New Report Shows Steve Ballmer Invested Additional $10 Million in Aspiration

The allegations behind the Clippers' reported efforts to circumvent the salary cap for star forward Kawhi Leonard go even deeper.

According to a new report Friday from The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invested almost $10 million sustainability-focused financial company Aspiration in March 2023. The investment is according to legal filings reviewed by The Athletic which they corroborated with a former Aspiration executive.

Earlier this month, Pablo Torre reported on his Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast that Leonard signed a $28 million no-show endorsement deal with the now-bankrupt company in April 2022. Torre's reporting alleged that Ballmer invested $50 million to which he responded that the company "defrauded" and "conned" him as well as many others in an appearance on ESPN's SportsCenter.

The $10 million investment in March 2023 that The Athletic is now reporting came 18 months after the larger sum. Pablo Torre Finds Out reported Thursday that Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong invested nearly $2 million in Aspiration around the same time the company was late on a $1.75 million payment to Leonard. Ballmer's 2023 investment was part of a fundraising round made up almost entirely of previous Aspiration investors with the exception of Wong, per The Athletic.

Andrei Cherny, the former CEO of Aspiration, posted a lengthy statement to X on Friday, in which he denied that the contract Leonard signed with the company was a "no show" deal, and said he did not remember any discussions about the NBA salary cap as it pertained to Leonard's agreement. Cherny stepped down as CEO in 2022.

After Torre's initial reporting, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania reported the league is commencing an investigation into the matter. Commissioner Adam Silver spoke on the matter earlier this week where he mentioned the league has retained Wachtell-Lipton, a law firm that they have used in the past for investigations, to oversee the probe. Add Wong's investment and Ballmer's additional $10 million of funding into the long list of documentation they must review.