Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO

[The Master]

[ESPN] Bobby Marks on the Kawhi situation

https://streamable.com/ofbjha

not sure if bobby is in the right here

If he's right - especially in this part about direct formal paperwork link between an investment and this company paying fake endorsement money to Kawhi as a necessity to determine salary cap circumvention - then basically every owner can do the same just based on verbal agreement or whatever.

For this reason, I doubt he is.

Read on Twitter

Well, well, well, didn't Ballmer invest similar cash in this company?

At this point you can just wonder about other players and their deals as well, starting with JH13's paycuts.

50 million $ promised under the table is even more insane. Also, this is really territory of criminal problems for Ballmer.

[G R E Y]

[ESPN] Bobby Marks on the Kawhi situation

https://streamable.com/ofbjha

not sure if bobby is in the right here

What Marks doesn't address, and the NBA has to, is the timing of contract re-signing, Ballmer infusing Aspiration with $50M when it was already in financial trouble, and KL2AspireLLC being registered all occurring within like a month or so of one another. This is just one aspect. Marks saying Clips are not dumb enough to leave a paper trail doesn't mean cap circumvention didn't happen just that there has to be that type of proof. We'll see what the league finds. This not only stinks, it stinks again, and with the same people involved.

[DaGawd]

That Pablo guy said his tip line has been filled with ppl saying to look into Brunson next,
Knicks fans, y'all on the clock now...

the nba already investigated it and found no wrong doing

[LockoutSeason]

Dirk took massive paycuts to stay with the Mavs for years, then when he released his documentary in 2014, Cuban paid an absurd amount for it. Bill Simmons brings this up all the time.

That’s why Cuban put on the Superman cape for Ballmer.

[walk with me]

Could this end up being a mistake on Pablo torres part?

The founder of aspiration was found guilty of fraud and is facing 40 years in jail. Sure it looks like the clippers did Kawhi a favor but could it end up being something far less nefarious and whoever did the deal at the company was in on the scam.

Something tells me once this is all said and done this will be 1 of the many trash use of funds from aspirstion.

According to the reporter, Aspiration paid more than 4x as much money to Kawhi than they paid combined to all other celebrities actually supporting them in the public, for doing nothing. And we're talking Leo DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr level of celebrities, lol, actually used in promotion of the company. He also has inside sources confirming that even when company was on the brink of bankruptcy, one of the priorities was still to pay endorsement money to Kawhi for nothing.

Read on Twitter

Again… seems like people are jumping the gun but we’ll see what happens when the entire investigation is properly completed.

[PushDaRock]

[ESPN] Bobby Marks on the Kawhi situation

https://streamable.com/ofbjha

not sure if bobby is in the right here

Something to also consider is the 2021 extension for Kawhi was 4 years at 176.3m instead of the 5 years 235m he was eligible for. Given his extensive injury history, does it make much sense for him to take less guaranteed money? Well, probably not unless ......

[azcatz11]

lol so he never got any money and is listed as a creditor??

Seems like this journalist was out for publicity and jumped the gun.

[DaGawd]

wrap this thread up

[Texas Chuck]

I’m not surprised at all.

But I am kinda surprised the league offices are so inept. All they have to do is tell all players their tax returns have to be turned into the league as long as they are players (and probably a good 5-10 years after) and check their holdings, accounts, investments, etc and this would have been caught easily.

It would take 1 decent forensic tax accountant to catch this. If the league isn’t checking the tax returns of the current and semi past players they are a stupid organization.

It’s not a thing, but the league should be fined for this. Adam Silver should lose his job and whomever is tasked with these types of investigations. Idiots.

I know I shouldn't continue to be surprised how much some of you always take the side of the corporate powers and hate the workers, but you can't serious expect the players would just be like sure here is all of my personal financial information. No chance these billionaires would ever use this information against me lol.

Wild to even suggest such an approach.

[1993Playoffs]

Wierd that people are coming at pablo It’s good journalism if you ask me

[G R E Y]

lol so he never got any money and is listed as a creditor??

Seems like this journalist was out for publicity and jumped the gun.

He never got any of the stock money. He received portions but not total of endorsement money.

[The Master]

lol so he never got any money and is listed as a creditor??

Seems like this journalist was out for publicity and jumped the gun.

No, it's even more suspicious than the original reporting. From today by J. Karalis:

The deal was characterized as a "no-show job" on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast. Leonard did not appear in promotional material as other endorsers did, but sources tell BSJ that the marketing team and broader management team, excluding Cherny, saw no brand synergy with Leonard and chose not to use his services. They instead preferred to partner with climate-focused influencers.

The $28 million deal was to be paid in quarterly installments over four years, but it was not the only compensation Leonard received. According to a high-level source, Leonard also cut a side deal with Aspiration to receive an additional $20 million in company stock. The stock was to be paid out from Sanberg’s personal holdings in the company over four years.

That brought the total of promised compensation to Leonard to $48 million. Around the same time as the Leonard deal, Aspiration was going through its rounds of fundraising. They had raised approximately $600 million, including the previously mentioned $250 million from Oak Tree Capital Management. That number also included a $50 million investment from Ballmer. That investment has been characterized to Boston Sports Journal as having been made with light-to-no diligence.

[...]

The commitment from Ballmer was also curious, as he paid a higher price for his shares than others. The Oak Tree commitment to Aspiration came at $10 a share, but Ballmer paid a premium of $11 per share, raising his overall investment to $50 million. Typically, an investor of Ballmer’s caliber would have been wooed with a discounted share price, so the company could tout the investment of a major player.


At this point, the $48 million commitment by Aspiration to Leonard and Ballmer’s $50 million investment stand as two separate transactions. The league is currently investigating whether there is a connection that circumvented salary cap rules. If there is a finding of wrongdoing, it would not be the first violation for Ballmer and the Clippers. They were fined $250,000 in 2015 for offering DeAndre Jordan unauthorized endorsement opportunities.

https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2025/09/04/exclusive-kawhi-leonard-endorsement-deal-that-triggered-nba-investigation-actually-worth-48-million

[levon]

lol so he never got any money and is listed as a creditor??

Seems like this journalist was out for publicity and jumped the gun.

Can you guys read?

[Sixers in 4]

lol so he never got any money and is listed as a creditor??

Seems like this journalist was out for publicity and jumped the gun.

This is false. The tweet said he actually got 48M. The fact that the company went bankrupt later is not a valid defense for 28 million and 20 million in stock options, which were still valued at 20 million when they were granted.

[Lockdown504090]

Don't know what you're talking about (KD got bribed during COVID?), but if they were handshake deals that don't have a paper trail and aren't expose-able (and exist kind of as rumors), then yeah it's hard for anyone to do much with them. Also the Nets' big 3 were all signed during COVID so any handshake things seem like they'd be more about managing them than something like circumventing the cap structure.

Also yeah if you do something small that doesn't disturb much you won't get as much scrutiny as something that creates major scandal and undermines the premise of your league. I left a bunch of construction materials in my front yard this morning and I just parked in the vacant lot by my work, I didn't leave them out in the street blocking traffic and I'm not a billion dollar company constantly breaking rules on volume so there's no motivation to crack down on me.

Nets insider matt sullivan had reporting of extraordinary expenses for the kd and harden involving renting houses and women... ill leave it there.

Ah, I see. I appreciate you knowing everything about lockdown scandals, Lockdown.

Teams paying for shady perks to players in super weird circumstances like a global pandemic is obviously not the same as giving massive amounts of straight cash to someone as a way to directly circumvent the single most important salary restriction governing the league.

i really just hope the DOJ (trump) doesnt get involved, this can get really nasty.

[PushDaRock]

lol so he never got any money and is listed as a creditor??

Seems like this journalist was out for publicity and jumped the gun.

He was paid 21m of the 28m "endorsement" deal, they went bankrupt before he got paid for the 4th year. He is a creditor for the last 7m.

[JayMKE]

The company was literally going bankrupt but still made it a top priority to pay Kawhi this obscene amount, there is no explanation for it that doesn't implicate Ballmer imo. Does a significant stock owner using the company for a no show job not constitute defrauding other investors? How can what Ballmer do as an investor in a publicly traded company not effect other stockholders? I think this is outright fraud on Ballmer's part, this whole enterprise was fraudulent.

[G R E Y]

But the Leonard deal was a curious one, a source within the company told Boston Sports Journal. According to our source, none of the high-powered executives were consulted about the massive, $28 million endorsement deal Leonard signed, and Cherny never presented the deal to Aspiration’s Board of Directors. BSJ has learned the deal was presented to the executive team as-is, with no opportunity for further analysis.

Typically, the Chief Financial Officer (Avenesian) would have run an analysis of the return on investment. The Chief Legal Officer (Shuckerow) would have negotiated the contract. And the Chief Marketing Officer (Weishaupt) would have developed the branding synergies. According to insiders at Aspiration, the team was never given the opportunity to perform any of these tasks. Had they followed typical procedures, BSJ has been told they would have objected to the deal. Cherny, who served as CEO, signed the deal against the wishes of his management team, who saw it as a poor use of cash resources.

The deal was characterized as a "no-show job" on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast. Leonard did not appear in promotional material as other endorsers did, but sources tell BSJ that the marketing team and broader management team, excluding Cherny, saw no brand synergy with Leonard and chose not to use his services. They instead preferred to partner with climate-focused influencers.

https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2025/09/04/exclusive-kawhi-leonard-endorsement-deal-that-triggered-nba-investigation-actually-worth-48-million

[G R E Y]

The $28 million deal was to be paid in quarterly installments over four years, but it was not the only compensation Leonard received. According to a high-level source, Leonard also cut a side deal with Aspiration to receive an additional $20 million in company stock. The stock was to be paid out from Sanberg’s personal holdings in the company over four years.

That brought the total of promised compensation to Leonard to $48 million. Around the same time as the Leonard deal, Aspiration was going through its rounds of fundraising. They had raised approximately $600 million, including the previously mentioned $250 million from Oak Tree Capital Management. That number also included a $50 million investment from Ballmer. That investment has been characterized to Boston Sports Journal as having been made with light-to-no diligence.

Think of it as getting a commitment on Shark Tank after only a couple of questions.

The commitment from Ballmer was also curious, as he paid a higher price for his shares than others. The Oak Tree commitment to Aspiration came at $10 a share, but Ballmer paid a premium of $11 per share, raising his overall investment to $50 million. Typically, an investor of Ballmer’s caliber would have been wooed with a discounted share price, so the company could tout the investment of a major player.

At this point, the $48 million commitment by Aspiration to Leonard and Ballmer’s $50 million investment stand as two separate transactions. The league is currently investigating whether there is a connection that circumvented salary cap rules.

https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2025/09/04/exclusive-kawhi-leonard-endorsement-deal-that-triggered-nba-investigation-actually-worth-48-million

I reiterate, separate transactions, made within a month of one another and a team-friendly contract extension.

[PushDaRock]

lol so he never got any money and is listed as a creditor??

Seems like this journalist was out for publicity and jumped the gun.

No, it's even more suspicious than the original reporting. From today by J. Karalis:

The deal was characterized as a "no-show job" on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast. Leonard did not appear in promotional material as other endorsers did, but sources tell BSJ that the marketing team and broader management team, excluding Cherny, saw no brand synergy with Leonard and chose not to use his services. They instead preferred to partner with climate-focused influencers.

The $28 million deal was to be paid in quarterly installments over four years, but it was not the only compensation Leonard received. According to a high-level source, Leonard also cut a side deal with Aspiration to receive an additional $20 million in company stock. The stock was to be paid out from Sanberg’s personal holdings in the company over four years.

That brought the total of promised compensation to Leonard to $48 million. Around the same time as the Leonard deal, Aspiration was going through its rounds of fundraising. They had raised approximately $600 million, including the previously mentioned $250 million from Oak Tree Capital Management. That number also included a $50 million investment from Ballmer. That investment has been characterized to Boston Sports Journal as having been made with light-to-no diligence.

[...]

The commitment from Ballmer was also curious, as he paid a higher price for his shares than others. The Oak Tree commitment to Aspiration came at $10 a share, but Ballmer paid a premium of $11 per share, raising his overall investment to $50 million. Typically, an investor of Ballmer’s caliber would have been wooed with a discounted share price, so the company could tout the investment of a major player.


At this point, the $48 million commitment by Aspiration to Leonard and Ballmer’s $50 million investment stand as two separate transactions. The league is currently investigating whether there is a connection that circumvented salary cap rules. If there is a finding of wrongdoing, it would not be the first violation for Ballmer and the Clippers. They were fined $250,000 in 2015 for offering DeAndre Jordan unauthorized endorsement opportunities.

https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2025/09/04/exclusive-kawhi-leonard-endorsement-deal-that-triggered-nba-investigation-actually-worth-48-million

lol definitely looks even worse now with an extra 20m in company stock given out for doing nothing