Aspiration co-founder assisted NBA in investigation of Steve Ballmer, Clippers

While the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast presented a lot of evidence and raised many questions about whether the Los Angeles Clippers used former team sponsor Aspiration to circumvent the salary cap to funnel more money to Kawhi Leonard, there were doubts. A critic could call the evidence presented publicly to this point circumstantial or second-hand. Would that be enough to convince Duke-educated lawyer and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, as well as an arbitrator, whether there was an actual cap circumvention?

One guy who would have details: Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg. Someone who knows Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.

A letter filed last week, before Sanberg's sentencing on wire fraud charges, stated that Sanberg cooperated with the NBA and its investigators — the law firm of Wachtell Lipton — a story uncovered by Baxter Holmes of ESPN. Sanberg is about to be sentenced in a federal fraud case tied to his running of Aspiration, a now-bankrupt green bank company. From Holmes at ESPN.

David Anders, the Wachtell Lipton attorney leading the NBA's investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented the league's salary cap to compensate Kawhi Leonard, said Sanberg sat for two in-person interviews and provided documents and, via his lawyers, "information that was relevant to our investigation," according to an April 17 letter to judge Stephen V. Wilson of the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California.

"In all our dealings with Mr. Sanberg, both directly and through his counsel, he provided information that was consistent with our review of contemporaneous documents and other evidence," Anders wrote. "Mr. Sanberg's cooperation substantially assisted our investigation, including our ability to develop a more complete understanding of key events. At no time during our dealings with Mr. Sanberg and his counsel did they seek, nor did we make, any promises in exchange for his cooperation."

What Sanberg told investigators is not known.

However, the growing sense in league circles has been that the NBA's investigators had found something that more directly connects Ballmer and the Clippers to the charges that it used a $28 million "no-show" endorsement deal with Aspiration to funnel money to Leonard off the official NBA salary cap. With that, heavy punishments could be forthcoming. Those penalties could include a suspension of Ballmer, the loss of multiple draft picks, and a massive fine. While there has been speculation about the possible voiding of the final year of Leonard's contract, that remains more in question as it may not really be much of a punishment for anyone (the Clippers would just fine with his salary off the books as they try to rebuild, and Leonard would just sign a new large contract with another team).