Overview

• Toronto Star reporting says Kawhi Leonard’s representative, Dennis Robertson, asked the Raptors in 2019 to arrange roughly $10 million per year in sponsorship income with no duties and sought ownership stakes, requests MLSE rejected.
• Pablo Torre’s investigation found Leonard later signed a roughly $28 million Aspiration deal, plus about $20 million in stock, routed through KL2 Aspire LLC with minimal promotional obligations and a clause tied to his Clippers tenure.
• The NBA has opened a formal investigation and hired Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to examine possible salary-cap circumvention, and no league findings or sanctions have been announced.
• Steve Ballmer and the Clippers deny wrongdoing, say Aspiration defaulted on team sponsorships in 2022–23, and Ballmer says he was conned, a stance echoed by former Bucks owner Marc Lasry in a CNBC interview.
• ESPN reporting indicates Aspiration bid nearly double Intuit’s $550 million for Clippers arena naming rights, as the bankrupt firm’s co‑founder Joe Sanberg has pleaded guilty to defrauding investors and lenders.