New details surrounding the relationship between Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and former team partner Aspiration throw another twist into the saga surrounding NBA star Kawhi Leonard. Ballmer denied accusations of salary cap circumvention, and the team said he was “duped” into an investment in Aspiration, which paid Leonard for an alleged “no-show” endorsement deal. But another revelation in the case calls into question whether Ballmer was truly in the dark.
Pablo Torre reported on his podcast, “Pablo Torre Finds Out,” that through his philanthropy, Ballmer awarded a $1.875 million grant in December 2024 to the Golden State Opportunity Foundation. The foundation, which aims to combat poverty in California, belonged to Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg. Furthermore, Ballmer’s donation came more than a year after the Clippers claimed they ended their relationship with Aspiration.
A former Aspiration employee outlined on Torre’s podcast why the timing of that grant does not align with Ballmer’s statements.
“It’s just inconceivable to me to be both hoodwinked and bamboozled but yet continuously giving money to Joe Sanberg,” the former employee said. “It does not make any iota of sense to invest in 2021, contribute nearly $100 million in carbon offset prepurchases, reinvest in the 2022-23 round, claim all that to be lost in 2023 and then come back for more in 2024 via charitable donation.”
The crux of the relationship between Ballmer, Leonard, the Clippers and Aspiration is the alleged use of the company as a means to pay Leonard without being subjected to NBA salary cap rules. Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration, and the company owed Leonard approximately the same amount for “no-show” jobs.
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Ballmer and the Clippers have repeatedly denied the salary cap circumvention scheme and said some of the investments were made by way of carbon credits to offset emissions from the team’s arena, the Intuit Dome. They also said Ballmer invested into the company for non-Clippers-related reasons.
Aspiration was at the center of a federal investigation for allegedly defrauding investors, and Ballmer’s primary defense was that he was among those taken advantage of. But the timing of his investments — and now the timing of the grant to the foundation belonging to Aspiration’s co-founder — questions the legitimacy of that claim because they came after the government launched its investigation and after the company’s troubles were publicly known.
Ballmer’s grant to the Golden State Opportunity Foundation is another piece of evidence for the NBA in its investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented the salary cap. That it represents an ongoing relationship between Ballmer and Sanberg could serve as proof that the Clippers were involved in bad-faith financial dealings leading to Leonard’s benefit.