One of the things reportedly dragging out the now 11-month investigation into Kawhi Leonard’s alleged “no-show” endorsement deal with Aspiration to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap — which has put Leonard’s trade to Toronto on hold — was a report of a second questionable endorsement.
That second multi-million dollar endorsement deal was with South Dakota-based Daktronics, the makers of the impressive Jumbotron/Halo board inside the Inuit Dome, reports Pablo Torre on the latest edition of the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast. The exact dollar value of the deal is unknown.
A source told Torre, “It was 1,000% a way to circumvent the salary cap” and that the Clippers “were technically kind of funding it.” Daktronics does not have a history of celebrity endorsements, and it’s unclear what, if anything, Leonard may have done for the company, but it doesn’t even do traditional consumer-facing advertising. The company’s PR firm told Torre, “Daktronics doesn’t have a deal with Kawhi right now.” It said the league had contacted it about its ongoing investigation.
Through all of this, the Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer have denied any wrongdoing and say they have nothing to hide. While they have yet to comment on this specific new allegation, here is part of the statement the Clippers gave to NBC Sports last month when the Leonard trade to Toronto was put on hold pending the conclusion of the investigation:
“For the past 10 months, our organization has fully cooperated with an NBA investigation, participating in dozens of interviews, providing tens of thousands of documents, and facilitating access to our staff.”
The Daktronics angle is a second offshoot of the league’s investigation into Leonard’s endorsement deal with Aspiration, a former Clippers sponsor. Aspiration was a green bank company that has since gone bankrupt, and its founder, Joe Sanberg, has been convicted of defrauding investors and is spending 14 months in prison for his crimes. The law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is conducting the investigation.
Clippers owner Ballmer was one of the investors in Aspiration. As previously pointed out on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, Ballmer made a $50 million investment in Aspiration, and not long after, Leonard signed a $28 million endorsement deal with the company (he also signed a four-year, $176 million extension with the Clippers). Ballmer and the Clippers have said they introduced Leonard to Aspiration, but that was the extent of their involvement.
The initial focus of the investigation was on that $28 million endorsement deal (which later grew to include now-worthless stock options). Multiple former Aspiration employees told Torre this was a “no-show” endorsement designed to funnel more money to Leonard and circumvent the NBA salary cap. There is no evidence Leonard did any promotional work for the company (while photos of Leonard for a marketing campaign were found, there is no evidence those were used, nor did he make any public appearances or post anything on social media about Aspiration). It’s worth noting that this kind of no-work endorsement was something that Leonard’s adviser, business partner and uncle, Dennis Robertson, reportedly had requested of the Raptors and other teams during Leonard’s 2019 free agency.
Ballmer and the Clippers have denied all of this. From their statement to NBC Sports last month:
“At the heart of this investigation are Joe Sanberg and Aspiration. We did not funnel money to Kawhi Leonard through Aspiration. Like many sophisticated investors, financial institutions, and business partners, we were victims of a fraud initiated by Sanberg, who has been convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison.”
There is no word from the league on when the investigation will conclude, but once it does, the NBA’s CBA with the players union requires it — and any potential punishments — to be reviewed by an independent arbitrator, who will have a say over whether the punishments proposed by the league match the evidence. The arbitrator’s ruling can be appealed.
Which is to say, there is a long way to go in this process (unless the Clippers and league reach a kind of plea bargain deal).
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