When people think of the Los Angeles Clippers’ owner, they think of Steve Ballmer — and for good reason. Ballmer is the face of Clippers ownership ever since purchasing the team from Donald Sterling, and he owns 99 percent of the club. But there is a minority owner whose name is in headlines for the wrong reasons: Dennis Wong.
Dennis Wong is a minority owner and vice chairman of the Clippers, who serves as their alternate governor. Reports say he owns around 1 percent of the team. Wong is also said to have been Ballmer’s roommate in college at Harvard.
Wong has come into question this week due to the Kawhi Leonard situation. Recent reporting from Pablo Torre says that the Clippers funneled money through a now-bankrupt company, Aspiration, to Leonard, who had been seeking money beyond the limits of the salary cap when making his free agency decisions. On Thursday, Torre reported that Aspiration was cash-strapped in December 2022. Despite that, the company received a cash injection of just under $2 million from a company that listed Wong as the registered agent. Shortly thereafter, Leonard’s company received a payment for $1.75 million.
The implication is that Wong funneled money under the table to Leonard to circumvent the salary cap.
The Clippers had issued a previous statement denying wrongdoing, saying that Ballmer had been “conned” by Aspiration.
The team’s latest comment also tries to blame Aspiration as a “house of cards that defrauded Steve and many others.”
The NBA has said they are investigating the matter. But this is not the way Wong wanted his name to become known by sports fans.
