Clippers owner Steve Ballmer granted his first interview Thursday night to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne since the team was accused in a report of circumventing NBA salary cap rules via an alleged $28 million no-show marketing deal between All-Star Kawhi Leonard and a third-party company that Ballmer had invested in.
Ballmer claimed he had no knowledge of the deal between Leonard and Alliance — a now-bankrupt digital bank and tree-planting startup whose co-founder pleaded guilty to fraud — that journalist Pablo Torre reported Wednesday on his podcast “Pablo Finds Out.”
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Per Torre, who cited legal documents, Alliance paid Leonard $21 million and owes him $7 million more through Leonard’s company KL2 Aspire, LLC. Per Torre’s report, Leonard was required to essentially do nothing in exchange for the money, and the contract included a clause that required Leonard to remain with the Clippers.
Ballmer invested $50 million in Alliance at its founding stage in 2021. An anonymous former Alliance employee spoke on Torre’s podcast through a voice disguiser and said that they were told by a superior that the deal between Alliance and Leonard was made to “circumvent the salary cap.” The NBA is investigating the allegations.
In a previous statement from the Clippers, Ballmer denied the allegations. Shelburne asked Ballmer on Thursday how to explain that the allegations in Torre’s report are false. Ballmer told Shelburne that any deal between Leonard and Aspiration was made independent of him and the Clippers, who’d signed Leonard to a three-year, $103.1 million contract in 2019.
“We made an investment in the company,” Ballmer said. “I had no control over this company. At the time, it was an exciting deal for us to go do. We had already signed our deal with Kawhi Leonard. …
“At that time, we hadn’t even introduced … Kawhi to Aspiration. … Then they request to be introduced to Kawhi. Under rules, we can introduce our sponsors to our athletes. We just can’t be involved.”
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer says that he had no knowledge of the details of a contract between Kawhi Leonard and Alliance.
(Scott Halleran via Getty Images)
Ballmer insisted that there was no salary cap circumvention.
“Where could any of this circumvention have happened?” he continued. “It didn’t. It couldn’t have.
“The introduction got made. And they they were off to the races on their own. We weren’t involved. I eventually learned that they reached a deal. I have no idea what the deal was.”
Shelburne reminded Ballmer that, per Torre and reported court documents, the deal between Aspiration and Leonard was for $28 million. Ballmer then claimed ignorance when asked about why Aspiration would have signed Leonard to such a lucrative contract.
‘They conned me’
“The speculation is what it is,” Ballmer continued. “Why did they do that? I don’t know why they did what they did. And I don’t know how different it is. And frankly, any speculation would be crazy.
“These are guys who committed fraud. Look, they conned me. 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.”
Shelburne then asked Ballmer about a past NBA investigation from 2019 into allegations that Leonard’s uncle and adviser Dennis Robertson — aka Uncle Dennis — asked for extra impermissible benefits during Leonard’s contract negotiations with the Clippers.
The NBA cleared the Clippers of wrongdoing in that investigation, but left the door open to reopen the probe if any new information came to light. Shelburne asked specifically if Leonard and his team had asked for additional impermissible benefits since then.
“They know the rules,” Ballmer said of Leonard, Robertson and Leonard’s representatives. “We know the rules. And if anything’s not clear, we remind ourselves what the rules are.
“And we make absolutely clear we’re gonna abide by those rules and they understand them as well. It’s important for them to abide by them, which they have.”
Ballmer said that he hasn’t spoken with Leonard since news of his reported contract with Alliance broke Wednesday.
Ballmer told Shelburne that he’d want the NBA to investigate if another team faced the same allegations.
“I’d want the league to investigate, take it seriously,” Ballmer said. “Salary cap circumvention rules are important to the league, and I’d want the league to investigate.”
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