The Clippers officially issued a statement: The team did not evade the salary cap and did not supervise Xiaoka s contract with the company involved

On September 4, the NBA entered the offseason. According to multiple American media reports, Los Angeles Clippers star Leonard is suspected of signing a "yin-yang endorsement contract", and team owner Steve Ballmer is accused of being the behind-the-scenes shareholder. Regarding this matter, the Clippers officially issued a statement.

The Clippers wrote in the statement: Neither the Clippers nor Ballmer evaded the salary cap, and it is ridiculous that Ballmer sent money to Leonard through Aspiration! Ballmer invests in Aspiration because they respect customers while protecting the environment.

After a long-term market manipulation activity, the Aspiration company not only deceived Ballmer, but also many other investors and sports teams, and subsequently filed for bankruptcy. The company's co-founder, Joseph Thunberg, recently pleaded guilty to a crime involving $243 million in fraud. Neither Ballmer nor the Clippers knew of any misconduct from Aspiration and its co-founders until the government launched the investigation. Aspiration was the team sponsor in the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons, and later violated the contract.

The team sponsor signs an endorsement agreement with the players of the same team, which is nothing unusual or inappropriate. Neither Ballmer nor the Clippers management have supervised the independent endorsement agreement signed by Leonard with Aspiration. The Clippers attach great importance to compliance with NBA regulations, fully respect league rules, and welcome the league's investigation into matters related to Aspiration. The Clippers will also continue to cooperate with law enforcement to investigate Aspiration's extremely obvious fraud.

According to the latest reports, the NBA will investigate the matter. What is your evaluation of this? Welcome to give your opinions in the comment section.