As the NBA world reacts to the allegations surrounding Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and Kawhi Leonard, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst weighed in on the potential scandal. Ballmer said he has not spoken to Leonard in an interview with ESPN’s SportsCenter. However, could the Clippers’ owner come out of all of this with a slap on the wrist or a minor penalty?
Windhorst discussed the potential aftermath of the situation alongside Tim MacMahon and Ramona Shelbourne after Ballmer’s interview on SportsCenter, per ESPN’s Hoop Collective.
“It’s one thing, obviously, this company was bleeped up and there was a lot of stuff going on,” Windhorst said. “So, the idea that they might sign anybody and then never use him, even though I know it’s fishy, you could present it as just incompetence.”
Still, the unspoken move is shady for a marketing deal.
“OK, he does an endorsement deal with a team sponsor,” Winhorst said. “He didn’t do any endorsing. He didn’t do anything.”
That’s the part that could come back to bite the Clippers, potentially revealing Ballmer’s wrongdoing was intentional.
“It wasn’t even announced,” Shelbourne said, to which MacMahon replied, “Yeah, that’s the thing, it was not an endorsement deal because there was no endorsement.”
Plus, the reported $28 million figure only makes matters worse.
“It’s $28 million,” MacMahon added. “How many guys have $28 million shoe deals?”
For a marketing deal that was never announced or promoted, it feels as if the entire move was a sham from its inception according to Brian Windhorst.
“The two things to me that stick out here as fishy, one, that they do this deal and it’s never announced,” Windhorst added. “The entire concept of it was to be marketing.”
Steve Ballmer has not spoken to Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer denied involvement with Kawhi Leonard’s endorsement deal with Aspiration, which is at the center of the NBA’s investigation. In his first appearance since the accusation went public, Ballmer spoke with ESPN’s Ramona Shelbourne via SportsCenter.
“I have not [spoken to Leonard about the allegations], no,” Ballmer said. “It’s really his business with Aspiration, so I wouldn’t ask about it, no.”
While the NBA is in the middle of conducting a formal investigation, no announcements have been made this week.
