Is Steve Ballmer Too Rich for the NBA?
The league has instituted new rules to keep megabillionaires from using their bottomless pockets to tilt the NBA’s competitive balance. An imbroglio involving the Los Angeles Clippers owner could amplify the issue.
Earlier this week, a handful of the richest people in the world convened at a five-star hotel in midtown Manhattan to discuss typical titans-of-industry fodder: overseas expansion, the future of media, yadda yadda. But there was an elephant in the room: Did a billionaire in their ranks secretly siphon millions of dollars to an NBA star through a now-bankrupt tree-planting startup?
The billionaire on the minds of NBA team owners at the regularly scheduled meeting of the league’s Board of Governors was Steve Ballmer—former Microsoft CEO, current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers and one of the world’s ten richest people. At issue was whether Ballmer circumvented the NBA salary cap by funnelling cash to Clippers player Kawhi Leonard by investing in the startup, Aspiration, which aimed to reduce carbon emissions by planting trees. Leonard signed an endorsement deal with the company, but doesn’t appear to have ever done any actual endorsement work for Aspiration, whose co-founder recently pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.