Steve Ballmer denied the accusation that the Los Angeles Clippers circumvented salary cap rules by awarding Kawhi Leonard a bogus endorsement contract so they could pay him more money.
The former Microsoft CEO granted ESPN's Ramona Shelbourne an exclusive interview on Thursday, and thoroughly detailed his affiliation with Aspiration, the green-banking company at the center of the storm.
"These were guys who committed fraud. Look, they conned me. They conned me. I made an investment in these guys, thinking it was on the up and up, and they conned me at this stage. I have no ability to predict why they might have done anything they did, let alone the specific contract with Kawhi," said Ballmer.
According to Ballmer, Aspiration approached him about wanting to be introduced to Leonard. Since setting up a meeting between his players and a sponsor company is not illegal, Ballmer said he arranged it in November 2021, three months after the superstar forward had signed a four-year $173 million extension with the Clippers .
After that, he claims he didn't know about any transactions between the two parties because, although he invested at least $50 million in the company, his ownership share was a mere three percent, which means he did not have knowledge, influence or control of Aspiration's business transactions.
"I had no control over this company. I owned less than three percent of the company," added Ballmer, who, at $153.4 billion net worth, is the seventh richest man on the planet. "I had no board seat. I had no control. Heck, it was a fraudulent company. It's possible nobody had any control."
When the exposé hit the internet, one of the first people to defend Ballmer was former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban, who said that the Clippers owner is too well-known and wealthy to do a stupid thing like that and put his reputation at risk. He also explained why Aspiration would give Leonard a fake endorsement deal.
"They got scammed by Aspiration, along with many others," Cuban wrote . "Crimes for which they pleaded guilty last week. Scammers do scammy things. They did a ($300 million) sponsorship deal with the Clippers in 2021. That's a HUGE deal. The better the team does, the more value the sponsorship has. It actually makes perfect sense that if they stole money from investors and want the Clippers to succeed, why not give stolen money to help keep their best player?"
The NBA has started investigating the matter. While some say Pablo Torre's research is a smoking gun against Ballmer and the Clippers, the evidence is circumstantial.
Ballmer wasn't the only investor who was scammed. NBA players are free to sign endorsement deals with team sponsors. And Torre's interview with former employees is just hearsay unless they have an email or recorded conversation with a Clippers official or Ballmer himself that supports their claim.
The NBA's Board of Governors is set to meet next week in New York. Meanwhile, Torre already revealed he's looking into Jalen Brunson's $113 million pay cut next .
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 5, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
