The NBA announced on Wednesday that the league would impose sweeping punishments on the LA Clippers and Kawhi Leonard following its investigation into allegations of third-party off-the-court income opportunities given to Leonard. The league found the NBA star and the team had violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement—and “a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations.”
The investigation was initially conducted from Leonard’s reported $28 million endorsement deal given by Aspiration, a now-bankrupt environmental company and former Clippers sponsor.
“Aspiration becoming our first Founding Partner supports the stake we are planting in the ground to make Intuit Dome the most sustainable arena in the world,” Ballmer said in a statement in 2021.
The allegations of misconduct were first reported by podcaster and journalist Pablo Torre in 2025—where he alleged on his podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out” that the endorsement deal given to Leonard was “to circumvent the salary cap.” Ballmer had previously invested $50 million in the company ahead of Leonard’s deal, and invested an additional $10 million in 2023.
The findings also went well beyond Aspiration: the NBA said the Clippers “affirmatively initiated off-court income opportunities” between Leonard and three other companies doing business with the team—Boingo Wireless, Daktronics and Lockton Insurance.
