Explaining the Kawhi Leonard Controversy
*This article was written on 9/17/25 and is still a developing story
On September 3, former ESPN reporter Pablo Torre dropped a bombshell report: the Los Angeles Clippers paid $ 28 million to their superstar Kawhi Leonard through a now-bankrupt company. Torre alleged that in recent bankruptcy filings, Aspiration, a tree-planting carbon credit company, paid Leonard tens of millions for an endorsement deal. Kawhi never actually did endorsements for the company, and coincidentally, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invested 50 million dollars into Aspiration shortly before the endorsement deal was signed.
Before talking about the backlash, you have to go back to 2018. In the last year of his contract, Leonard was traded from the San Antonio Spurs to the Toronto Raptors. After the “LeBronto” jokes and repeated playoff failures, Toronto needed a superstar. The reason they were able to get Kawhi for so cheap was that it was made clear to the league that when his contract expired in the summer of 2019, he wanted to return home to Los Angeles. One year later, after one of the best playoff runs in recent memory and an NBA title, Kawhi hit the market. He was famously advised by his uncle Dennis Robertson, or “Uncle Dennis.” Allegedly, his camp requested part ownership of the team, a trade to acquire Paul George, access to a private plane, a house, and guaranteed off-court endorsement money. Obviously, this would have been a clear violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). It was reported that he made this demand to the Raptors, Lakers, and Clippers. Nobody accepted the deal, right?
A week after Torre’s report, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer sat down with ESPN and claimed that while he introduced Aspiration to Leonard’s camp, he knew nothing more and was conned by the now-bankrupt company. The question remains: why did Aspiration pay Leonard tens of millions for a no-show job? It is not a well-kept secret that owners sometimes give players unauthorized perks: a few days at their beach house, a flight on a private jet, or courtside seats. But in the 21st century, we have not seen true evidence of players being compensated under the table like this before.
My prediction is that ultimately not much will happen. There is no hard evidence directly connecting Ballmer to the payments or the benefits Uncle Dennis asked for. In the end, my bet is that the Clippers will be fined a couple of million dollars and lose a second-round pick or two for improper conduct. I don’t personally believe Ballmer did it, but there is no chance Kawhi looked at his eight-figure payments and never questioned why he wasn’t doing anything in return. Aspiration was most likely a scam, and we will never truly know why they paid Kawhi all that money for nothing. Ballmer may have been conned and never violated the CBA, but Kawhi had to know what he was doing was shady, regardless of who was paying him.
