RealGM Basketball Wiretap

31 October 2025

• Ty Lue Says Chauncey Billups 'Confident About The Situation'

  Ty Lue said he spoke to Chauncey Billups since he was arrested following a federal investigation related to illegal sports betting and fraudulent poker games, and that Billups was hopeful over his situation.

  "I believe in Chauncey's character," said Lue before the Clippers played the Blazers on Sunday. "I know who he is as a person. I've been with him since I was 17 years old. So, it's just hard to see something like this happen. He has my love and support always."

  The NBA placed Billupson immediate leave following the arrest.

  Lue added that Billups remained confident despite his situation.

  "He's confident in what's going on. The toughest part just for him, just like his family going through with his daughters. But other than that, he's really confident about the situation. So just hearing his voice, I can just see that he's OK. So that was good to hear," added Lue.

  The Blazers named Tiago Splitter as interim coach in the meantime.

• NBA Striving To Get 'True Understanding' Of What Happened Between Clippers, Aspiration

  Adam Silver addressed the NBA's investigation into whether the Los Angeles Clippers circumvented the salary cap with Aspiration's endorsement deal with Kawhi Leonard. Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated asked Silver what he needs to see to make a determination that the Clippers committed an infraction. The NBA's collective bargaining agreement indicates that circumstantial evidence can be enough if it "cannot rationally be explained."

  "Somebody asked me if circumstantial evidence is enough, and just as in a court of law, sometimes there's direct evidence and sometimes there's circumstantial evidence," said Silver. And certainly, circumstantial evidence alone doesn't prevent findings for one particular side. But then, even in the case of circumstantial evidence, you look at the totality of the circumstances. So it's not formulaic. We will look at everything that's presented to us, and that includes inferences that come from evidence as well."

  Silver was also asked if he anticipates this being a long investigation.

  "I really don't know," replied Silver. "I can say it will take some time, just based on past experience. From the reporting so far, many of the sources are anonymous, but there are several of them. And you have here a separate court proceeding. We have a guilty plea [by Aspiration cofounder Joe Sanberg for wire fraud]. So there's a fair amount of evidence for us to look at. The stakes are very high here. We, as a league, want to be careful and make sure that not only are we being fair to the Clippers and Steve Ballmer, but also that we have a true understanding of whatever happened here."

• Clippers Initiated Kawhi Leonard Deal; Aspiration Execs Never Considered It Cap Circumvention

  In December 2021, Aspiration founder Joe Sanberg told company executives that the Los Angeles Clippers had approached him about an endorsement deal with Kawhi Leonard. Sanberg stated the arrangement was "important to the Clippers," according to executives who were present that spoke with the Wall Street Journal. The $48 million, four-year endorsement contract is now at the center of an NBA investigation into potential salary-cap circumvention involving Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.

  The deal called for Leonard to receive $20 million in Aspiration stock plus $28 million in cash, along with appearances and community-service events. Company executives questioned the terms, with one noting the contract price exceeded the cost of seven Super Bowl advertisements. The company ultimately balked at providing that much equity, and Sanberg agreed to contribute $20 million of his own stock to complete the transaction.

  "This is important to the Clippers," Sanberg said, according to a high-ranking executive's recollection.

  Marketing executives complained about significant red flags in the contract terms. Leonard, noted for being relatively quiet off the court, did not use social media despite being paid to introduce the public to Aspiration's brand. A marketing director stated they should receive more than an eight-hour production day for the payment amount.

  The 19-page contract required autograph signings, meet-and-greets, and community events. Company officials considered various marketing strategies, including a web series about reducing Leonard's carbon footprint, but none materialized before financial troubles mounted.

  The NBA commissioned a formal investigation after sports journalist Pablo Torre reported allegations that Ballmer used Aspiration to funnel cap-circumventing payments to Leonard. Ballmer stated he invested $50 million in Aspiration believing it was legitimate and later claimed he was "conned" by the company.

  The Clippers denied breaking salary-cap rules. Ballmer told ESPN: "I made an investment in these guys, thinking it was on the up and up, and they conned me."

  Sanberg is scheduled to plead guilty to wire fraud involving $248 million in investor fraud. He admitted to falsifying financial documents and creating phony customers to misled investors. Aspiration, now operating as CTN Holdings, filed for bankruptcy listing debts between $100 million and $500 million.

  Leonard never was announced as an official Aspiration spokesman, and he performed no significant work under the contract terms.

  The Wall Street Journal also reported that top executives with Aspiration said there was never any discussion or speculation by senior executives that their company might be a way for the Clippers and Leonard to circumvent the Clippers.

• Clippers Waive Patrick Baldwin Jr, Jason Preston, TyTy Washington Jr

  The LA Clippers waived forward Patrick Baldwin Jr. and guards Jason Preston and TyTy Washington Jr. All three players are expected to join the San Diego Clippers for the upcoming G League season.

  The Clippers also converted forward Jahmyl Telfort to a two-way contract on Saturday.

  LA's roster is now set for the regular season. The Clippers have 14 players signed to standard contracts and three players signed to two-way deals. LA can't currently fill their open standard spot due to lack of space under their first-apron hard cap.

• Clippers Convert Jahmyl Telfort To Two-Way Contract

  The LA Clippers are converting forward Jahmyl Telfort to a two-way contract. Telfort had joined the Clippers on an Exhibit 10 contract. LA opened up a two-way spot when they waived Trentyn Flowers earlier this week.

  Telfort went undrafted out of Butler at the 2025 NBA Draft. The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 16 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and a steal per game as a senior for the Bulldogs.

• NBA Team Valuations Reach $5.51 Billion Average, Up 20 Percent From 2024

  The average NBA team is now worth $5.51 billion, up 20 percent year-over-year and 113 percent since 2022, according to Sportico's calculations. The collective value of all 30 franchises reached $165 billion, driven by a landmark $76 billion media rights agreement and strategic arena investments.

  Rick Welts, newly appointed Dallas Mavericks CEO, called the current moment unprecedented for league growth.

  "Never had a moment like this where you could be as optimistic as I am," Welts said in a video interview. "A lot of people are in this league, from an international perspective, from a media perspective, and I really feel like we have the best ahead of us."

  The Golden State Warriors maintained their five-year reign as the NBA's most valuable franchise at $11.33 billion, second globally only to the NFL's Dallas Cowboys at $12.8 billion. The Los Angeles Lakers jumped to second place at $10 billion after Mark Walter's pending acquisition at 16 times revenue, surpassing the New York Knicks at $9.85 billion. The average value-to-revenue multiple for the NBA is 13.5, ahead of the WNBA at 12.0, the NFL at 10.3 and MLS at 9.4.

  The Warriors' dominance stems from arena ownership, sponsorship revenue nearly double any other team, and their WNBA affiliate, the Golden State Valkyries, valued at $500 million. The Valkyries made history as the first expansion team to qualify for the playoffs in their inaugural season.

  The new media contract with Amazon, ESPN/ABC and NBC raises each team's annual television revenue from $103 million to $143 million, with seven-percent annual increases through 2036. The "get-in" price for franchise ownership-represented by the Memphis Grizzlies at $4 billion-has jumped 2.5 times since 2022, when it stood at $1.63 billion.

  Recent high-profile sales drove valuations across the board. The Boston Celtics sold for $6.1 billion in March, while the Lakers' pending deal at $10 billion set a new record for control sales in sports history. The Portland Trail Blazers agreement at $4.25 billion followed in August.

  The NBA is pursuing expansion in Europe in partnership with FIBA, potentially launching 16 teams with a fall 2027 tipoff. The league also plans to develop a Basketball Africa League with 12 teams and dedicated home arenas. Welts emphasized international opportunities as transformational for league economics.

  "The international opportunity is multiple of what the domestic U.S. sports market is," Welts said. "The technology will allow anybody, anywhere in the world to consume any NBA game."

  New arenas are under construction in Oklahoma City ($900 million, opening 2028) and Philadelphia (2030), with the Dallas Mavericks scouting sites following 24 years at the shared American Airlines Center.

  2025 NBA Team Valuations

  Rank	Team	2025 Valuation	1-Year Change
  1	Golden State Warriors	$11.33B	+24%
  2	Los Angeles Lakers	$10B	+24%
  3	New York Knicks	$9.85B	+19%
  4	Los Angeles Clippers	$6.72B	+18%
  5	Boston Celtics	$6.35B	+12%
  6	Brooklyn Nets	$6.22B	+9%
  7	Chicago Bulls	$6.12B	+10%
  8	Miami Heat	$6.03B	+21%
  9	Philadelphia 76ers	$5.61B	+23%
  10	Houston Rockets	$5.53B	+16%
  11	Dallas Mavericks	$5.24B	+17%
  12	Toronto Raptors	$5.22B	+12%
  13	Phoenix Suns	$5.09B	+18%
  14	Atlanta Hawks	$5.02B	+23%
  15	Sacramento Kings	$5B	+22%
  16	Cleveland Cavaliers	$4.86B	+23%
  17	Denver Nuggets	$4.8B	+18%
  18	Washington Wizards	$4.78B	+20%
  19	Indiana Pacers	$4.76B	+27%
  20	Milwaukee Bucks	$4.54B	+16%
  21	San Antonio Spurs	$4.5B	+19%
  22	Oklahoma City Thunder	$4.34B	+22%
  23	Utah Jazz	$4.27B	+16%
  24	Portland Trail Blazers	$4.25B	+18%
  25	Minnesota Timberwolves	$4.24B	+29%
  26	Orlando Magic	$4.21B	+22%
  27	Detroit Pistons	$4.17B	+21%
  28	Charlotte Hornets	$4.13B	+22%
  29	New Orleans Pelicans	$4.02B	+30%
  30	Memphis Grizzlies	$4B	+31%

• Clippers Waive Trentyn Flowers From Two-Way

  The Los Angeles Clippers have waived Trentyn Flowers from his Two-Way contract.

  Flowers appeared in six games with the Clippers last season in addition to 42 G League games. Flowers averaged 17.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 30.8 minutes.

  Flowers went undrafted in 2024 out of Adelaide (Australia).

• Clippers Waive John Poulakidas; Sign TyTy Washington Jr

  The LA Clippers waived wing John Poulakidas. The Clippers then signed guard TyTy Washington Jr. to fill their empty roster spot. Poulakidas was signed to a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract. Washington was signed to a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract, having signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Clippers earlier this offseason.

  Both Poulakidas and Washington are expected to join the San Diego Clippers for the upcoming G League season.

• Clippers' Aspiration Sponsorship Deal Vetted By NBA Months Before Kawhi Leonard Contract

  The NBA vetted and approved a $300 million sponsorship deal between the LA Clippers and Aspiration in 2021, months before the green banking company signed a separate deal with Kawhi Leonard that triggered a salary cap-circumvention investigation, multiple sources told ESPN. The league's approval process occurred before Aspiration signed a four-year, $28 million endorsement agreement with Leonard in April 2022.

  Two sources with direct knowledge of the arrangement told ESPN that the Clippers submitted the 23-year agreement to the NBA for approval before its announcement in September 2021. League rules require such review because the deal contained a jersey patch component, the sources said.

  The agreement also included signage in the team's Inglewood arena, which was under construction at the time. Owner Steve Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration in September 2021, the same month the Clippers announced their sponsorship deal with the company.

  The NBA is investigating whether the Clippers and Ballmer violated league rules by circumventing the salary cap to compensate Leonard. Commissioner Adam Silver initially said he had "never heard of the company Aspiration before," then later revised his comments to say he was "aware of the brand."

  "Teams vet their own sponsorship partners and negotiate their own sponsorship agreements," NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said in a statement to ESPN. "Given the jersey patch's inclusion on player jerseys and its level of exposure across game telecasts, the league reviews and approves jersey patch arrangements pursuant to league rules that are intended to avoid potential brand issues or conflicts with league partnerships."

  The 2021-22 league operations manual specifies that a team "must notify, and obtain the approval of, the NBA" before entering into a jersey patch arrangement. The manual states that "a team cannot announce any Patch arrangement unless the applicable Patch Sponsorship Agreement, Jersey Patch and announcement have been approved in advance by the NBA."

  The Aspiration logo never appeared on Clippers jerseys despite being scheduled to debut in the 2023-24 season. The Clippers terminated their sponsorship agreement with Aspiration in early 2024 after Bloomberg News reported the company was under Department of Justice and Commodity Futures Trading Commission investigation.

  Aspiration filed for bankruptcy in March with reported debt of $170 million. The company said it owed the Clippers $30 million, the most of all its creditors.

  In August, Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud. Federal prosecutors said Sanberg defrauded investors and lenders out of $248 million by fraudulently obtaining loans and falsifying financial statements.

  "These were guys who committed fraud," Ballmer told ESPN. "Look, they conned me. They conned me. I made an investment in these guys thinking it was on the up-and-up, and they conned me at this stage."

  The league hired law firm Wachtell Lipton, Rosen & Katz to investigate whether the Clippers circumvented salary cap rules. Sources familiar with the process suggested the probe could take months and may not conclude until after the 2026 NBA playoffs.

  Per the collective bargaining agreement, Silver must present any potential evidence to a neutral arbitrator appointed by the NBA and National Basketball Players Association. The arbitrator would then decide whether to grant Silver authority to punish the Clippers or determine insufficient evidence exists for discipline.

  "The burden is on the league if we're going to discipline a team, an owner, a player or any constituent members of the league," Silver told reporters in September. "I think as with any process that requires a fundamental sense of fairness, the burden should be on the party that is, in essence, bringing those charges."

  Ballmer told ESPN he denied having knowledge of the endorsement contract Aspiration signed with Leonard or directing the company to do so. NBA rules prohibit teams from involvement in negotiations between sponsors and players, though teams can make introductions.

• NBA Won't Consider Moving All-Star Game Away From Clippers

  The NBA will not consider moving the All-Star Game from the Los Angeles Clippers' Intuit Dome amid their investigation into alleged cap circumvention involving Kawhi Leonard. Leonard had a $28 million endorsement contract with Aspiration, a company with ties to Steve Ballmer and Dennis Wong.

  "There's no contemplation of moving the All-Star Game," Silver said, "and planning for the All-Star Game and the surrounding activities are operating completely independently of the ongoing investigation."

  The NBA awarded the 2026 All-Star Game to Intuit Dome in January 2024 before the arena even opened ahead of the 2024-25 season.

  Ballmer made a $50 million investment in Aspiration that is being investigated.