The Kawhi Leonard-Aspiration complications have gotten a lot messier, and Pablo Torre is once again breaking it down in real time. Twitter exploded when a user, MKBucks11, joked about Mark Cuban being Steve Ballmer’s “burner human.” Torre quickly pivoted to a more in-depth investigation into Mark Cuban’s latest tweet, which raised eyebrows with questions about outside investors and a deal north of $50 million in carbon credits. The tweet in question?
“If I had to point to the things that the NBA should look at,” Cuban wrote on September 17, “it’s going to start with whether Dennis and Steve were the only outside investors when the company needed money so badly…Second thing I would look at was the $50 million deal the Clippers had for carbon credits. Carbon credits are a dicey business, to put it mildly…Did the Clippers pay the money upfront or not? That would be a red flag if they did specifically because it’s a dicey business.”
And Torre wasted no time unpacking the implications on PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT. “We’ll get to the first thing Cuban wrote about outside investors in a minute,” Torre explained, “but the second thing is where things get really wild.”
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According to documents obtained exclusively by Pablo Torre Finds Out, the Clippers didn’t just prepay carbon credits, but they also prepaid $3 million on April 1, 2022. Then, on April 4, the very day Kawhi signed his $28 million Aspiration contract, the Clippers wired another $32 million. Torre points out the total of $56,434,62 in prepaid carbon credits in just a few months, lining up precisely with Kawhi’s Aspiration payments, while calling out Cuban’s defense of Ballmer.
Torre’s reporting also highlights the timing of paperwork. The acknowledgement of carbon credit ownership transfer, which Torre acquired, has an effective date of June 30, 2022, the exact day Kawhi’s first payment was due, with signatures from both the Clippers’ CFO and Aspiration’s co-founder Andrei Cherny. The precision of these documents suggests a financial choreography between Kawhi Leonard’s contract and Aspiration’s internal operations that has caught league attention.
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This controversy has drawn Mark Cuban into the mix, or he has drawn himself into it by becoming “Team Ballmer” and defending Steve Ballmer against the allegations.
Cuban, on September 15th, tweeted that Aspiration had already taken a significant chunk of the escrow money before Ballmer’s involvement. “Correction. “However. Aspiration took all the escrow money before they were even introduced to Kawhi.” This part should have been edited out… Aspire took MOST of the escrow money and the first $20 million BEFORE BALLMER INTRODUCED ASPIRE TO Kawhi’s team,” Cuban clarified. He also addressed concerns about the authenticity of emails and internal communications.
“And for those that think the email could be fabricated, remember he had to turn over everything to the Feds. And now the NBA will quietly ask the Feds if the emails match what they have. Verdict: Ballmer is not the father of the CBA violation!” The billionaire owner didn’t stop there, framing the risk-reward angle for Ballmer.
“The scammers are where all the blame should start. I just don’t see Steve giving up $50 million and risking his entire reputation, integrity, and franchise.”
Torre, for his part, emphasizes that this isn’t just about money, but about the optics, the integrity of the league, and the exact overlap between Kawhi’s contract and Clippers investments. Cuban’s defense rests on the claim that Ballmer has invested billions, and his public image is far too valuable to jeopardize over a $50 million prepayment to a controversial firm. But the very evidence Cuban tried to spin now circles back as the biggest challenge to his defense.
How Kawhi Leonard’s deal complicates the Cuban-Ballmer connection
The narrative that Ballmer was simply dragged along by Aspiration loses weight when the paper trail shows the franchise’s money moving in sync with Kawhi’s contract. For Cuban, that means the $56M twist cuts against the very defense he’s been pushing. And as mentioned earlier, Torre reveals a network of payments, contracts, and documents that intertwine the superstar’s deal with the franchise’s business moves.
Less than three months before the $21 million carbon credit prepayment, the Clippers had already wired $3 million. Then, on the exact day of Kawhi’s Aspiration contract signing, they added another $32 million. The synchronization suggests a deliberate pacing of cash flows, one that the league will undoubtedly scrutinize.
Ballmer’s role has been questioned extensively, and Torre’s reporting makes Cuban’s effort to cast him as a bystander much harder to sustain. The timing and scale of the payments don’t erase Ballmer from the picture, but rather pull him deeper into it.
The NBA’s investigation may focus on whether the timing of these payments was coincidental or intentionally aligned with Kawhi’s contract. And if the league finds procedural irregularities, it could affect contract validity, team penalties, and the broader perception of NBA governance. As Torre notes, understanding the sequence of these payments is critical to contextualizing any potential violations.
The prepayment structure and its overlap with Kawhi’s deal might illuminate how top-tier players, franchises, and outside firms navigate financial arrangements. And not just that, but Torre’s reporting also explores Aspiration’s role. Cuban’s tweet stresses that the firm had already consumed significant escrow funds, his way of shifting blame more toward Aspiration than Ballmer.
The league has to balance fairness, the letter of the CBA, and public perception, all while evaluating documents, bank statements, and contract timelines uncovered by Torre. At the center of it all is Kawhi Leonard, whose $28 million Aspiration deal has become a lightning rod for questions about NBA compliance. Torre’s investigation connects the dots between Kawhi’s payments, the Clippers’ prepayments on carbon credits, and the assertions of a billionaire defending a fellow owner.
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It’s a web that, depending on league findings, could influence how superstar contracts and franchise investments are scrutinized moving forward. And this is precisely why Pablo Torre’s exclusive reporting matters. By acquiring documents and direct contract details, Torre is providing a lens into the inner mechanics of one of the NBA’s most perplexing scandals.
As the league sorts through payments, timing, and responsibility, fans and analysts alike will be dissecting Torre’s findings and the roles of Kawhi, Cuban, and Ballmer well into the season.