Baxter HolmesApr 2, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseBaxter Holmes (@Baxter) is a senior writer for ESPN Digital and Print, focusing on the NBA. He has covered the Lakers, the Celtics and previously worked for The Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times.Follow on XMultiple Authors
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What are the details of the investigation, and what’s the latest?
What happens after Wachtell Lipton brings its findings back to the league office?
How have those involved in the investigation responded to the allegations?
What does Leonard’s contract with Aspiration actually say?
What do league insiders think of Leonard’s contract?
Were there any public links between Leonard and Aspiration?
Six months have passed since allegations first arose that the LA Clippers circumvented the NBA’s salary cap to pay star Kawhi Leonard, prompting the league to investigate.
The NBA investigation followed a series of reports by Pablo Torre, a podcaster and ESPN contributor, who cited internal documents that showed Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration through his personal LLC in September 2021. That month, the Clippers also signed a $300 million deal with Aspiration, making the company the “first founding partner” of the Intuit Dome.
Six months later, Aspiration signed its deal with Leonard. An unnamed employee who purportedly worked for the banking company told Torre that Leonard’s sponsorship deal “was to circumvent the salary cap.”
While Ballmer said he introduced Leonard to Aspiration, he told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne in September 2025 he had no knowledge of the deal and denied he directed the company to strike one.
Those sources say that the team from Wachtell Lipton, led by attorney David Anders — who has led other league investigations — is interviewing Clippers officials and other key figures, including former Aspiration employees with knowledge of the company’s sponsorship deal with Leonard.
“Wachtell’s investigation is ongoing,” said an NBA spokesperson. “There is more work to be done and no set timeline.”
It’s not unusual for investigations to take many months. In 2021, the league asked Wachtell Lipton to conduct an investigation into the Phoenix Suns and then-owner Robert Sarver following a November 2021 ESPN story detailing allegations of racism and misogyny during Sarver’s 17 years as owner.
Anders also led that investigation, and Wachtell Lipton interviewed 320 people and reviewed more than 80,000 pages of emails, text messages and other documents.
The findings from that investigation weren’t announced until September 2022 — 10 months after the investigation was first launched.
Silver addressed the complexity of the Clippers investigation at All-Star Weekend: “You have a company in bankruptcy. You have thousands of documents, multiple witnesses that have been needed to be interviewed.”
Rather, Wachtell Lipton will present its findings to the league office, and Silver will decide whether to bring the firm’s findings to a neutral arbitrator appointed by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association.
The arbitrator would then examine what Silver brought forth and decide the next step. The arbitrator could either grant Silver the authority to punish the Clippers or decide that there isn’t enough evidence to merit any discipline and deny him the ability to levy penalties against the team.
“The burden is on the league if we’re going to discipline a team, an owner, a player or any constituent members of the league,” Silver told reporters following the league’s board of governors meetings in Midtown Manhattan in mid-September 2025. “I think as with any process that requires a fundamental sense of fairness, the burden should be on the party that is, in essence, bringing those charges.”
The allegations and subsequent investigation have cast a cloud over the Clippers franchise, but the team’s leadership hasn’t wavered from its initial public denials.
In September 2025, following Torre’s report, Ballmer appeared on ESPN to deny he had knowledge of the endorsement contract the sides eventually signed, or that he directed the company to do so. Ballmer also said in his interview that he would welcome an investigation.
Later that same month, Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank made similar remarks at the Clippers’ media day.
“We are glad there’s an investigation, and we welcome it,” Frank said. “We appreciate that there’ll be a clear-eyed look at these allegations, and we’re eager for the truth to come out. The assumptions and conclusions that have been made are disappointing and upsetting, and we expect the investigation will show that these allegations are wrong.”
He dismissed the allegations, adding, “The NBA is going to do their job. None of us did [any] wrongdoing. That’s it. We invite the investigations. It’s not going to be a distraction for me or the rest of the team.”
“The Clippers continue to cooperate with the league’s investigation and look forward to a resolution of this matter,” the Clippers told ESPN in a statement this week.
But in response to Cherny’s statement, three former Aspiration executives who reported to him released a statement of their own, which was obtained by Torre.
That statement was from Rojeh Avanesian, Aspiration’s former chief financial officer; Mike Shuckerow, Aspiration’s former chief operating officer; and Eric Anderson, Aspiration’s former chief technology officer.
“The team expressed concerns at the time regarding the high cost of the arrangement and its lack of alignment with Aspiration’s brand and business strategy,” they said in the statement. “While subsequent marketing efforts were undertaken, they were ultimately discontinued and should not be interpreted as support for the deal itself.”
They continued, “In our judgement, the Leonard Deal was not in the company’s best interest. It was strategically difficult to justify then, and it remains so today.”
Also as a result of Torre’s reporting, Ballmer has been named in a lawsuit filed by 11 former Aspiration investors who say they were defrauded out of millions by co-founder Joseph Sanberg and others at the company. Ballmer was added to the lawsuit, initially filed in July 2025, in November 2025, with investors alleging he participated in the fraud by funneling money to Leonard.
A hearing for the suit is scheduled for April 22 at Los Angeles County Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles. Ballmer’s attorneys have asked the court to determine that the investors failed to allege facts sufficient enough to state a legal claim, and for the case to be dismissed.
Ballmer told ESPN last year that “[Aspiration] did request to be introduced to Kawhi, and under the rules, we can introduce our sponsors to our athletes. We just can’t be involved. We made an introduction. That was in early November [2021].”
Aspiration, which was founded in 2013 and drew backers including Robert Downey Jr., Orlando Bloom, and Leonardo DiCaprio, had announced in August 2021 that it intended to go public via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), a deal that would’ve valued the company at $2.3 billion and infused more than $400 million in cash.
He said Aspiration had made expensive investments in carbon projects in Brazil and elsewhere, hired in nonrevenue areas and accrued expenses tied to sponsorship deals, including brand deals with the Clippers, Athletes Unlimited and the Boston Red Sox.
Shuckerow said that preserving some of the company’s major investor relationships took on greater importance — including with Ballmer, one of the 15 wealthiest people in the world — which he said Sanberg conveyed to the members of the executive team.
Shuckerow said the entities that Ballmer oversaw — including the Clippers and the Intuit Dome — had become critical to Sanberg and Cherny not only for Ballmer’s continued investment but for the credibility that Aspiration needed in its pursuit of going public.
“It was made clear to the corporate side of the house that the Ballmer ecosystem was a priority,” Shuckerow said.
Another high-level former Aspiration executive told ESPN that Sanberg also told colleagues the Clippers were looking to raise Leonard’s public profile, which could lead to more endorsements for him. That executive also said Sanberg said the deal could lead to more business between Aspiration and the Clippers. The executive said there was never any mention of the salary cap or attempts to circumvent it, and that they never heard Sanberg’s sentiment from Clippers officials.
A source close to the Clippers with knowledge of the investigation said, “As is clear from (Sanberg’s) guilty plea, this desperate admitted felon would say anything while struggling to keep his company afloat.”
Shuckerow said that, in response to the opposition, Sanberg told other executives that he’d give Leonard $20 million of his personal equity in the company. The deal was signed in April 2022. In their joint statement, the three former executives said the deal “was presented to the company as a completed arrangement and executed by Mr. Cherny despite significant objections from members of this senior management team.”
It did not reflect any strategy previously communicated to us, nor was it reviewed through Aspiration’s Investment Committee process.”
“Specifically, we should be getting way more than one 8-hr. production day for the price that we are paying,” the official wrote. “Second, Kawhi’s lack of social media accounts will significantly hamper our ability to deliver meaningful media value on this campaign. As currently written, Aspiration will need to make a big investment in paid media for this content to get any visibility.”
In hindsight, the high-level Aspiration executive who spoke to ESPN said that the process “could’ve been handled better.”
ESPN obtained a 19-page contract between Leonard and Aspiration, signed in April 2022, which details several pages of obligations for Leonard. Among them were commitments including autograph signings, community service events, promotional and public appearances and an annual eight-hour day of filming.