LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and the team are under investigation by the NBA following a report that Kawhi Leonard allegedly accepted a $28 million endorsement from a company called Aspiration as a way to circumvent the league’s salary cap.

Ballmer, who had previously invested $50 million in Aspiration, has denied he had knowledge of the deal or that he directed the company to strike one.

Here’s what we know about the now-defunct Aspiration at the center of the accusations.

What was Aspiration and who were its founders?

Harvard alumni Joe Sanberg, an entrepreneur, and Andrei Cherny, a lawyer who worked as a speechwriter for the Clinton administration, co-founded Aspiration Partners in 2013. The company’s mission was to provide “socially-conscious and sustainable banking services and investment products,” according to their archived website from 2019. Their slogan: “Do Well. Do Good.”

Sanberg served on Aspiration’s board of directors and held about 30% of its shares as of September 2021, according to court filings. He was also an early investor in start-ups including Blue Apron. Cherny was Aspiration’s chief executive officer for nearly a decade.

What was Aspiration’s business model?

Think of Aspiration as a digital bank, but environmentally conscious. According to its website, the company claimed to be unlike other banks because customer deposits would “never fund fossil fuel projects like pipelines, oil rigs and coalmines.”

The company’s products included savings accounts and debit cards with cash back from a select number of businesses who were “doing the right thing,” plus an option to plant a tree with every purchase roundup. The company also offered access to investment funds that are “100% fossil fuel free.”

Who were the big-name investors in Aspiration?

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that Aspiration drew backers including Robert Downey Jr., Orlando Bloom, Leonardo DiCaprio, now-Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers and Cindy Crawford and her daughter, Kaia Gerber.

Their corporate partners included the likes of Meta, Microsoft and eventually the LA Clippers.

How are Ballmer, Leonard and the LA Clippers connected to Aspiration?

Last week, podcaster and journalist Pablo Torre reported, citing internal documents, that Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration through his personal LLC on Sept. 14, 2021. Ballmer, one of the richest owners in sports and a philanthropist, is known to contribute to climate initiatives.

Also in September 2021, the LA Clippers signed a $300 million deal with Aspiration, making the company the “first founding partner” of the Intuit Dome. The multiyear partnership included a “Planet Protection Fund,” which would allow fans to “offset their own carbon impact whenever they purchase a ticket to cheer on the Clippers,” according to a statement about the partnership at the time.

“Aspiration becoming our first Founding Partner supports the stake we are planting in the ground to make Intuit Dome the most sustainable arena in the world,” Ballmer said in the statement.

In an interview with ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne last week, Ballmer said Aspiration asked him to introduce it to Leonard, which he said happened in November 2021.

According to Torre’s report, Leonard agreed to a four-year, $28 million endorsement deal from Aspiration through his LLC KL2 Aspire in April 2022, nine months after he re-signed with the Clippers. An unnamed employee who purportedly worked for Aspiration told Torre that the payment to Leonard “was to circumvent the salary cap.”

This week Torre, citing more documents, reported that Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong also invested nearly $2 million in Aspiration through a personal LLC in 2022, nine days before Leonard was paid $1.75 million by the company.

According to a report in The Athletic on Friday, which cited legal documents, Ballmer invested an additional $10 million into Aspiration in March 2023 in a funding round that included other previous company investors.

How is the NBA reacting?

The NBA is investigating whether Ballmer and the Clippers violated league rules. Commissioner Adam Silver, speaking at his annual news conference at the conclusion of the league’s board of governors meetings in New York this week, said that the “burden is on the league” to prove wrongdoing and that the league needs to look “at the totality of the evidence” rather than just “mere appearance.”

“Just by the way those words read, I think as a matter of fundamental fairness, I would be reluctant to act if there was sort of a mere appearance of impropriety. … I think that the goal of a full investigation is to find out if there really was impropriety. Also, in a public-facing sport, the public at times reaches conclusions that later turn out to be completely false. I’d want anybody else in the situation Mr. Ballmer is in now, or Kawhi Leonard for that matter, to be treated the same way I would want to be treated if people were making allegations against me.”

Sources told ESPN that while there will be a thorough investigation of the matter by New York-based law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, there is no set deadline to find a conclusion.

What happened to Aspiration?

Cherny, co-founder and CEO, departed the company in 2022. In a statement posted on his X account Friday, Cherny said Leonard’s contract was not a “no-show” deal and had “three pages of extensive obligations.” He said he signed the contract in 2022 following “numerous internal conversations about the various things Aspiration was planning to do with Leonard.”

“I can’t speak to what was done or not done after I left — or why,” Cherney said in the statement.

When contacted by ESPN Friday, Cherny said that he had no further comment beyond the statement.

Aspiration filed for bankruptcy in March, with a reported debt of $170 million. When it filed for bankruptcy, the company said it owed the Clippers $30 million, the most out of all its creditors. Aspiration said at the time it owed Leonard’s LLC $7 million.

Last month, Aspiration co-founder Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud. Federal prosecutors said Sanberg defrauded investors and lenders out of $248 million by fraudulently obtaining loans, falsifying bank and brokerage statements and concealing that he was the source of some revenue booked by the company.

Each of the charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Ballmer told ESPN he was “embarrassed” that he didn’t detect trouble in reviewing Aspiration’s financial statements and business plans.

“These were guys who committed fraud. Look, they conned me. They conned me,” he said. “I made an investment in these guys thinking it was on the up-and-up, and they conned me at this stage. I have no ability to predict why they might have done anything they did, let alone the specific contract with Kawhi.”

The 2025 Premier Lacrosse League championship is upon us. The final matchup represents the two best teams in the league this summer, as the New York Atlas face the Denver Outlaws.

There is no shortage of star power, as both teams dress rosters loaded with college icons and future Hall of Famers. Coaches Mike Pressler (New York) and Tim Soudan (Denver) both make their PLL championship debuts.

If the two teams’ regular-season matchup is any clue, we’re in for another classic. They met Aug. 2 in the Mile High City, and the game was won by Denver in overtime,13-12.

Who will hoist the trophy on Sunday?

Jump to: Broadcast details
Kessenich’s keys
Playoff stats

Denver Outlaws vs. New York Atlas

Sunday | 12:30 p.m. | ABC/ESPN

Injury report

Outlaws: None to report

Atlas: None to report

Quint Kessenich’s keys to the game

The Atlas are looking to win their first PLL championship, and are fortified by specialists Trevor Baptiste (FOGO) and goalie Liam Entenmann.

New York’s attack trio is dominant. Connor Shellenberger, Jeff Teat and Xander Dickson display uncanny chemistry and skill level.

Teat, the 2024 MVP, and Shellenberger, the favorite to win the award this summer, both eclipsed 40 points in the regular season.

Shellenberger sent the regular-season game with Denver into overtime with an isolation goal with 15 seconds to play. He produced a ho-hum five points in the semifinal win over the Philadelphia Waterdogs.

Dickson roams the slot area, and has filthy wrists to finish in a crowd.

New York has dangerous players at the midfield position too, in Bryan Costabile and Matt Traynor. Both require attention and are primary threats to score off the dodge. Reid Bowering, a lefty with savvy, sets roadblock picks and is a wizard from in tight. Traynor, a rookie from Penn State, had four points in the semifinals. Costabile has arguably been the most efficient and dangerous midfield dodger in the league this season.

Generally, the defense relies on Entenmann to make stops. Pay attention to Gavin Adler, who will likely draw the Pat Kavanagh assignment in this game. When the two teams met in August, Adler held Kavanagh pointless.

Meanwhile, Michael Rexrode will be in charge of marking Brennan O’Neill. Defensive midfielder Danny Logan is the best in the league at his position.

The Outlaws shrugged off a 30-day layoff to dispose of the upstart California Redwoods in the semifinals, shutting California down for a 20-minute stretch along the way. Denver leads the PLL in shot attempts per game at 45, and they play fast.

Denver has an impressive group, including four Tewaraaton Award winners: Brennan O’Neill, Jared Bernhardt, Pat Kavanagh and Logan Wisnauskas. That’s like an NFL team having four Heisman winners in the same huddle.

The Outlaws acquired Kavanagh in an offseason trade with Boston, and the 2024 Notre Dame graduate leads the league in touches and shots this season. His point production has tripled in year two.

Brennan O’Neill unleashed the fury in the semis, with eye-popping goals worthy of a superhero and six points total.

O’Neill had two goals on nine shots while being covered by Michael Rexrode in the August matchup. Overall, he is averaging 4.3 points per game since the All-Star break. He is tough matchup at 6-2 and 220 pounds.

Bernhardt had the overtime game-winner in the Outlaws’ victory, and is the smoothest and fastest ball carrier in the league. He runs at a speed that most can’t handle. Bernhardt was signed on June 2 after pursuing an NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons. His addition — and Logan McNaney in goal — has put Denver in position to grab glory.

Specialists Luke Weirman (FOGO) and McNaney both played at Maryland and have a track record of performance in big games; McNaney played in four NCAA title games for the Terps, and Weirman went 54% against New York in the August matchup.

McNaney went 8-1 as a starter this season, and leads the league in clean save percentage. Those clean saves allow Denver to transition from defense to offense quickly.

Denver has a vicious transition offense, with long-stick midfielder Jake Piseno and defensive midfielder Ryan Terefenko spearheading the end-to-end rushes. Terefenko effectively stays on the field and creates mismatches with well-timed picks to change matchups.

The Outlaws’ defense is a veteran crew, with close defenders J.T. Giles-Harris, Jesse Bernhardt and Mike Manley.

As my X factors for this game, I’ll highlight midfielders Justin Anderson, Graham Bundy Jr. and Dalton Young. Of course, I also have to acknowledge the Tewaraaton quartet; when slept on, they typically find production.

Postseason leaders

Outlaws

Leading scorers:

1. A Brennan O’Neill | 6 P
2. A Pat Kavanagh | 3 P
3. M Jared Bernhardt, M Dalton Young | 2 P

Faceoff:

Luke Wierman | 57.9%

Goalie:

Logan McNaney | 11, 64.7 SV%

play

California Redwoods vs. Denver Outlaws: Game Highlights

California Redwoods vs. Denver Outlaws: Game Highlights

Atlas

Leading scorers:

1. A Connor Shellenberger | 5 P
2. A Jeff Teat | 4 P
3. A Xander Dickson, M Matt Traynor | 4 P

Faceoff:

Trevor Baptiste | 60.0%

Goalie:

Liam Entenmann | 18 SV, 69.2 SV%

play

Atlas beat Waterdogs to reach PLL championship game

New York Atlas defeat the Philadelphia Waterdogs 13-11 to advance to the PLL championship.