Aspiration Paid Kawhi Leonard Days After Los Angeles Clippers Minority Owner Made Investment
Aspiration paid NBA star Kawhi Leonard $1.7 million days after Los Angeles Clippers minority owner Dennis J. Wong made an almost $2 million investment in the company, according to Pablo Torre of Pablo Torre Finds Out.
This took place in December 2022.
“It is beyond shocking, and I will tell you, I knew that the board (of directors at Aspiration) had put (in) money in December to make payroll and make rent… (so) it is not a rational investment that someone (Wong) would make,” one of two anonymous former Aspiration employees said on Torre’s podcast. “So it is very shocking to me that $2 million was made as an investment by Dennis Wong, who in my texts is identified as … Steve Ballmer’s partner a week before $1.75 million was paid to Kawhi.”
On the first episode of the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, when Torre broke this story, seven anonymous former employees for Aspiration said Leonard got $48 million for a “no-show job” intended to “circumvent the (NBA) salary cap.”
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, who invested $50 million in the now-bankrupt green banking company, told ESPN that Aspiration asked him to introduce the company to Leonard, but he denied knowing about the endorsement contract the sides eventually signed or that he directed the company to do so.
Ballmer said the introduction came in November 2021, three months after the Clippers had agreed to a four-year, $173 million extension with Leonard. Two months earlier, in September 2021, the Clippers announced a lucrative $300 million partnership with Aspiration.
A six-time All-Star and future Hall of Famer, Kawhi Leonard has played for the San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors and Clippers. He has career averages of 20.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.6 blocks.
In 2000, it was discovered that the Minnesota Timberwolves engaged in an illegal secret agreement with Joe Smith by allegedly promising to pay him a future multimillion-dollar deal if he signed with the team on a shorter contract for less money.
The NBA penalized the Timberwolves by removing five first-round draft picks, fining the team $3.5 million and banning head coach Kevin McHale and owner Glen Taylor for a season, along with voiding the contracts for Smith.
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