BREAKING: Kawhi Leonard's Other Alleged Undisclosed "Sponsorship" Deal
Pablo Torre x Hunterbrook Media
By Sam Koppelman
Hunterbrook Media’s investment affiliate, Hunterbrook Capital, does not have any positions related to this article at the time of publication. Positions may change at any time. Full disclosures on our website.
Earlier this year, Pablo Torre Finds Out won the Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on NBA superstar Kawhi Leonard’s secret, no-show endorsement deal with a tree-planting company called Aspiration, whose big investor just so happened to be the richest owner in American sports: Steve Ballmer.
The scandal: Ballmer, who signed Leonard to the L.A. Clippers after a competitive free agency process, apparently used Aspiration to circumvent the NBA’s salary-cap restrictions meant to limit how much billionaires can pay to win. Ballmer has denied the accusations amid an NBA investigation led by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Hunterbrook has worked with PTFO since we first launched: exposing how Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia deceives American homebuyers (a very relevant story today!); tying Memphis Grizzlies owner Robert Pera to Russian “crimes against humanity”; and, somehow, gaining access to the contents of a group chat in which Phil Mickelson seemed to be sharing inside information on a California oil stock.
Today, we join Pablo Torre for the next chapter of the Kawhi Leonard story, revealing what sources describe as a hidden, multimillion-dollar “sponsorship” deal — this time, with a publicly-traded company: Daktronics (DAKT).
For over half a century, Daktronics has built scoreboards for sporting venues and public places. One of its biggest deals, announced in 2022: The Halo Board at the Clippers’ new Intuit Dome, owned and financed by Ballmer.
The Clippers account came at a pivotal time for Daktronics, whose auditor-board chair warned in 2023 that there was “substantial doubt” about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. “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 said in an earnings call.
Even the following year, when Daktronics was on stronger financial footing, it would have been a weird time to sign an endorsement deal, let alone one from which it’s unclear the company got anything in return. Hunterbrook has torn through the internet and has not found a shred of evidence that Leonard performed any work in exchange for his alleged agreement with Daktronics.
In the years since the Intuit Dome deal, Daktronics has seen its stock soar more than 500%.
As the kids say: Scoreboard.
Asked repeatedly for a comment explaining the alleged deal, Daktronics declined, after initially responding through a crisis communications firm, which confirmed the company had been contacted by Wachtell as part of its investigation, while also stating that Daktronics doesn’t have a contract with Leonard “right now.”
Again and again, we asked the firm whether it could provide evidence that Leonard performed services for Daktronics. We were met with silence. We’d love to better understand this story. There are more questions than answers. Daktronics has just declined to help us answer them.
Watch the full episode: