NBA suspends Steve Ballmer for one year over Clippers' illegal endorsement scheme involving star player Kawhi Leonard
An investigation commissioned by the NBA found that the Clippers, under Ballmer and business president Gillian Zucker, orchestrated sham endorsement deals worth millions to circumvent salary cap rules.
What happened
The NBA suspended Steve Ballmer for one year and suspended Gillian Zucker, Clippers president of business operations, for the same period. The league fined the Clippers $30 million, ordered them to forfeit five future draft picks, and imposed other penalties. An NBA-commissioned 35-page report found that Ballmer's September claims to ESPN that the team was not involved in a shady $28 million endorsement deal for Kawhi Leonard were "inaccurate (at best)" and "clearly false" regarding Zucker. The investigation revealed that the Clippers arranged sham endorsement agreements with multiple companies—Daktronics, Aspiration, Lockton Insurance, and Boingo Wireless—that together paid Leonard approximately $21 million beyond his NBA salary as a workaround to salary cap restrictions. An unnamed Clippers executive told Daktronics the exact amount to pay Leonard ($3 million for two years) and later instructed the company to increase payments when the team raised its scoreboard spending. Similar arrangements with Aspiration involved fabricated carbon-neutral reforestation purchases matching Leonard's endorsement payments, with internal emails confirming the Clippers explicitly requested the structure. Kawhi Leonard accepted a $700,000 fine and a ban for his business manager.
Context
The investigation was triggered by a podcast episode from ESPN reporter Pablo Torre one year prior, which exposed the arrangements. The scheme involved tying vendor payments to player compensation to circumvent the NBA's salary cap restrictions, which are designed to maintain competitive balance. The Clippers' new arena, Intuit Dome, featured a $100 million-plus Daktronics-built wraparound 4K scoreboard, and the investigation revealed that scorecard vendor contracts became vehicles for illegal player payments. Aspiration's cofounder Joe Sanberg was sentenced to 14 years in prison for sham endorsement deals that cost investors $248 million. The Clippers have disputed the investigation as biased and spurred by "a podcaster's baseless claims," claiming it has cost Ballmer $50 million in legal fees and damaged the team's reputation and vendor relationships.
What's disputed
The Clippers contend the investigation was biased and triggered by unsubstantiated podcast claims. Some companies cooperated with investigators (Daktronics, Aspiration) while others refused or provided inconsistent information (Lockton Insurance, Boingo Wireless), limiting the completeness of the investigation's findings.