Kawhi Had Undisclosed Daktronics Deal: Report — SkimNews
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- Kawhi Leonard allegedly had an undisclosed sponsorship deal worth millions with Daktronics, the South Dakota company that designed the Clippers' "Halo Board" — the largest double-sided halo display in an arena — at Intuit Dome.
- An anonymous Intuit Dome source told Pablo Torre on his podcast that the deal "was 1,000% a way to circumvent the salary cap," allegedly funneling money from the Clippers through Daktronics back to Leonard; a former Clippers official separately confirmed knowing about a Leonard-Daktronics pact.
- A Daktronics spokesperson told Hunterbrook Media that Leonard doesn't have an active contract with the company but added, "I don't know what the company... can say, given the Wachtell investigation."
- The NBA's investigation, led by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, launched in September after Torre's reporting revealed owner Steve Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration through his personal LLC in September 2021 — the same month the Clippers signed a 23-year, $300 million founding-partner deal with the company.
- Aspiration signed its $28 million endorsement deal with Leonard in April 2022; co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced in June to 14 years in federal prison for defrauding investors and lenders of $248 million.
- Steve Ballmer says he lost his full $60 million Aspiration investment and was "flagrantly defrauded"; the Clippers have repeatedly denied funneling money through Aspiration to compensate Leonard.
Why it matters: The Wachtell-led NBA investigation now has a second alleged side-deal to scrutinize beyond Aspiration, and if the Daktronics allegation is substantiated it would deepen the league's case that the Clippers used corporate partnerships as back-channel compensation to Leonard — though Ballmer and the team deny any funneling scheme and Daktronics says no active contract exists.
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