"LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer told ESPN that he would "want the league to investigate" if another owner and another team were accused of circumventing the NBA's salary cap, as the Clippers were Wednesday in a podcast by Pablo Torre. "I'd want the league to investigate, take it seriously," Ballmer said in his first interview since Torre's report. The NBA has since said it would launch an investigation into whether Ballmer and the Clippers violated league rules because Kawhi Leonard accepted a $28 million endorsement from Aspiration, a now-bankrupt green banking company in which Ballmer had invested."
"Ballmer said Aspiration asked him to introduce it to Leonard, but denied he had any knowledge of the endorsement contract the sides eventually signed, or that he directed the company to do so. Ballmer said that introduction came in November 2021, three months after the Clippers had agreed to a four-year, $173 million extension with Leonard, who had torn a knee ligament during the team's first Western Conference finals run earlier that year, leading him to miss the entire next season."
"Two months earlier, in September 2021, the Clippers had announced a $300 million partnership with Aspiration, which included sponsorship in the team's new arena and on its jersey patch. Ballmer added that Aspiration also had wanted the naming rights to the arena and even had offered more than Intuit, which was eventually selected."
An NBA investigation is underway into whether the Clippers violated league rules after Kawhi Leonard accepted a $28 million endorsement from Aspiration, a now-bankrupt green banking company in which Steve Ballmer had invested. Aspiration pursued sponsorship and arena naming-rights deals with the Clippers, including a $300 million partnership that covered arena and jersey-patch sponsorship and a naming-rights bid that exceeded Intuit's eventual offer. Aspiration requested an introduction to Leonard in November 2021, months after a four-year, $173 million extension with Leonard was finalized. Ballmer characterizes the Clippers' business relationships as completed prior to that introduction and asserts no role in the endorsement contract.
Read at ESPN.com
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