and after Leonard’s free agency.
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