📰 News Digest • NewsNovaWorld Digest
Source: ESPN | Category: Sports World | Date: Aug 17, 2026
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Sources: NBA lacks proof Ballmer paid via firms
The NBA has found no evidence showing LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay Kawhi Leonard in order to circumvent the...
Key points
- The NBA has found no evidence showing LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay Kawhi Leonard in order to circumvent the salary cap, according to three people with knowledge of discussions between the two sides in recent days.
- Instead, the NBA is focused on whether the team's introduction of Leonard to team sponsors constitutes a violation of the league's rules prohibiting salary cap circumvention, two of the sources said.
- The 11-month investigation into salary cap circumvention allegations expanded beyond Leonard's deal with Aspiration, the now-defunct green banking company at the center of the allegations, to at least three other companies that also had deals with the Clippers, two of the sources familiar with the talks told ESPN.
- However, sources said, the league has presented no evidence that Ballmer funneled money to Leonard.
What happened
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The NBA has found no evidence showing LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to pay Kawhi Leonard in order to circumvent the salary cap, according to three people with knowledge of discussions between the two sides in recent days. Instead, the NBA is focused on whether the team's introduction of Leonard to team sponsors constitutes a violation of the league's rules prohibiting salary cap circumvention, two of the sources said. The 11-month investigation into salary cap circumvention allegations expanded beyond Leonard's deal with Aspiration, the now-defunct green banking company at the center of the allegations, to at least three other companies that also had deals with the Clippers, two of the sources familiar with the talks told ESPN. However, sources said, the league has presented no evidence that Ballmer funneled money to Leonard. But like Aspiration, there's no evidence that Ballmer funneled money through those companies, and in the recent discussions, the league has focused on those companies only in the context of the Clippers introducing them to Leonard and his representatives, sources said. One of the sources said, "That's dead on arrival."...