The Clippers bypassed the NBA salary cap by paying Kawhi Leonard, NBA: Inquiry!

Los Angeles Clippers and team owner Steve Ballmer is reportedly accused of circumventing the NBA's salary cap by paying Kawhi Leonard $28 million, and arranges him to do "no attendance."

podcaster and former ESPN contributor Pablo Torre reported Wednesday that the Clippers paid Leonard through a now-banked company owned by Ballmer.

NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement late Wednesday that the league "has been aware of media coverage of the Los Angeles Clippers this morning and will begin an investigation."

In the latest issue of the Pablo Torre Discovery podcast, Torre cites a batch of internal documents from Aspiration, which Ballmer funded on September 14, 2021 with a partial investment of $50 million through his Personal LLC. Later that month, on September 27, 2021, the Clippers announced a $300 million partnership with the now-bank Aspiration, including sponsorship on the team’s new stadium and the team’s jersey badge.

According to Torre, Leonard agreed to a four-year, $28 million endorsement contract through his LLC company KL2 Aspire in April 2022. The endorsement contract comes nine months after Leonard signed a four-year, $176.3 million contract to stay with the Clippers — the largest contract allowed at the time, under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement.

According to the terms in a document obtained by Torre, the agreement between Aspiration and KL2 Aspire will be invalid if Leonard leaves Clippers. According to Torre, Leonard can also "reject any action Aspiration wants to take" and continue to get payments.

An unnamed employee who claimed to work in Aspiration told Torre that the payment to Leonard was to "bypass the salary cap."