When you watch an NBA game these days, it’s almost impossible to miss the corporate logos stitched right onto the players’ chests. A few years ago this would have seemed unthinkable — basketball uniforms were supposed to be sacred — but now those little patches are worth millions. The Warriors wear a Rakuten patch, the Lakers once rocked Wish, and the Clippers struck a massive deal with a company called Aspiration. It’s all about revenue streams, and for the league it’s just another way to squeeze more dollars out of a night at the arena. For the players, it’s another chance to cash in, as if their already staggering contracts weren’t enough.
Kawhi Leonard is the perfect example of how messy this can get. Leonard is a two-time Finals MVP, one of the most respected two-way players in the league, and a guy who is famously private. He doesn’t tweet much, he rarely gives long interviews, and he’s built a reputation for keeping his business to himself. But heading into this season he’s become the center of an off-court storm because of an endorsement deal that refuses to stay quiet. Leonard signed a personal contract with Aspiration, the very company whose logo is about to sit on his Clippers jersey. Reports say the deal was worth around twenty-eight million dollars over four years. Twenty-eight million — on top of a four-year, one-hundred-seventy-six-million-dollar NBA contract and a rich New Balance shoe deal. If anyone on Earth doesn’t need a side hustle, it’s Kawhi Leonard.
The money itself isn’t even the juiciest part. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, who already ranks among the wealthiest owners in sports, put ten million dollars of his own money into Aspiration even as the company struggles to stay afloat. That came after an earlier investment also in the amount of ten million dollars a couple years ago. Not long after Ballmer’s cash infusion, Kawhi’s endorsement checks started rolling in. Now Aspiration has filed bankruptcy and Kawhi is reportedly still owed money. The league is investigating whether all of this amounts to an under-the-table way of paying a superstar more than the salary cap allows. It may all be perfectly legal, but it is shady, and that makes fans suspicious.
The Clippers insist there’s nothing improper going on. Ballmer has publicly called the idea of funneling money to Kawhi absurd. Maybe he’s right. Maybe this is just a strange coincidence where a billionaire owner decided to prop up a failing sponsor at the same time his best player is going into the second year an eye-popping personal deal. But even if every contract is technically above board, you can’t blame people for wondering why a player already making forty-plus million a year feels the need to grab another seven million annually from a company his boss is bankrolling. It feels like a loophole, and it smells like greed.
This is where the larger conversation about NBA jersey sponsorships comes in. Prior to the 2017-2018 season the league introduced the patch program to boost team revenue, but once the ads were stitched onto the jerseys, players inevitably became part of the sales pitch. Superstars are now billboards whether fans like it or not. Steph Curry doesn’t just play for Golden State, he plays for Rakuten every time he takes the floor. LeBron once wore a Wish logo for the Lakers. Fans don’t put those patches on their replica jerseys because they love online shopping or Japanese e-commerce — they buy put because their favorite players are wearing them. And if players can leverage that exposure into personal side deals with the same companies, where does it stop? Do we really want free-agent negotiations shadowed by the question of which sponsor might kick in extra millions under a different label?
For Kawhi, the optics are even worse because of the drama already surrounding his basketball future. He’s missed huge chunks of the past few seasons with injuries, including playoff games where the Clippers desperately needed him. He signed a massive extension in 2021, but fans still wonder whether his body can hold up for another deep run. Now, instead of focusing on proving he can stay healthy and lead the team to a title, he’s answering questions about a bankrupt sponsor and an owner who keeps writing eight-figure checks to a company paying his star player. It’s not exactly the distraction the Clippers were hoping for as they try to chase a championship.
There’s also something uncomfortable about watching the richest athletes in a league that already prints money chase every last possible dollar. No one is saying players shouldn’t profit from their talent, but when a guy like Kawhi Leonard — who already earns more in a single game than most people will see in a lifetime — signs a deal with a company that can barely keep its doors open, it’s hard not to roll your eyes. The NBA salary cap exists to create competitive balance, but sponsorship loopholes like this threaten to turn that balance into a joke. If owners can invest in companies that quietly pay their players, then the richest teams will always find a way to outspend the rest.
Other players have taken big endorsement deals without stirring this kind of controversy. Curry’s patch money doesn’t raise eyebrows because it comes from a straightforward team-sponsor relationship. LeBron’s Nike contract is a separate, transparent deal. Kawhi’s situation feels different because the money is coming from the same small pool of investors who also keep his team running. Even if everyone involved followed the letter of the law, it blurs the line between salary and sponsorship in a way that the league simply can’t ignore.
Will the NBA eventually punish the Clippers or tighten the rules to prevent owners from investing in companies that pay their players? Only time will tell. Will Kawhi lose any sleep over the criticism? Probably not. He’s famously quiet, and when he does speak, he rarely gives away more than a sentence or two.
Here’s the thing, folks: As the new season approaches, Kawhi Leonard will take the court with the Aspiration logo stitched across his chest, a walking reminder of the uncomfortable questions swirling around him.
With that… For fans watching at home, it’s hard not to feel like something is off. Players at this level shouldn’t need to squeeze a few million extra out of a failing sponsor, and owners shouldn’t be able to blur the lines between investment and salary.
If you cannot play with them, then root for them!