Just when the conclusion of the NBA’s investigation into the Clippers-Aspiration saga was pushed further, a fresh wave of allegations has surfaced. It’s like Pablo Torre heard the NBPA’s demand to find all facts – leading up to a potential appeal of league and union reps, extending the investigation beyond 2027 – and presented another cap circumvention the Los Angeles Clippers allegedly did. In the ominously thirteenth part of his series, Torre makes explosive revelations about Kawhi Leonard’s alleged salary cap circumvention through a newly formed company, thrusting the Clippers back into the crosshairs of an intensifying league investigation.

The revelation suggests a calculated pattern by the Clippers organization to funnel off-book capital to their star player through critical arena construction partners.

Pablo Torre explains Kawhi Leonard’s deal with Daktronics

The unfolding drama centers on a newly unearthed, hidden multimillion-dollar “sponsorship” deal between Kawhi Leonard and Daktronics. The South Dakota-based public corporation manufactured the Intuit Dome’s iconic, $100 million “Halo Board,” an oval-shaped Jumbotron. This company is well known for building massive scoreboards and displays for arenas and venues.

On the latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, the investigative journalist exposed the clandestine arrangement, citing multiple anonymous high-level sources within the Clippers organization and the Intuit Dome project. According to these insiders, the deal was openly recognized behind closed doors as a blatant mechanism to bypass league salary restrictions.

“When we first got connected, and we first spoke, I said, ‘Pablo, you know the big halo board hanging from the ceiling in the Intuit Dome? That’s from a company called Daktronics,” a high-level source under contract for the project revealed to Torre. “And Daktronics also had a spokesperson from the Clippers named Kawhi Leonard.”

Another former Clippers employee official, independently corroborated the financial magnitude and intent of the agreement, stating:

“This Kawhi deal was not just talked about by higher-ups with the Clippers to circumvent the salary cap… This second source was also told that Kawhi’s Daktronics sponsorship was a multimillion-dollar deal.”

The source further alleged that the funding did not organically originate from Daktronics’ marketing ledger, but was funded by the team, essentially, “funneling money from the Clippers through Daktronics back to Kawhi.”

The alleged Daktronics side-deal mirrors the exact playbook of the previous Aspiration scandal, occurring precisely when the scoreboard manufacturer faced potential bankruptcy. According to Torre, the company had only about $10 million in assets in 2023 and heavily relied on Steve Ballmer’s $2 billion arena project to survive.

The timing of the arrangement points to a deeply symbiotic relationship between the franchise’s billionaire owner, Steve Ballmer, and his arena contractors.

Corporate filings retrieved by investigative outlet Hunterbrook Media (that produces Torre’s podcast) reveal that in late 2022 and early 2023, right as the Intuit Dome construction was hitting its stride, Daktronics was enduring a severe financial crisis.

“In our 54-year history, we have not been faced with the perfect storm that these last two years represent,” the company’s then-CEO stated during a tense 2023 earnings call.

With its financial future hanging in the balance, the $100 million Halo Board contract from Ballmer essentially rescued the company, eventually driving its stock up by over 500%.

Yet, despite fighting for operational survival, the historically standard business-to-business (B2B) manufacturer, which had never utilized public celebrity endorsers in its nearly 60-year history, allegedly signed Kawhi Leonard to a massive contract.

Torre reveals they spoke to several Daktronics employees anonymously who expressed the absurdity of signing a public-facing celebrity spokesperson.

One employee responded, “lol definitely not. Daktronics was conservative to a fault for the 20 plus years I was there. I remember asking early on why we didn’t do more traditional advertising and promotion to increase brand recognition. I was told since it’s B2B and not a consumer product, it didn’t make sense to advertise that way. Individuals do not order jumbotrons. These are devices otherwise used to display other people’s advertisements in giant public spaces.”

Torre reported that exhaustive audits found absolutely no public record, marketing campaign, or social media footprint indicating that Leonard ever performed a single day of traditional promotional work for the brand.

When he reached out to Daktronics for answers, the company immediately retained an elite crisis communications firm, GF Bunting & Co., coincidentally the same firm that had previously worked for Ballmer’s Murphy’s Bowl LLC, which was working to secure the real estate to build Intuit Dome.

The crisis spokesperson simply stated, “My understanding is Daktronics doesn’t have a deal with Kawhi right now.”

When pressed on why a B2B scoreboard brand would sign an NBA superstar, the spokesperson said, “I don’t know what the company wants to say, or can say, given the Wachtell investigation and all that.”

A double blow for the LA Clippers

The law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is spearheading the investigation into the Clippers-Aspiration allegations that Torre revealed last year, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2026. While the NBA commissioner was hoping for it to end before the new season began, and let the Kawhi to Raptors trade go through, things got bleak.

NBA insiders revealed that the CBA lays out a detailed procedure for such cases, including the players’ union. That could push the investigation to 2027, leaving Leonard’s future in limbo. Whether this Daktronics revelation will add a new layer to it remains to be seen.

With two alleged multimillion-dollar ‘no-show’ contracts coming to light, the structural integrity of Leonard’s prior contract extensions is facing unprecedented scrutiny. While the Clippers and Ballmer have maintained their innocence, the mounting allegations pose the most severe threat to an NBA franchise’s executive leadership since the team’s forced sale over a decade ago.

If verified, the league has the disciplinary authority to void contracts, strip an unprecedented number of draft picks, and potentially impose historic ownership sanctions on the richest owner in sports.