NBA probes Clippers, Ballmer and Leonard over salary-cap scheme

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday the league has launched a formal investigation into allegations that the Los Angeles Clippers, owner Steve Ballmer and forward Kawhi Leonard used a third party company to circumvent the salary cap, but he cautioned that any penalties will require proof beyond appearances. Silver made the remarks after the Board of Governors meeting in New York as the league retained New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen Katz to review reporting that surfaced last week.

League officials opened the probe after a podcast and subsequent reporting detailed a roughly 28 million endorsement agreement between Leonard and Aspiration, a now bankrupt green banking company, and additional equity transfers worth about 20 million, according to paperwork and people briefed on the arrangements. Those payments have been characterized in media reports as a potential mechanism to sidestep salary cap limits. Ballmer is reported to have invested 50 million in Aspiration prior to the transactions and is listed as owning about 1.981 percent of the company in bankruptcy filings.

Silver said the burden of proof lies with the league if it is to discipline the Clippers,...