Ever since the Kawhi Leonard-Aspiration controversy first made the news, it has continued to steamroll into a saga that has enveloped the Los Angeles Clippers. Steve Ballmer, previously known to have invested $50 million in the now-bankrupt company, had encouraged investigation by the NBA, which is set to play a major role in how things progress.
Now, however, a week after journalist Pablo Torre first revealed his findings with respect to the alleged “no-show” endorsement deal, he has presented new evidence that may link none other than the Clippers’ minority owner Dennis Wong directly to the saga, or at least a crucial Kawhi Leonard payment.
EXCLUSIVE: Kawhi Leonard's $1.75M "no-show" payday was running late.
Then, per new documents obtained by @PabloTorre, the Clippers' co-owner invested $1.99M in the team's broke sponsor.
Nine days later, Kawhi got paid.
"It is beyond shocking," an Aspiration executive says. pic.twitter.com/yxOYGfo3dZ
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 11, 2025
In a recent episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, Torre revealed financial documents that revolved around a $1.75 million payment made to Kawhi Leonard on December 15, 2022. By this time, Aspiration was already in financial trouble and had actually laid off 20% of its staff on the same day the payment was made.
However, what is even more concerning is that just around ten days earlier, on December 6, 2022, the company received a $1.99 million payment from another company registered under none other than Dennis Wong, who owns 1% of the Clippers. Wong is the minority owner of the franchise and is a longtime friend of majority owner Steve Ballmer. The two were also college roommates at Harvard back in the 1970s and have been associates and close friends ever since.
“So the game is, is this a smoking gun? I don’t know how much you need in podcast court or frankly others,” Torre said of his new findings on the podcast episode.
While previously, Ballmer, who owns 99% of the franchise, had maintained that the endorsement was not used to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap rules and that it was made long before Leonard signed the $176 million extension, the new findings raise some obvious questions. The investment from Wong’s company took place just days before Leonard’s $1.75 million payment was released at a time when Aspiration was already struggling and had laid off 20% of its employees.
That suggests that the payment, instead of being an actual investment in the company, was simply made to ensure the Klaw got paid.
