👉 Kawhi’s $28M Tree Deal: Clippers, Ballmer Accused in Salary Cap Scam

Has this been going on for years secretly behind closed doors? Not just in the NBA, but all of sports?

Forget load management, Kawhi’s managing forests now. 🌳💰 Clippers really branching out.

Here’s what’s actually known so far—labelled clearly as allegations and denials.

Investigative journalist Pablo Torre published documents and interviews alleging the Clippers used a third-party endorsement to funnel $28 million to Kawhi Leonard via Aspiration—a tree-planting/green-fintech now in bankruptcy—with the money routed to KL2 Aspire LLC, an entity managed by Leonard. The contract called for four $7M payments (2022–25) and, per Torre’s sources, required no real promotional work—characterized as a “no-show job” meant to circumvent the NBA salary cap.

Aspiration itself is under a legal cloud: on Aug. 21, 2025, the DOJ announced that co-founder Joseph Sanberg was charged and agreed to plead guilty in a $248M fraud scheme tied to faked revenue and investor deception. (That plea doesn’t, by itself, prove cap circumvention, but it establishes the company’s fraud problems.)

Money trail/context: In Dec. 2021, affiliates of Steve Ballmer (the Clippers’ owner) joined Oaktree in providing $315M of financing to Aspiration; Bloomberg reported roughly $50M of that as mandatorily convertible preferred stock. Aspiration also inked a long-term Clippers partnership that same year—another data point in the web of relationships Torre highlights.

The other side: The Clippers issued a statement saying “Neither Mr. Ballmer nor the Clippers circumvented the salary cap or engaged in any misconduct… Any contrary assertion is provably false.”

Where the league stands: As of today, no formal NBA action or comment has been announced.

Reaction & stakes: Media and fans immediately compared this to the Joe Smith/Timberwolves case (1999–2000), which cost Minnesota multiple first-rounders and fines—illustrating the potential jeopardy if the NBA deems this cap circumvention. Some Sixers observers note they hold future Clippers picks, so penalties could ripple competitively beyond L.A. Social chatter ranges from calls for harsh bans to wait-and-see skepticism until the league weighs in.

Bottom line: Torre’s reporting ties documents (KL2 Aspire $7M owed), a $28M “marketing” pact, and Ballmer-linked financing/partnerships into a theory of cap workarounds. The Clippers flatly deny it, and the NBA hasn’t moved—so the story, for now, is a live allegation backed by filings and sources, contested by the team, and barreling toward the league office.

So Kawhi got a $28M deal to plant trees… meanwhile Clippers fans just want him to plant his feet on the court 😂