Things are getting in the Clippers’ alleged salary circumvention investigation with Kawhi Leonard and Aspiration. However, this time, it’s not Steve Ballmer or Leonard under the microscope. The barrel is being pointed at NBA commissioner Adam Silver by a former Miami Marlins president, David Samson. Notably, Silver reacted to the latest drama with a claim that surprised Samson.

“Frankly, I never heard of the company Aspiration before,” said the commissioner. But it was hard to go unnoticed. In September 2021, the Clippers signed a $300 million contract with them to be their lead sponsors. They even bid for the naming rights for the Intuit Dome. Hence, Samson seemed to call out Silver for his response.

“They were the founding partners of the Intuit Dome. Do you think Adam didn’t know about the Intuit Dome?” Samson argued. He further added weight to his arguments by bringing out a picture of the Aspiration seat covers at the Crypto.com arena, the Clippers’ home before the Intuit Dome.

Having managed an MLB team, Samson also openly spoke from a businessman’s perspective. “If there were a $300 million founding partner of any of the 30 teams while I was in baseball, I would have heard of that company. Why? I would have tried to get them to invest in my team!” he said on Nothing Personal with David Samson.

Given the nature of the deal and its presence, it would have been difficult for Silver not to have any knowledge. Considering every business move has to be approved by the league, the Commissioner is almost always in the loop. But at the same time, there’s a lot more Adam Silver has to deal with. Could he have lost track of a sponsor for one of the teams? That’s a possible situation even if the deal was worth $300 million. However, it is hard to imagine.

Ultimately, the Clippers or any of the teams’ sponsors don’t affect the NBA. They are marketing deals that would garner interest from other NBA teams. And regardless of Silver’s comments, the focus is on the Clippers. And Pablo Torre came out with more groundbreaking evidence to intensify his findings.

Pablo Torre provides more breaking news

Pablo Torre’s initial findings moved the NBA to launch another investigation into the Clippers. But he wasn’t done there. The investigative journalist revealed another set of evidence, this time interpreting the Clippers’ direct involvement in paying Kawhi Leonard. Notably, as Aspiration was “broke” according to some former employees, they owed the ‘Klaw’ a part of his yearly $7 million payments.

The figure stood at $1.75 million. At the time, Aspiration couldn’t make that payment to Leonard. That’s when Torre tracked a $1.99 million investment made by a company, DEA 88, a company operated by David Wong.

He was a former college roommate of Steve Ballmer. Currently, he is also the Clippers co-owner. According to the sources Torre spoke to, his investment wouldn’t have helped the company survive. Yet, Leonard received his remaining payments just nine days after Wong’s investment to Aspiration. That raised more eyebrows.

Torre in particular provided another eye-opening link. According to him, Wong’s daughter worked for Aspiration. Hence, he would have had knowledge about the company’s appalling financial conditions, but still decided to make an investment. A second source he spoke to speculates the reason was solely to pay Kawhi Leonard.

As the situation continues to make headlines, this new information will surely alert Adam Silver and the NBA. If found guilty, there could be some irreparable punishments the Clippers face. However, Ballmer is pretty clear. He is confident the Clippers are innocent. Until the investigation concludes, two sides of the story will remain.