Kawhi Leonard Denies Wrongdoing as NBA Investigates Aspiration Endorsement Deal

Kawhi Leonard said Monday he didn't receive all of the money he was owed from a California company he had an endorsement deal with in a business relationship that is under investigation by the NBA, but he insisted there was no wrongdoing.

The Los Angeles Clippers superstar spoke for the first time publicly on the matter at the team's media day after a report earlier this month by journalist Pablo Torre alleged the team violated the NBA's salary cap rules involving a $28 million endorsement contract between Leonard and the now-bankrupt California-based sustainability services company called Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC.

The league has hired an outside firm to run its investigation.

"The NBA is going to do their job. None of us did no wrongdoing and that’s it," Leonard said. "It’s not going to be a distraction for me or the rest of the team."

The team has strongly denied that any rules were broken and said it welcomed the league’s investigation.

"We’re eager for the truth to come out," Lawrence Frank, the team's president of basketball operations, said while reading a statement. "The assumptions and conclusions that have been made are disappointing and upsetting, and we expect the investigation will show that these allegations are wrong."

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer made a $50 million investment in Aspiration, and the company and the team announced a $300 million partnership in September 2021. That was about a month after Leonard signed a four-year, $176 million extension with the Clippers.

"I’m hurt for Steve. He’s one of the best people and most honorable people I’ve ever met," Frank said. "He does things the right way for the right reasons and he constantly reminds us to stay on the right side of the rules."

The team