Burden on NBA to find wrongdoing by Clippers, Kawhi Leonard

By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Basketball Writer

NEW YORK — The NBA will not rush to any judgment in its probe of whether a business relationship between Kawhi Leonard and a California company was legitimate or merely a way for the Clippers to circumvent salary cap rules, Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday.

Silver spoke after a board of governors meeting in New York – one that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer attended – and said the league will wait to see the report from the outside firm it has hired to run its investigation before taking next steps.

“We’re constantly learning in the league office and again, I’m reserving judgment because I don’t know the facts here,” Silver said. “I don’t know what Kawhi was paid. I don’t know what he did or didn’t do. We’ll leave all that for the investigation.”

The NBA opened its investigation last week into whether a $28 million endorsement contract between Leonard and sustainability services company Aspiration Fund Adviser, LLC – one that filed for bankruptcy earlier this year – broke league rules, following a report by journalist Pablo Torre.

The Clippers have strongly denied that any rules were broken and said they welcomed the league’s investigation.

“I think as a matter of fundamental fairness, I would be reluctant to act if there was a mere appearance of impropriety,” Silver said. “I think the goal of a full investigation is to find if there really was impropriety. … I would want anybody else in the situation that Mr. Ballmer is in now or Kawhi Leonard for that matter, to be treated the same way I would want to be treated if people were making allegations against me.”

Ballmer made a $50 million investment in Aspiration, and the company and the team announced a $300 million partnership in September 2021. That was about a month after Leonard signed a four-year, $176 million extension with the Clippers.

The team ended its relationship with Aspiration after two years, saying the contract was in default. Aspiration’s co-founder, Joseph Sanberg, agreed to plead guilty last month after facing federal charges of wire fraud. Prosecutors said he defrauded investors and lenders out of $248 million, adding that “Aspiration’s financial statements were inaccurate and reflected much higher revenue than the company in fact received.”

“I’m a big believer in due process and fairness and you need to now let the investigation run its course,” Silver said, adding that he has “very broad powers” when determining penalties if wrongdoing was found.

Silver said reserving judgment while letting the investigation run its course is also the opinion of Ballmer’s fellow owners.

“At least what’s being said to me is a reservation of judgment,” Silver said. “I think people recognize that that’s what you have a league office for. That’s what you have a commissioner for – someone who is independent of the teams. On one hand, of course, I work collectively for the 30 governors, but I have an independent obligation to be the steward of the brand and the integrity of this league.

“At least what those governors have said directly to me. To the extent we have had discussions [with the board of governors] – they’ve been limited – we communicated to them that we engaged Wachtell to do this investigation. And maybe I cut off any further conversations and said, ‘Let’s all withhold judgment, let’s do this investigation and then we will come back to you in terms of our findings.’”

The league – which previously looked into claims that Leonard’s representatives asked for certain things that would be considered cap circumventions when he was a free agent several years ago – can issue stiff penalties if cap rules are found to have been broken by a team, including a fine of up to $7.5 million, the voiding of contracts and the forfeiture of future draft picks.