Is NBA still investigating Clippers? What to know about probe in Steve Ballmer, Kawhi Leonard contract, more

Is NBA still investigating Clippers? What to know about probe in Steve Ballmer, Kawhi Leonard contract, more originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard made the news in late 2025, but not because of his play on the court.

A report alleged that the Clippers found a loophole around the salary cap and were able to offset some of the massive contract they had given to Leonard. An investigation began in September 2025, looking into Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, and the franchise struck a $28 million endorsement deal for Leonard that was conveniently off the books.

The reports were initially leaked by Pablo Torre and created a timeline of how the situation had developed, from Ballmer investing money in a company named Aspiration, to the L.A. franchise signing a massive $300 million deal with the company to make them part of the Intuit Dome. This led to Aspiration signing a deal with Leonard, and one source told Torre that it "was to circumvent the salary cap." Leonard has never been suspended for the investigation or reports, but the offseason may give the league time to finally look into the allegations.

Here is more on whether or not the NBA is still investigating the Clippers, including Steve Ballmer and Kawhi Leonard.

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Is the NBA still investigating Kawhi Leonard?

Yes. The NBA is still conducting interviews and looking into the salary cap situation regarding Leonard, per ESPN.

Ballmer has said on the record that he introduced Leonard to Aspiration, but included the caveat that he had no knowledge of the deal between the two parties and maintained that he did not direct the company to strike up a deal.

The continued investigation is being led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The lead attorney on the case is David Anders, and he is reportedly "interviewing Clippers officials and other key figures, including former Aspiration employees with knowledge of the company's sponsorship deal with Leonard."

What is not known is whether any of the investigators have actually spoken to Leonard. An NBA spokesperson said, "Wachtell's investigation is ongoing. There is more work to be done and no set timeline."

One of the last times that Anders led an NBA investigation, it included interviewing 320 people and a review of more than 80,000 pages of documents when the league looked into former Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver's allegations of racism and misogyny. That investigation took nearly a year.

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What happens at the end of the investigation surrounding Kawhi Leonard?

Even when the investigation is over, the situation will not be resolved. The law firm will present the findings to Adam Silver, and based on what they have uncovered and confirmed, the league commissioner will then bring the findings to a neutral arbitrator that is chosen by the NBA and the NBA Players Association.

The arbitrator would then examine all of the findings and decide to "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."

About the investigative process, Silver told reporters, "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. 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."

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What is Aspiration?

Aspiration was known as a "green banking company. The company's mission statement was to provide "socially-conscious and sustainable banking services and investment products" along with the slogan "Do Well. Do Good." It opened in 2013 and had initial backing from big names like Robert Downey Jr., Orlando Bloom, Leonardo DiCaprio, Doc Rivers and Cindy Crawford. The company is now bankrupt after a 2025 investigation into co-founder Joseph Sanberg, which found that he had orchestrated massive wire fraud.

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What is Kawhi Leonard's connection to Aspiration?

The whole investigation stems from Leonard signing a four-year, $28 million endorsement deal with Aspiration. According to Torre's report, "Leonard agreed to a four-year, $28 million endorsement deal from Aspiration through his LLC KL2 Aspire in April 2022, nine months after he re-signed with the Clippers. An unnamed employee who purportedly worked for Aspiration told Torre that the payment to Leonard 'was to circumvent the salary cap.'"

In Torre's initial reveal, he "reported that Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong also invested nearly $2 million in Aspiration through a personal LLC in 2022, nine days before Leonard was paid $1.75 million by the company."