Commissioner Adam Silver won’t rush the NBA’s investigation into allegations that Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer circumvented the salary cap by paying star forward Kawhi Leonard through a third party.
“Number one, the burden (of proof) is on the league if we’re going to discipline a team, an owner, a player, or any of the constituent members of the league,” Silver told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. “I think, as with any process that requires a fundamental sense of fairness, the burden should be on the party that is, in essence, bringing those charges. … I’d say in the case of the league, we and our investigators look at the totality of the evidence.”
Journalist Pablo Torre showed troves of documents on the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast indicating that Ballmer made a personal $50-million investment in eco-friendly startup Aspiration in September 2021. In April 2022, Leonard signed a marketing deal with the company that would pay him $28 million over four years. A former Aspiration employee told Torre that Leonard’s contract was worth more than any of the company’s other celebrity endorsement deals.