Pablo Torre Finds Out, the podcast that earlier this year helped expose how NFL owners colluded to limit guaranteed contracts, is at it again. This time Torre has uncovered what, if true, would be a serious salary cap violation by the Los Angeles Clippers, one that could cause the NBA to take serious action against the major market club.
Advertisement
According to Torre’s investigation, Clippers star Kawhi Leonard signed a contract for $28 million with Aspiration, a company that plants trees to help offset humanity’s carbon footprint. That’s not necessarily news in and of itself, because athletes have endorsement deals with all kinds of companies.
What is interesting about Leonard’s deal is that despite extensive research by Torre, there is no evidence that the six-time All-NBA forward has ever so much as appeared in a commercial or company event, mentioned Aspiration in an interview, or tweeted out a bit of promotion for Aspiration. In essence, he signed a $28 million contract to do nothing.
That’s noteworthy because the company was funded by Steve Ballmer, owner of the Clippers. Connect the dots and it becomes clear how this could have been used to circumvent the NBA salary cap.
Exclusive: Kawhi Leonard signed a $28M endorsement deal for a “no-show job” with a fraudulent tree-planting company funded by $50M from Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, according to documents obtained by @PabloTorre.
“It was to circumvent the salary cap,” an inside source says. pic.twitter.com/F6z5pNEkI1
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 3, 2025
The salary cap exists to provide competitive balance to the league, so that someone like Ballmer, whose estimated net worth of $153 billion makes him one of the 10 richest people in the world, can’t simply price out the other, less rich owners and sign all the best players.
Torre interviewed seven former Aspiration employees, at least one of whom claims to confirm that Leonard was on the payroll in order to get around the salary cap. He also obtained at least one document with Leonard’s signature on it that reportedly proves that he was the one benefiting from the $28 million contract.
There are two sides to this story — one serious, and one less so. The less serious aspect is that Leonard, who has been the poster child for load management in the NBA due to his infrequent appearances on the court, is now accused of having two no-show jobs instead of just one.
The more serious part is that the Clippers could be in deep, deep trouble for this if and when the NBA league office gets involved. Back in 1999, the Timberwolves signed Joe Smith to a one-year, $1.75 million free agent contract, promising him a further $86 million under the table. The league came down hard, fining the Wolves $3.5 million and taking away five first-round draft picks.
David Stern was in charge back then, but if Adam Silver wants to uphold the integrity of the league, he could impose a similar punishment on the Clippers, which could set the team back indefinitely. The Clips don’t even have all of their picks, and taking their next five firsts away would leave them with none until 2033.
As it is, the Clippers are currently the oldest team in the NBA with Leonard, James Harden and the newly-added Bradley Beal and Chris Paul. Wiping out their future draft picks would make it extremely difficult for the team to remain competitive once their veteran core ages out.
