https://www.theringer.com/2025/09/09/nba/kawhi-leonard-los-angeles-clippers-steve-ballmer-aspiration-salary-cap-circumvention
Teams sometimes connect players with team sponsors or local businesses to help facilitate an individual endorsement deal—a practice that is indeed common and fully within the rules. Stephen Curry, for instance, does commercials for Rakuten, which has a sponsorship deal with the Golden State Warriors. The HEB supermarket chain, a longtime sponsor of the San Antonio Spurs, has long employed Spurs players to star in its cheeky TV commercials.
But these sorts of deals generally pay in the hundreds of thousands or, at most, “the low six figures,” per multiple sources, and they require the players to actively promote the brand—via commercials, appearances, or social media posts.
According to Torre’s reporting, however, Leonard’s deal with Aspiration did not require him to do anything—and Leonard, by all appearances, indeed did nothing. Yet Aspiration agreed to pay him $28 million, of which it still owes $7 million, per the bankruptcy filing. Leonard also had a side deal with the company providing an additional $20 million in (now worthless) stock, according to the Boston Sports Journal. Also of note: The entire deal would be void if Leonard changed teams, according to documents reviewed by Torre.
None of this is normal, according to people around the league. “It reeks,” said a former player who has also worked in a variety of front office roles. The dollar figures alone are “extreme,” said another former team executive, who added that the “no-show” element was “a huge red flag” and “smells the most in this whole thing.”
No one we spoke to said that they had ever witnessed or even heard whispers of anything quite like this during their years working in the NBA. This is a cynical league in which a number of below-market contracts for star players have raised suspicions over the past two decades. But an assertion that “everyone is doing it” was emphatically dismissed.
“Everyone is doing it?!” said one current team executive, adding, with a laugh, “No. Everyone is not funneling $48 million under the table through sham sponsorships.”