The huge endorsement contract of small cards is full of doubts. Clippers boss Ballmer s investment background attracts the attention of the alliance

Translator's note: The original text was published in The Athletic. The data in the article were as of the time of the original text (September 5 local time). The dates and times involved were all Wednesday local time. Just as the initial reaction to the Kawhi Leonard incident subsided, a revelation once again pushed the Clippers to the forefront: Pablo Torre's podcast program pointed out that the wealthiest owner of the NBA, Steve Ballmer of the Clippers, may have evaded the salary cap, and the league has announced an investigation.

They issued a second statement. The Clippers released an 82-word initial response the day before, which denied any misconduct in Torre's report while claiming that "any assertion to the contrary can be falsified."

Now, they further issued a 199-word denial statement, in which the third paragraph contains the sentence: "There is nothing unusual or inappropriate for the team sponsor to sign an endorsement contract with the same team players."

On the surface, this sentence is correct. But what the Clippers chose not to admit is that the report mentioned that the contract Leonard signed with now-defunct former team sponsor Aspiration was suspicious. The contract was supposed to pay him up to $28 million in four years, but it almost required him to provide any peer-to-peer services. The high amount of the contract made the contracts received by Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr. and Drake, who actually provided endorsement services. It is worth noting that the statement comes ahead of a report in the Boston Sports Daily on Thursday, which said Leonard actually had two contracts with Aspiration, with a total amount of up to $48 million. The Clippers' statement also did not mention Ballmer's involvement in the company, a $50 million investment reportedly from his personal limited liability company, which was deposited about three months before Leonard's contract finalization (April 2022), and two years after the league's investigation into Leonard's free agent status should have prompted them to be cautious at their best. The statement also did not mention seven former Aspiration employees who chose to assist Torre's report anonymously, one of whom revealed that payments to Leonard's generous contract have been regarded as a top priority by the finance department - even when the company is on the verge of bankruptcy - because his infamous and influential uncle Dennis Robertson would call to collect money.

In the sensitive situation of Ballmer facing the latest round of serious allegations and major stakes, this deliberate ignorance of key facts will only make the already poor public image worse. Especially considering that many of their competitors believe that the Clippers and Leonard do have reason to worry about this.

When talking about the need for this investigation and the league's response to the details that have surfaced, some competitor executives who were interviewed anonymously made it clear: This is by no means normal. The executives were allowed to be anonymous so that they could speak more freely.

First, as one of the executives pointed out, Ballmer's huge investment in team sponsors combined with Leonard's strange contract (or perhaps multiple contracts) is enough to keep the league eyeing them. Several executives pointed out that the size of Leonard's contract is a red flag in itself—even before the Boston Sports Daily reported, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he did not provide any return services. Others have publicly speculated whether this explains why Leonard, who has always fought for every penny in personal negotiations, will later agree to an early contract renewal below the maximum salary level in 2024 and provide the Clippers with additional roster flexibility. People are more shocked and depressed than indifference or sympathy.

"This kind of (endorsement contract) will not happen." A senior general manager said of the nature of this arrangement.

"I have never seen this before," said another executive.

Former Mavericks boss Mark Cuban, one of the few who took the opposite position, defended Ballmer on social media and pointed the finger at Aspiration's co-founder Joe Thunberg, who agreed to plead guilty last month, admitting to scam investors $248 million.

"Scammers do things that are lying," Cuban wrote, even on Wednesday night to discuss the matter.

All of these questions thrown to the Clippers are justified, just like when Robertson made absurd illegal welfare claim in the free market six years ago—houses, private jets, partial ownership of the team, guaranteed off-court endorsement fees, etc.—forcing rival bosses to express their concerns to the league.

Many doubts that aroused doubts back then still exist today. And while the NBA did not find evidence of improper benefits at the time, it is worth remembering that information from the league office should still be regarded as an important warning.

According to my December 23, 2019 report...

"(Xiao Hua) regards evasion of the salary cap as a felony in the NBA and will always pay close attention to this situation. If any relevant evidence of improper interests surfaces in the future, the league will restart the investigation and pursue the charges again."

Now... we have come this step again.

As Torre and I discussed on the Athletic NBA Daily podcast, it will take quite a while before we know if these allegations hold. There are still many questions to be answered that will determine whether President Adam Silver will take severe penalties, mainly Ballmer's level of influence within Aspiration and his possible role in facilitating Leonard's contract. The Clippers have claimed from the outset that they can prove that the allegations are false and that they will have plenty of opportunities to do so.

For Xiao Hua, it is time to completely unveil the curtain here and finally distinguish facts and fiction. The NBA is essentially a league that implements a hard salary cap, and the mechanism is designed to level the playing field for less wealthy bosses. For such an alliance, it must not be turned a blind eye to one of the richest people on earth may be trying to avoid it. And considering that Ballmer had a criminal record even before the summer of 2019, the league should have the motivation to conduct a thorough and clear investigation.

to avoid anyone forgetting that Ballmer was fined $250,000 by the league in the summer of 2015 for providing DeAndre Jordan with a third-party endorsement contract from Lexus (Jordan reportedly could have earned an additional $200,000 a year for this). Ballmer spoke to team staff about that fine at the time, and the message conveyed by his internal memorandum at the time may still apply today.

"We believed at the time that we were doing things the right way and that any evasion was unintentional," Ballmer wrote at the time. "In our efforts to support players in various possible ways, we as an organization must strictly abide by the labor-management agreement."

This statement was a sharp tip. Now, we wait to see if he followed his advice from that year.

Author: Sam Amick

Translator: GWayNe