Kawhi Leonard’s name has surfaced in reporting tied to another company as the NBA examines the financial arrangements surrounding the Clippers star. This time, the focus is Daktronics, the South Dakota-based manufacturer behind Intuit Dome’s massive Halo Board.
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Newly leaked 2021 emails obtained by investigative journalist Pablo Torre show Clippers personnel repeatedly contacting Daktronics executives about scheduling promotional “activations” involving Leonard. The messages do not mention any money or salary-cap arrangement. Still, they add a new piece of evidence to an investigation that has already raised questions about Leonard’s outside deals.
In one of the emails, sent from a Clippers address on March 16, 2021, a team employee asked Daktronics whether it had already met with Leonard and his representative, writing, “We wanted to check in to see if your team has already met with the player and his rep or if you have the meeting on the books.” The sender added, “We look forward to beginning the activations.”
The emails show that Clippers personnel were not simply aware of the Leonard-Daktronics connection. They were actively following up with the company about Leonard’s promotional schedule. The messages, however, contain no dollar figures, payment terms or admission that money was being routed to Leonard through Daktronics.
The Clippers followed up again on April 15, this time mentioning Leonard’s uncle and representative Dennis Robertson directly. “Wanted to check in to see if you’ve been able to connect with Uncle Dennis/KL to secure a date,” the Clippers employee wrote.
A May 2021 reply from a Daktronics executive showed that the company’s side was treating the requests as part of its ongoing work with the Clippers. “I’ll follow up and get back to you! Thanks for the reminder! Go Clippers!” the executive replied.
The Daktronics emails matter because they arrive as the NBA continues to investigate another Leonard endorsement arrangement involving Aspiration. Leonard’s company, KL2 Aspire LLC, signed a $28 million endorsement agreement with Aspiration in April 2022. Months earlier, Steve Ballmer had invested $50 million of his own money into the company, before the Clippers announced a separate $300 million sponsorship deal with Aspiration in September 2021.
As per Macrotrends, it placed Daktronics’ market capitalization at approximately $1.04 billion as of August 11, while Companies Market Cap listed it at roughly $1.03 billion in August 2026. Additionally, Companies Market Cap ranked Daktronics as the world’s 6,415th most valuable publicly traded company by market value at that time.
That financial backdrop has drawn added attention to Daktronics’ reported connection to Leonard as the NBA examines whether any third-party arrangement was used to circumvent the salary cap.
The concern for the NBA is not that Leonard had an outside endorsement deal. NBA players are allowed to make money from third-party endorsements. The question is whether a team or owner helped arrange an outside deal that was used to provide compensation outside the salary cap. Under the CBA, a legitimate endorsement is different from a deal in which team money is allegedly routed through a third party to a player.
An arena project contractor who worked on the Intuit Dome development described the alleged arrangement bluntly: “It was 1,000% a way to circumvent the salary cap.” The source alleged that money was being funneled from the Clippers through Daktronics to Leonard.
Those claims remain allegations. The leaked emails themselves contain no financial terms or evidence of money being transferred from the Clippers to Daktronics and then to Leonard.
The broader investigation also includes Leonard’s three-year, $149.5 million extension signed on January 10, 2024. The deal was roughly $10.5 million below the maximum he was eligible to receive, and investigators are examining whether outside income could have offset that difference. That remains an allegation, not a finding by the NBA.
The Clippers and Steve Ballmer have denied any salary-cap wrongdoing. “Neither Mr. Ballmer nor the Clippers circumvented the salary cap or engaged in any misconduct related to Aspiration,” the team said in a September 2025 statement. Ballmer also said, “We were done with Kawhi’s contract negotiations. Then, [Aspiration] did request to be introduced to Kawhi, and under the rules, we can introduce our sponsors to our athletes.”
Later, Leonard addressed the Aspiration allegations publicly for the first time at Clippers media day on September 29, 2025. Asked whether it was accurate to characterize his reported Aspiration endorsement agreement as a “no-show” deal, Leonard rejected that description and said he understood the terms of the contract and the services it required him to perform.
“I don’t think it’s accurate,” he said. “But it’s old. This is all new to you guys. The company went bankrupt a while ago, so we already knew this was going to happen.”
However, he did not outline the specific services he performed for Aspiration or provide further details about the agreement. He also dismissed the broader allegations as “conspiracies” and “clickbait,” while saying the NBA could carry out its investigation.
The Clippers have maintained that communications between team staff and vendors regarding player activations were standard partner logistics. Leonard’s camp has not publicly addressed the newly leaked Daktronics emails.
Earlier Leonard-Clippers Background
The Clippers’ pursuit of Kawhi Leonard had already drawn NBA scrutiny during his 2019 free agency, though those earlier matters are separate from the league’s current investigation into Aspiration and Daktronics. On May 31, 2019, the NBA fined the Clippers $50,000 for violating its anti-tampering rules after then-coach Doc Rivers discussed Leonard during an ESPN appearance while Leonard was still with the Toronto Raptors. Rivers compared Leonard to Michael Jordan, though the league did not specify which comments led to the violation.
Leonard entered free agency after leading Toronto to the 2019 NBA championship and winning Finals MVP. He signed with the Clippers on July 10, 2019, agreeing to a three-year contract worth approximately $103 million.
Later that year, the NBA also examined Leonard’s recruitment and the role of his uncle and longtime adviser, Dennis Robertson, known as “Uncle Dennis.” The Athletic reported that Robertson sought benefits from prospective teams that NBA rules would not allow, including team ownership, a private plane, a house, and guaranteed off-court endorsement income. The league investigated whether the Clippers had provided any impermissible benefits, but contemporaneous reporting indicated that it found no evidence the club fulfilled those requests. The inquiry did not result in penalties.
That earlier episode gives added context to Robertson’s appearance in the 2021 Daktronics correspondence. Still, it does not establish that the Clippers violated salary-cap rules in 2019 or prove the allegations the NBA is now reviewing involving the reported Aspiration and Daktronics arrangements.
While the NBA investigation remains unresolved, Draymond Green has already weighed in on what he believes the league should do if the allegations are proven.
Draymond Green Reacts to the Kawhi Leonard Investigation
Draymond Green, the Golden State Warriors forward, had plenty to say about what the league’s response to Leonard’s situation should actually look like.
“We’re hearing a lot about what the punishments are going to be. And I would say if the punishments aren’t steep, everybody should do it. If it’s just gonna be a slap on the wrist, then everybody should do it. And every player should be trying to do it.”
“From Kawhi Leonard’s standpoint, I’m not mad about it. If these things are true, I’m not mad at him. I think this raises a totally different question than what everyone is talking about. Everyone’s talking about ‘Oh man, Steve Ballmer’s wrong. Kawhi Leonard’s wrong.’ I think this raises the question about the salary cap. We’re playing in a league where a team just sold for $12.5 billion after being worth $10 billion 14 months ago.”
“There’s no salary cap in baseball. League operates just fine. Players that deserve the bulk of the money get the bulk of the money. Players that don’t, don’t. Simple… Let the punishment be getting rid of the salary cap.”
The NBA has punished salary-cap circumvention severely before. In the 2000 Joe Smith case, the Minnesota Timberwolves lost five first-round picks, were fined $3.5 million, had Smith’s contract and Bird Rights voided, and saw owner Glen Taylor and general manager Kevin McHale suspended for one year.
The difference this time is that the NBA has not yet reached a final finding. As of August 14, the Wachtell Lipton investigation remains active, and the leaked Daktronics emails provide evidence of Clippers’ involvement in Leonard’s “activations” without, on their own, proving that money was improperly funneled to him.