On Sept. 3, the journalist Pablo Torre broke the biggest story of the NBA offseason so far: The arrangement between Kawhi Leonard and the since-failed company Aspiration. Torre has continued to gather evidence that suggests that Aspiration may have simply been a vehicle for Clippers ownership—which invested in the company—to funnel extra payments to Leonard and circumvent the NBA’s salary cap.
The Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer deny that anything untoward occurred with Aspiration, and say that they have followed league rules around the salary cap.
The league says it is doing its own investigation into the Clippers, Leonard, and Aspiration. Though Leonard’s first reported agreement with Aspiration came in 2022, to understand the situation, you need to go back until at least 2019, when Leonard left the Toronto Raptors in free agency. Here’s a timeline of every key moment in the saga:
May 31, 2019: The Clippers are fined $50,000 by the NBA for violating the league’s anti-tampering rules after then-Clippers coach Doc Rivers compared Leonard, who was then on the Raptors, to Michael Jordan during an interview on ESPN.
June 13, 2019: Raptors defeat Warriors in Game 6 of the NBA Finals for their first championship. Leonard is named Finals MVP.
July 10, 2019: Leonard signs a three-year, $103 million contract with the Clippers.
Oct. 22, 2019: Leonard makes his Clippers debut with 30 points against the Lakers in a win.
Dec. 23, 2019: A report in The Athletic reveals the NBA investigated the Clippers over the summer after teams complained that Leonard’s uncle Dennis Robertson asked for improper benefits during free agency meetings.
Aug. 30, 2020: The Clippers knock off the Mavericks in six games to advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs at the Orlando bubble. It’s the team’s first playoff series win with Leonard.
Sept. 15, 2020: The Nuggets eliminate the Clippers in seven games in the Western Conference semifinals to advance to the conference finals. The Clippers blew a 3–1 series lead.
Dec. 17, 2020: The NBA announces its investigation of the Clippers and then-team consultant Jerry West over Leonard’s free agency recruitment in 2019. The investigation came after West was sued by Johnny Wilkes. Wilkes claimed to be best friends with Leonard’s uncle Dennis Robertson and alleged the Clippers owe him $2.5 million from an oral agreement that he would help deliver Leonard to the Clippers.
June 6, 2021: Leonard and the Clippers storm back from a 2–0 deficit to knock off the Mavericks in seven games to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
June 14, 2021: After tying the Jazz 2–2 in the conference semifinals, Leonard is ruled out for the rest of the playoffs with a right knee sprain.
June 19, 2021: The Clippers advance to their first Western Conference finals in franchise history by beating the Jazz in six games, winning the final two without Leonard. The Clippers have yet to win a playoff series with Leonard since.
July 1, 2021: The Suns beat the Clippers in six games to advance to the NBA Finals. Leonard missed the entire series with a right knee injury.
July 13, 2021: Leonard undergoes surgery for a partial tear of his right ACL.
Aug. 12, 2021: Leonard re-signed with the Clippers to a four-year contract worth $176.3 million. He did not play the entire following season in order to rehab from ACL surgery. The Clippers went 42–40 without him and failed to reach the postseason after being eliminated in the Play-In Tournament.
Sept. 14, 2021: Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invests $50 million into Aspiration, an environmental fintech startup, according to the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, which broke its first story on the Leonard-Clippers-Aspiriation arrangements in an episode published on Sept. 3, 2025.
Sept. 27, 2021: The Clippers agree to a $300 million sponsorship deal with Aspiration.
November 22, 2021: Leonard registers KL2 Aspire Enterprises with the state of California, according to PTFO.
April 1, 2022: The Clippers send Aspiration $3 million, according to PTFO.
April 4, 2022: Leonard agrees to a four-year, $28 million sponsorship deal with Aspiration. That same day, the Clippers paid Aspiration $32 million for carbon credits, according to PTFO.
June 17, 2022: Then-Clippers CFO Eric Chan sends a letter to Aspiration confirming a $21 million investment from the team for carbon credits, according to PTFO. Torre reported the money was allegedly used to pay Leonard, keep the company afloat, and reach its fundraising goal at the time.
July 6, 2022: Leonard is paid $1.75 million by Aspiration. His payment comes a week after its scheduled date, according to PTFO.
August 24, 2022: A Los Angeles Superior County judge dismisses Wilkes’s lawsuit against West.
Oct. 20, 2022: Leonard plays in his first regular season game for the Clippers post-ACL surgery in a win over the Lakers.
Nov. 2, 2022: Leonard’s agent, Mitch Frankel, texts Mike Shuckerow, Aspiration’s chief legal counsel, asking about his client’s late $1.75 million payment from Aspiration, according to PTFO. It’s the second payment Leonard was supposed to receive from the company.
December 6, 2022: Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong invests nearly $2 million in Aspiration through his company DEA 88 Investments, according to PTFO.
December 15, 2022: Leonard is paid $1.75 million for his deal with Aspiration. The same day, the company laid off 20% of its employees, a former employee told PTFO.
March 2023: Ballmer invests an additional $10 million in Aspiration, according to The Athletic.
April 16, 2023: Leonard scores 38 points to lead the Clippers to a Game 1 win against the Suns in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
April 25, 2023: The Suns eliminate the Clippers in five games. Leonard missed the last three games of the series due to a torn meniscus in his right knee after exiting Game 2 with the injury.
Jan. 10, 2024: Leonard signed a three-year, $153 million extension with the Clippers.
May 3, 2024: The Mavericks eliminate the Clippers in six games during the first round of the NBA playoffs. Leonard played just two games because of a right knee injury.
Oct. 17, 2024: A week before the Clippers opened the season against the Suns, the team announced Leonard was out indefinitely due to right knee inflammation, which stemmed back to the previous season.
Oct. 25, 2024: Former Clippers trainer Randy Shelton, who first trained Leonard when he played at San Diego State, sues the team alleging he was hired for the organization to tamper with Leonard during his 2019 free agency among other allegations. The lawsuit is still ongoing.
December 2024: The Ballmer Group—Ballmer’s charitable arm—donates $1.875 million to Golden State Opportunity Foundation, which was founded by Aspiration founder Joe Sanberg, according to PTFO. At this point, the company is already under federal investigation.
Jan. 4, 2025: Leonard makes his regular season debut for the Clippers after missing the first 34 games due to right knee inflammation.
March 3, 2025: Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sandberg is arrested on a federal criminal complaint that alleges he conspired to defraud investors of at least $145 million.
March 31, 2025: Aspiration declares Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
May 3, 2025: The Nuggets eliminate the Clippers in seven games in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
Sept. 3, 2025: Pablo Torre reports on his podcast that Leonard had a $28 million “no-show job” with Aspiration. A former Aspiration employee tells Torre that the deal was in place to get around the NBA’s salary cap. The NBA announces an investigation.
Sept. 4, 2025: The Boston Sports Journal reports that Leonard had a second deal with Aspiration worth $20 million in company stock. Later that evening, Ballmer goes on SportsCenter and said the team had introduced Leonard to Aspiration, which was within NBA rules, but had no further knowledge of his star player’s deal with the company, saying “They conned me.”
Sept. 9, 2025: Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star reports that Robertson wanted the Raptors to give Leonard an ownership stake in the NHL’s Maple Leafs during free agency in 2019 in addition to sponsorship deals outside of his team salary and other asks.
Sept. 10, 2025: Silver tells reporters the NBA will take its time with its investigation into the Clippers.
Sept. 11, 2025: Torre reports on a suspiciously timed investment from Wong into Aspiration.
Sept. 12, 2025: A report in The Athletic revealed Ballmer invested an additional $10 million in Aspiration in March 2023, following Wong’s investment a few months earlier. It also reported on a $50 million carbon offset agreement the Clippers had with the company and a denial from former Aspiration CEO Andrei Cherney that Leonard had a no-show job with his company. Cherney posted an extensive denial on X.
Sept. 13, 2025: Multiple former Aspiration executives sign a statement to Torre. They say Leonard’s deal with the company came with “significant objections” from upper management and wasn’t reviewed by its Investment Committee. The statement added that the Leonard deal “was not in the company’s best interest.”
Sept. 16, 2025: At Front Office Sports’ Tuned In summit, Adam Silver walks back his comments that he had never heard of Aspiration before Torre’s revelations. Silver vows that the NBA will “get to the bottom of it” when asked about the Clippers investigation.
Sept. 18, 2025: Torre reports on investments made by the Clippers in Aspiration for carbon credits in the spring of 2022, which align with the start of Leonard’s deal with the company. The team’s total invested capital is $118 million, including Ballmer and Wong’s previous funding.
Sept. 29, 2025: Torre reports on Frankel’s involvement in the Aspiration deal and Ballmer’s charitable donations to Sanberg’s foundation. At Clippers media day, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank welcomed the NBA’s investigation, but sidestepped a question about Robertson’s asks in free agency. Leonard said, “I don’t think it’s accurate,” when asked if his sponsorship with Aspiration was a no-show job, but declined to elaborate on his responsibilities with the company.
Oct. 6, 2025: Adam Silver says there is “no contemplation” of moving the 2026 All-Star Game out of the Intuit Dome, the Clippers’ home arena, while the NBA investigates Leonard and the organization for their business relationships with Aspiration.
Feb. 15, 2026: The NBA All-Star Game is scheduled to be played at the Intuit Dome. On Wednesday, Jake Fischer reported that a resolution to the NBA’s investigation of the team likely won’t come until after the game.
