One of the biggest stories during the 2019 NBA offseason was Kawhi Leonard's decision to join the Los Angeles Clippers. Right after winning the NBA Finals with the Toronto Raptors, Leonard made the decision to join the Clippers. At the time, the most common explanation for his decision was his preference to be in Los Angeles, his hometown.
Since then, Leonard has stayed with the Clippers, including signing a contract extension in 2024 to try to keep Paul George in LA. The move was seen as a savvy decision by both Leonard and the Clippers. However, a recent report suggests that there's more going on behind the scenes that allowed Steve Ballmer to keep the star happy.
Pablo Torre reports that he obtained documents suggesting Leonard signed an endorsement deal with Aspiration, a “tree brokerage” company affiliated with the Clippers that recently filed for bankruptcy. However, the Clippers star never seemed to do any public endorsement of the company. Torre, through interviews with some of Aspiration's former employees, has learned that the deal was to circumvent the salary cap.
“It was to circumvent the salary cap ‘lol',” the employee told Torre. “The single largest payment to an individual for marketing that Aspiration ever made has completely evaded all press. … He didn't have to do anything.”
This is all obviously not allowed under the NBA's salary-cap rules. The Collective Bargaining Agreement specifically prohibits NBA teams from offering “under-the-table” contracts to players to sweeten the deal. This prevents teams and/or owners from signing star players to a cheaper contract while still giving them a lucrative deal.
Leonard first signed with the Clippers in 2019 for a max contract of three years. At the end of his deal, he would sign another three-year max contract. Just recently, Leonard signed a three-year max contract extension worth around $150 million.
Should Steve Ballmer and the Clippers be found guilty of evading the salary cap rules, the punishments are likely to be severe. The Minnesota Timberwolves were found guilty of trying to circumvent the salary cap during talks with Joe Smith back in 1999. The ‘Wolves convinced Smith to sign a contract lower than his market value at the time, with the promise of a larger contract in the future. As a result, the Timberwolves lost three first-round picks. Expect a similar punishment for the Clippers if these allegations are proven true.
