Moments after Steve Ballmer gave his interview with ESPN’s NBA Insider Ramona Shelbourne, Pablo Torre, the sports investigator who accused Kawhi Leonard and Steve Ballmer’s Clippers of fraud, made additional claims about Kawhi Leonard’s dealings with Aspiration.
“Hi. PTFO can now confirm that Aspiration gave Kawhi a secret $20M side-deal, as first reported by @BostonSportsBSJ. Combined with Kawhi’s secret $28M no-show endorsement deal: that’s $48M. PTFO previously reported that Steve Ballmer’s personal Aspiration investment was… $50M,” wrote Torre on X.
So essentially, Torre is now accusing that $48 million out of Steve Ballmer’s $50 million investment in Aspiration was funneled to Leonard to circumvent the salary cap obligations. This came moments after Ballmer claimed that the Clippers have a proven timeline of events that shows that their hands are clean of any wrongdoing.
But the interesting question here is, why would a company that intends to defraud its customers and investors, which it eventually did, return 96% of the funds it got from Ballmer to Leonard? Moreover, did the Clippers agree to take $330 million of Aspiration’s money in their sponsorship deal without having their operations vetted?
Torre later added to his post and claimed that his team at PTFO, which is the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, is still investigating the matter and indicated his findings are not yet final.
Additionally, Torre recorded an interview with Mark Cuban, the minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, to discuss these accusations on Leonard, Ballmer, and the Clippers, which will be released soon.
Cuban publicly defended Ballmer earlier and claimed that it did not make sense for the Clippers to take that risk. This also makes sense since Leonard was recovering from an ACL injury; therefore, the Clippers have no incentive to go beyond the permitted limits to take that risk on a player who may not play at the same level ever again.
Yet, they gave him the supermax extension of four years, worth approximately $176 million, which matched the 35% limit allowed on such an extension. Even in 2024, when Leonard signed his next extension, he still took the maximum permissible money in his contract. Therefore, there was no incentive for the Clippers to circumvent the salary cap on a player who is suffering from a career-risking injury.
In an eerie coincidence, just hours before Ballmer announced his interview on ESPN, Torre anticipated that Ballmer would be making an “appeal for public sympathy.”
The truth behind these allegations remains unknown as the NBA has launched an official investigation into the matter. If the Clippers can prove that these allegations have no basis, then Torre would likely face unwanted consequences like questioning of integrity, credibility, and a potential legal action.
But if the Clippers are found guilty of wrongdoing, precedent on cases like this, like what happened with Joe Smith in the 1998-99 lockout, shows that they might face some serious consequences that put their near future in the NBA at risk.
