Mark Cuban has spoken out in support of Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer in light of a report from Pablo Torre alleging the team attempted to circumvent the NBA salary cap through a $28 million endorsement deal with Kawhi Leonard.
Cuban argued in a post on X that the now-bankrupt tree-planting company Aspiration scammed everyone, including Ballmer, pointing to a U.S. Justice Department release stating the company’s co-founder Joseph Sanberg pleaded guilty to his involvement in a $248 million fraud scheme.
Cuban’s stance is that Ballmer “isn’t that dumb,” maintaining that if the Clippers owner was funneling money to Leonard through Aspiration, he would do everything in his power to keep the company afloat. By allowing Aspiration to go bankrupt, Ballmer would open himself up to speculation if someone were to discover the Clippers and “KL2 Aspire LLC” were among the creditors listed.
“It’s sad that @PabloTorre didn’t take the time to find out how these scammers pulled off their scam,” Cuban wrote. “The idea that the default is Ballmer is the bad guy is going to back fire on him.”
Torre responded to the accusation, questioning if Cuban watched the episode in its entirety.
A back-and-forth ensued, with Torre inviting Cuban on his show.
The Clippers released a statement on Wednesday, denying allegations of circumventing the NBA salary cap through Aspiration.
“There is nothing unusual or untoward about team sponsors doing endorsement deals with players on the same team,” the statement reads. “Neither Steve nor the Clippers organization had any oversight of Kawhi’s independent endorsement agreement with Aspiration. To say otherwise is flat-out wrong.”
Torre has already fired back with two questions of his own.