{"id":12801,"date":"2026-06-05T23:31:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T23:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=12801"},"modified":"2026-06-05T23:31:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T23:31:58","slug":"report-nba-interviews-clippers-kawhi-leonard-adviser-in-aspiration-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=12801","title":{"rendered":"Report: NBA interviews Clippers\u2019 Kawhi Leonard, adviser in Aspiration case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Clippers star Kawhi Leonard and his uncle and business adviser Dennis Robertson are among those who have been interviewed by NBA investigators who are looking into allegations that the team circumvented salary cap rules, according to an ESPN report.<\/p>\n

Read more US military shot down Iranian drones launched toward Strait of Hormuz<\/a><\/p>\n

Leonard and Robertson are central figures in the team\u2019s dealings with Aspiration, the now-defunct green banking company. Clippers owner Steven Ballmer and other team executives, as well as Aspiration executives, also have sat for interviews.<\/p>\n

The NBA launched its investigation last September following a series of podcasts by journalist Pablo Torre, who claimed that internal documents showed Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration through his personal LLC in September 2021. That month, the Clippers also signed a $300 million deal with Aspiration, making the company the first founding partner of the Intuit Dome.<\/p>\n

Aspiration signed its $28 million endorsement deal with Leonard six months later, according to Torre, who said an unnamed Aspiration employee said Leonard\u2019s sponsorship deal \u201cwas to circumvent the salary cap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson, however, reportedly made demands that would have gone beyond what NBA rules allow. Both the team and Leonard himself have denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said on Wednesday that the investigation was \u201cfar along\u201d and that the league is \u201cclose to the point now where I think we need to wrap this up.\u201d He did not give a timeline during his comments before Game 1 of the NBA Finals, but said the Clippers, as well as the other 29 teams, need \u201cto understand what situation they are going to be operating under.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silver\u2019s comments came two days after Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison on two counts of wire fraud after prosecutors said he defrauded investors and lenders out of $248 million by fraudulently obtaining loans, falsifying bank and brokerage statements. Each count carried a maximum of 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n

Ballmer, who reportedly invested $60 million of his own money in the green banking company, has said he introduced Leonard to Aspiration but told Ramona Shelburne of ESPN last September that he had no knowledge of the player\u2019s deal.<\/p>\n

Read more 3 detainees who recently spoke to congressional visitors at Adelanto ICE facility reportedly sent to solitary confinement<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

A source close to Leonard\u2019s camp also denied the allegations to ESPN, saying that the Clippers weren\u2019t involved with Leonard\u2019s deal beyond the 2021 introduction and there wasn\u2019t any mention of trying to circumvent the salary cap.<\/p>\n

A source close to the team told SCNG late in the season that the deal was not a \u201cno show\u201d contract.<\/p>\n

Leonard said after being eliminated from playoff contention in April that he was \u201cnot stressing\u201d about how the investigation would play out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought about it too much other than questions asked. You\u2019ll have to ask the NBA, not me. I\u2019m not the one doing the investigation. \u2026 I think we\u2019re going to be in the clear,\u201d the seven-time All-Star said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Last September, Silver said the burden was on the league to bring forth any discipline, adding that the NBA and its investigators would look at \u201cthe totality of the evidence\u201d and that \u201cas a matter of fundamental fairness, I would be reluctant to act if there was sort of a mere appearance of impropriety.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Clippers are found to have circumvented salary cap rules, they could face fines up to $7.5 million, forfeiture of draft picks, voiding any player contract and a suspension of up to a year for any team personnel found to have engaged in the violation.<\/p>\n

The Clippers own the No. 5 pick in this month\u2019s draft, their highest selection since 2009 when they took Blake Griffin with the top pick. The NBA draft will be held June 23-24 in New York.<\/p>\n

Read more NCAA Super Regional: Carpentier powers USC baseball past North Carolina<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leonard and his uncle and business adviser Dennis Robertson have been interviewed by NBA investigators amid the league\u2019s probe into allegations that the team circumvented the salary cap to compensate its star player, according to ESPN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nReport: NBA interviews Clippers\u2019 Kawhi Leonard, adviser in Aspiration case - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=12801\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Report: NBA interviews Clippers\u2019 Kawhi Leonard, adviser in Aspiration case - 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