Half a year has elapsed since claims initially emerged that the LA Clippers bypassed the NBA’s wage ceiling to remunerate prominent player Kawhi Leonard, spurring the association to inquire.
At last week’s board of governors meeting, Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, neither spoke about nor was questioned regarding the inquiry. Yet, last month during the All-Star weekend — organized by the Clippers — Silver remarked that the probe has been “exceedingly intricate.”
Presented here is what is known — and unknown — concerning the accusations and the current status of the inquiry:
What are the specifics of the investigation, and what’s the latest update?
The inquiry, spearheaded by the legal practice Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, commenced in September 2025 and focuses on assertions that Clippers proprietor Steve Ballmer and the squad arranged a $28 million sponsorship agreement between Leonard and Aspiration, a presently insolvent eco-friendly financial institution in which Ballmer had stakes, aiming to bypass the league’s wage limit.
The NBA’s probe succeeded a sequence of disclosures by Pablo Torre, a broadcaster and ESPN collaborator, who referenced internal records indicating Ballmer injected $50 million into Aspiration via his personal limited liability company in September 2021. In that same month, the Clippers likewise inked a $300 million agreement with Aspiration, designating the corporation as the “initial foundational collaborator” of the Intuit Dome.
Half a year subsequently, Aspiration finalized its accord with Leonard. An undisclosed staff member who allegedly served the financial firm informed Torre that Leonard’s endorsement arrangement “was intended to bypass the wage ceiling.”
Although Ballmer stated he presented Leonard to Aspiration, he communicated to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne in September 2025 that he possessed no awareness of the agreement and disavowed having instructed the firm to execute one.
Numerous informants privy to the inquiry indicated that interrogations are continuing.
These sources state that the Wachtell Lipton contingent, guided by barrister David Anders — who has headed other league probes — is questioning Clippers executives and additional principal personalities, encompassing ex-Aspiration personnel familiar with the company’s endorsement pact with Leonard.
It remains uncertain if Leonard has been interrogated thus far — or if any associates of his have, either.
The NBA offered no reply to a solicitation for remarks.
It is not uncommon for inquiries to span numerous months. In 2021, the association requested Wachtell Lipton to carry out a probe into the Phoenix Suns and then-proprietor Robert Sarver after a November 2021 ESPN article itemizing claims of racial prejudice and misogyny throughout Sarver’s 17-year tenure as owner.
Anders likewise spearheaded that inquiry, and Wachtell Lipton questioned 320 individuals and scrutinized over 80,000 pages of electronic mail, short messages, and various other records.
The conclusions from that probe were not revealed until September 2022 — ten months following the initial commencement of the investigation.
Silver discussed the intricacy of the Clippers’ inquiry at All-Star Weekend: “There’s a corporation in insolvency. There are thousands of records, numerous testifiers who have required interviewing.”
He additionally stated, “Based on all information conveyed to me, the Clippers have exhibited complete collaboration.”
What transpires after Wachtell Lipton delivers its discoveries to the league office?
Regarding potential circumvention of the wage ceiling, and contingent on the conclusions, Silver does not bear sole accountability for determining if the Clippers shall face penalties, according to the stipulations of the NBA’s collective labor pact.
Instead, Wachtell Lipton shall submit its discoveries to the league administration, and Silver will ascertain whether to forward the firm’s conclusions to an impartial arbiter designated by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association.
The arbiter would then scrutinize what Silver presented and determine the subsequent action. The arbiter might either bestow upon Silver the power to penalize the Clippers or conclude that insufficient proof exists to warrant any sanction and withhold his capacity to impose penalties upon the squad.
“The onus rests upon the league if we intend to discipline a team, a proprietor, an athlete, or any constituent participants of the league,” Silver informed journalists subsequent to the league’s governing board gatherings in Midtown Manhattan in mid-September 2025. “I believe, as with any procedure demanding a foundational sense of equity, the onus ought to be on the entity that is, fundamentally, instituting those accusations.”
How have those involved in the inquiry reacted to the allegations?
The accusations and ensuing inquiry have cast a shadow over the Clippers organization, yet the squad’s management has not deviated from its preliminary public disavowals.
In September 2025, subsequent to Torre’s dispatch, Ballmer was featured on ESPN to disclaim awareness of the sponsorship agreement the parties ultimately executed, or that he instructed the corporation to proceed thusly. Ballmer further stated in his discussion that he would endorse an inquiry.
Subsequently, within that identical month, Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, uttered analogous comments at the Clippers’ press day.
“We are pleased an investigation is underway, and we embrace it,” Frank declared. “We value that a discerning examination of these claims will occur, and we are keen for the reality to emerge. The presumptions and determinations that have been posited are disheartening and distressing, and we anticipate the inquiry will reveal these accusations to be erroneous.”
Leonard also tackled the subject during press day in September 2025.
He repudiated the claims, stating, “The NBA will fulfill its duty. None of us committed any transgression. That is all. We welcome the inquiries. It will not serve as a diversion for me or the remainder of the squad.”
“The Clippers persist in collaborating with the league’s inquiry and anticipate a conclusion to this affair,” the Clippers conveyed to ESPN in a declaration this week.
In a September 2025 pronouncement published on X, Andrei Cherny, Aspiration’s co-founder and past Chief Executive Officer, similarly refuted the assertions of wage ceiling bypass, stating Leonard’s agreement contained “three pages of comprehensive duties,” and that he affixed his signature to the contract subsequent to “numerous internal discussions concerning the diverse initiatives Aspiration intended to undertake with Leonard.”
However, in rejoinder to Cherny’s declaration, three prior Aspiration senior managers who reported to him issued a statement of their own, which Torre procured.
That pronouncement originated from Rojeh Avanesian, Aspiration’s erstwhile chief financial officer; Mike Shuckerow, Aspiration’s previous chief operating officer; and Eric Anderson, Aspiration’s
previous head of technology.
Senior leaders expressed their disapproval of the firm’s choice to enter into the Leonard agreement.
“The group voiced worries back then concerning the pact’s steep expense and its incompatibility with Aspiration’s corporate identity and operational approach,” their statement read. “Although later marketing initiatives were initiated, they were eventually ceased and ought not to be construed as an endorsement of the agreement itself.”
They added, “In our estimation, the Leonard agreement failed to serve the company’s optimal benefit. It proved challenging to vindicate from a strategic viewpoint at the time, and that difficulty persists even now.”
Cherny chose not to provide a statement for this article.
Owing to Torre’s reporting, Ballmer has also been implicated in legal action initiated by 11 ex-Aspiration investors, who contend they were swindled out of substantial sums by joint founder Joseph Sanberg and other company personnel. Ballmer was included in the legal proceedings, originally lodged in July 2025, during November 2025, with the investors alleging his participation in the deception by channeling funds to Leonard.
A court session for the action is set for April 22 at Los Angeles County Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles. Ballmer’s legal representatives have requested the tribunal to rule that the investors did not present adequate factual grounds for a valid legal contention, and that the matter be thrown out.
What information do we possess regarding the origination of Leonard’s contract with Aspiration?
Ballmer informed ESPN last year that “[Aspiration] did seek an introduction to Kawhi, and according to regulations, we are permitted to present our patrons to our athletes. We are merely barred from participation. We facilitated an initial meeting. That occurred in early November [2021].”
Aspiration, established in 2013 and attracting supporters such as Robert Downey Jr., Orlando Bloom, and Leonardo DiCaprio, had declared in August 2021 its aim for a public listing via a consolidation with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC). This arrangement was projected to value the firm at $2.3 billion and inject over $400 million in cash.
However, by 2022, Shuckerow, Aspiration’s previous chief of operations – who asserts he is not an informant to any government agency concerning Aspiration – informed ESPN that expenditure had turned into an issue for the company.
He stated Aspiration had undertaken costly ventures in carbon initiatives in Brazil and other locations, recruited staff in departments not generating income, and accumulated costs linked to endorsement agreements, including promotional pacts with the Clippers, Athletes Unlimited, and the Boston Red Sox.
Shuckerow mentioned that maintaining some of the company’s key financier connections assumed heightened significance – particularly with Ballmer, recognized as one of the 15 richest individuals globally – a point he said Sanberg communicated to the management group members.
Shuckerow stated that the organizations managed by Ballmer – encompassing the Clippers and the Intuit Dome – had grown pivotal for Sanberg and Cherny, not solely for Ballmer’s ongoing financial backing, but also for the reputation Aspiration required in its quest for an initial public offering.
Shuckerow affirmed that it “was communicated explicitly to the business operations division that the Ballmer network represented a top concern.”
A senior ex-Aspiration executive informed ESPN that Sanberg also notified associates the Clippers were aiming to elevate Leonard’s public visibility, which might result in additional sponsorship opportunities for him. This executive further stated that Sanberg suggested the agreement could foster more dealings involving Aspiration and the Clippers. However, according to the executive, there was no discussion whatsoever of the salary cap or efforts to bypass it, and they never heard Sanberg’s opinion expressed by Clippers officials.
An insider with proximity to the Clippers, familiar with the probe, stated, “As is evident from (Sanberg’s) admission of culpability, this desperate confessed criminal would utter anything while endeavoring to sustain his enterprise.”
Sanberg’s legal counsel did not respond to an inquiry for a statement.
Shuckerow further stated that some company executives voiced resistance regarding the original scope of Leonard’s agreement – totaling $28 million, plus $20 million in cash equivalent equity. (In an SMS conversation between Aspiration executives, examined by ESPN, one executive characterized making a desperate attempt to contact Sanberg about the arrangement, observing its probable futility.)
Shuckerow mentioned that, addressing the resistance, Sanberg informed fellow senior staff he would allocate $20 million of his individual stake in the company to Leonard. The agreement was finalized in April 2022. In their collective declaration, the three ex-executives asserted the pact “was introduced to the firm as a finalized arrangement and carried out by Mr. Cherny notwithstanding substantial protests from members of this senior management team.”
It failed to align with any strategy earlier conveyed to us, nor was it assessed by means of Aspiration’s Investment Committee process.”
In an electronic mail correspondence from June 2022, procured by ESPN, an Aspiration marketing executive indicated that the agreement contained “several substantial red flags.” (The Wall Street Journal initially covered these emails in October.)
“To be precise, we ought to be receiving considerably more than one 8-hour filming day for the compensation provided,” the executive penned. “Second, Kawhi’s absence of social networking profiles will considerably impede our ability to yield substantial publicity worth on this initiative. As presently drafted, Aspiration will need to make a sizeable expenditure on paid advertising for this content to gain any exposure.”
Looking back, the senior-ranking Aspiration executive who conversed with ESPN remarked that the process “could’ve been managed more effectively.”
What does Leonard’s agreement with Aspiration stipulate in actuality?
ESPN acquired a 19-page agreement between Leonard and Aspiration, executed in April 2022. It outlines several pages of responsibilities for Leonard. These responsibilities encompassed signature sessions, civic engagement activities, marketing and public engagements, and a yearly eight-hour filming session.
Aspiration possessed the option to annul the agreement if Leonard ceased to be a player for the Clippers. The agreement also features a termed “beliefs” clause, which specifies that Leonard “is entitled to refuse any action sought by the Firm under Section 3.2 if Leonard believes that such suggested undertakings do not align with his convictions.”
The beliefs clause drew attention in both Torre’s coverage and other discussion concerning the Clippers-Aspiration assertions.
It remains uncertain whether Leonard or the Clippers held additional pacts or accords with Aspiration.
What do those within the league believe about Leonard’s agreement?
ESPN presented the wording within Leonard’s sponsorship agreement, relating to responsibilities and cancellation stipulations, to five player agents who do not manage Leonard. The same wording was also shown to an NBPA source acquainted with similar agreements.
One agent commented, “This is typical. Nothing out of the ordinary here.”
Another stated, “There’s nothing within it that strikes me as noteworthy. Everything is quite conventional.”
A third representative
voiced comparable observations.
Moreover, two other representatives drew attention to the “beliefs” stipulation. One asserted, “I’ve never witnessed an athlete having the entitlement to refuse an action on account of ‘beliefs.’ A proficient attorney would have, at the very least, specified authentic ‘religious’ convictions.”
A different individual, the fifth representative, expressed a similar comment, noting that it could signify an “extraordinary negotiation and/or an inexperienced legal counsel representing Aspiration.”
The NBPA source informed ESPN that “nothing in that agreement deviates from standard business practice. The only element that stands out is the phrasing stating ‘consistent with his beliefs,’ which is excessively broad and imprecise. This truly boils down to skillful negotiation. If a lawyer proposed, ‘Look, we wish for this wording to be as expansive as possible because we cannot foresee today all the promotional endeavors you might request Kawhi to undertake,’ and if Aspiration’s legal representative was naive enough to consent, ‘Alright, we’ll permit that,’ then that simply reflects excellent negotiation by Kawhi’s group. However, there is no indication on the face of that contract suggesting this was all prearranged.”
The NBPA source then commented that while the language in the “beliefs” provision is undoubtedly advantageous to Leonard, the source also highlighted that Aspiration was not a well-managed enterprise and ultimately declared bankruptcy.
The five representatives independently reiterated the NBPA source’s observation that, despite certain aspects of the agreement potentially favoring Leonard, nothing within the deal itself appears to suggest that Leonard’s arrangement was engineered to bypass the NBA’s salary cap regulations.
In his September 2025 post on X, Cherny defended the “beliefs” clause. “The ‘beliefs’ provision is not uncommon in celebrity endorsements and simply implies we cannot compel a vegetarian to consume meat, for example, as a method to invalidate their contract,” he penned in his September message. “It does not imply one can hold a ‘belief’ of not engaging with a camera.”
Did Leonard fulfill any of those duties?
In the summer of 2022, Variety documented that Aspiration collaborated with Creative Artists Agency to “furnish sustainability services, carbon reduction services, and client-focused climate impact solutions to corporate, sports, and entertainment sector brands.”
The agency assisted in developing a catalog of prospective concepts for Leonard’s involvement with Aspiration, which they dispatched to the company that summer, following Leonard’s signing of the accord, according to an email acquired by ESPN.
“To initiate Aspiration’s fresh collaboration with Kawhi Leonard, the collective has devised preliminary ideas for how the two can partner for maximum impact of his service days and to magnify the alliance in a unique manner that advances the topics Aspiration prioritizes,” the email conveyed.
One suggestion involved teaming up with the musician Drake, another Aspiration partner; another focused on tracking Leonard’s carbon footprint; yet another envisioned Leonard collaborating with local educational institutions on initiatives related to environmental sustainability.
The senior Aspiration executive informed ESPN that company marketing personnel deliberated various responsibilities with Leonard’s entourage in the autumn of 2022, including community engagements and media/filming activities.
Shuckerow mentioned he notified the marketing department in 2022 that the company possessed unutilized resources within the Leonard agreement and proposed they at least target the “easy opportunities” such as autographed collectibles. Shuckerow stated he was uncertain if marketing staff or any Aspiration executives contacted the Clippers or Leonard regarding such endeavors.
A source familiar with Leonard’s itinerary indicated that Leonard’s team was in discussions with Aspiration about executing certain duties, including public appearances, adding that nothing was finalized because both parties were coordinating around Leonard’s schedule — especially as he continued his rehabilitation for his surgically repaired right knee — and the Clippers’ timetable.
Concurrently, organizational changes were also unfolding within the enterprise. In October 2022, Aspiration separated from Cherny, and Olivia Albrecht assumed the role of its new CEO.
Leonard returned from his injury in December 2022. That same month, Aspiration dismissed approximately 100 employees.
Also in December 2022, as per Torre’s report, Clippers limited partner Dennis J. Wong invested $1.99 million in Aspiration, nine days prior to the company making an overdue $1.75 million payment to Leonard.
Ultimately, Leonard did not participate in any of the marketing activations discussed for the company.
“I have no cause to believe that Kawhi would not have complied if we had asked,” Shuckerow remarked. “I am unsure if we ever reached a point in the strategic phase where we actually presented him with a concrete request.”
In March 2023, Ballmer invested an extra $10 million in Aspiration during a funding round that encompassed prior company investors, The Athletic reported last year, in what one source knowledgeable about Ballmer’s intentions described as a gesture of confidence in both Albrecht and the company’s refreshed direction.
Were there any public connections between Leonard and Aspiration?
The high-level Aspiration executive who conversed with ESPN mentioned that the company discussed an Aspiration-themed Leonard bobblehead that the Clippers intended to distribute during the 2022-23 season.
A source acquainted with the arrangement stated the item was part of the Clippers’ pact with Aspiration, and not Leonard’s.
While the bobblehead was undergoing production in late 2022, Aspiration officials contacted the Clippers and requested that the company’s designation be removed from the bobblehead because it was a plastic article, which conflicted with Aspiration’s climate-focused mission, the source explained.
The Aspiration designation was subsequently taken off the bobbleheads’ packaging and all promotional content, but since the bobbleheads had already been manufactured, the Aspiration name could not be eliminated from the bobbleheads themselves, the source clarified.
The bobblehead was distributed, as scheduled, to the initial 10,000 attendees at the Clippers-Thunder contest in late March 2023, held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
“Bobblehead creation adheres to a consistent timeline each season, commencing in late summer. The bobbleheads are commonly linked to sponsorship agreements, and in the 2022-23 season, included collaborators such as Cedars-Sinai, Kia, and AT&T,” the Clippers informed ESPN. “The Kawhi bobblehead was managed similarly, forming part of a sponsorship activation that involved Aspiration, akin to other players’ bobbleheads that year.”
What transpired with Aspiration?
A source with knowledge of the situation told ESPN that the Clippers terminated their accord with Aspiration in May 2023 because the company violated its contract with the team by defaulting on payments.
The Clippers persisted in posting a series of birthday greetings to their athletes and personnel on social media that referenced the company in 2023. The posts were part of a social media agenda for that season, according to the source familiar with the matter. The final such post on X occurred on June 29, 2023, when the Clippers published a birthday wish for Leonard and mentioned Aspiration in the caption.
Later that summer, in August 2023, the entity that was preparing to take Aspiration public announced that it annulled the deal. In January 2024, Bloomberg News reported that Aspiration was the focus of a Department of Justice and Commodity Futures Trading Commission inquiry into whether the company misrepresented information to customers.
Aspiration filed for insolvency in March 2025, with a reported liability of $170 million. In bankruptcy documents, the company stated it owed the Clippers $30 million, the largest sum among its creditors, and that it owed $7 million to a limited liability corporation owned by Leonard.
At media day, Leonard was questioned if he was still owed that amount. “I need to review the records,” he stated, “but no, it was more than that.”
In August 2025, Sanberg formally admitted guilt to two counts of wire fraud. Federal prosecutors alleged he defrauded investors and lenders of over $248 million.
He is slated for sentencing on April 27 in federal court in Los Angeles.