Steve Ballmer Responds to Kawhi Leonard Scandal With ‘Anger’ and 'Sadness’ on ESPN

Steve Ballmer gave Ramona Shelburne an exclusive in-studio interview on Thursday that was supposed to air on the 11 p.m. ET SportsCenter, but got bumped to ESPN2 because the U.S. Open ran long.

During the interview Ballmer maintained his and the Clippers' innocence in regards to the Pablo Torre Finds Out report that Los Angeles had circumvented the salary cap thanks to a four-year, $28 million deal between Kawhi Leonard and one of the team's corporate sponsors which the owner had also invested $50 million in.

A follow-up report from Boston Sports Journal, which was confirmed by Torre, revealed another $20 million in stocks, bringing Leonard's total agreed-upon compensation to $48 million.

While Ballmer said the team introduced Leonard and Aspiration, the now-bankrupt environmental company, he said that was his entire involvement in the situation and said he had no idea how player endorsement deals work or if this one was different than other deals done with players.

Ballmer expressed "anger" and "sadness" for his employees in the interview and insisted he had been the victim of a scam which he knew nothing about.

"I was in the process of even changing the design of Inuit Dome so that we could be carbon neutral and then we meet this company that focuses in on an aspect of carbon neutrality," Ballmer explained. "To me it seemed kind of like a match made in heaven, if you will. And then they offered us an unbelievable sum of money. $330 million that by itself, one of the biggest sponsoship deals ever been done. And it wasn't naming rights. We had turned them down on the naming rights deal because we liked Intuit. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but then they offered even more money. So we had a fantastic deal that fit with stuff we care about personally."

Ballmer then explained his investment.

"And because I was enthusiastic I read their business plan," Ballmer continued. "Remember, they defrauded me. They defrauded many other investors much bigger than me. But I read the business plan and said hey this makes sense to support them, to support us, we made an investment in the company."

Ballmer also said that he hadn't talked to Leonard since this news came out.