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The evidence is continuing to mount against Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer in the ongoing scandal involving star player Kawhi Leonard.
For the uninitiated, Ballmer and the Clippers stand accused of funding a fake company to pay Leonard off the books, thus circumventing the league’s salary cap. Ballmer has denied the allegations and claims that he and the Clippers were victims of a scam.
But since he gave his side of the story to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, things have only taken a turn for the worse. A new report from the Toronto Star revealed that Leonard’s top advisor, “Uncle Dennis” (Dennis Robertson), reportedly asked the Raptors to circumvent NBA rules on several occasions in order to pay Leonard more money.
Toronto reportedly denied the requests, and Leonard left the team in free agency to join the Clippers despite winning an NBA championship in his final season with the Raptors.
Steve Ballmer Invested In Fake Company Just Before It Paid Kawhi Leonard
If Ballmer was truly unaware of the improper arrangement between Leonard and the fraudulent tree-planting company Aspiration, his actions sure didn’t show it.
According to a new report from Pablo Tore on his show, “Pablo Torre Finds Out,” Ballmer injected just under $2M into the company shortly after Leonard complained that payments from the company were late.
EXCLUSIVE: Kawhi Leonard’s $1.75M “no-show” payday was running late.
Then, per new documents obtained by @PabloTorre, the Clippers’ co-owner invested $1.99M in the team’s broke sponsor.
Nine days later, Kawhi got paid.
“It is beyond shocking,” an Aspiration executive says. pic.twitter.com/yxOYGfo3dZ
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 11, 2025
Torre revealed documents that showed Aspiration was running late on a $1.75M payment to Leonard. Ballmer then invested $1.99M, and nine days later, Leonard got the money that he was owed.
Now, that’s not exactly a smoking gun. But it’s about the closest you could possible come to one.