"Somebody grabbed the mic from me": Ramona Shelburne reveals Clippers PR stopped her from pressing Kawhi Leonard on Aspiration 

Kawhi Leonard inevitably had to face a tough moment when reporters pressed him about the Aspiration controversy during the LA Clippers'’ media day. Clips quickly spread online, showing ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne repeatedly asking Leonard about the issue.

Shelburne explained that the Clippers’ PR team stepped in to cut things short. During an appearance on ESPN LA’s Mason & Ireland, she revealed what had happened in the room.

“Then I asked questions,” Shelburne said (2:00 onwards). “I could have kept going, but somebody kind of reached out and grabbed the mic from me. Yeah. It was like, 'Okay, you're done now.'”

It was the first time Leonard spoke publicly about the situation, never issuing any kind of statement beforehand. Knowing that, Shelburne teamed up with a few other reporters to make sure he was pressed for details with hopes to get to the bottom of the incident.

“There were five or six other reporters in the room,” Shelburne added. “We had all talked before the press conference and I said, "Okay, so we're all going to ask Aspiration questions, right? Because this is his first public statement, let's tag team.

"Listen to whatever everybody else asks and let's make sure we cover all the bases here because this is the probably the one and only time he'll address it.”

Leonard answered as much as he was willing to, consistently insisting that he wasn't involved in anything illegal.

Reports in September accused Leonard of receiving $28 million over four years from Aspiration, a green investment firm, as a way for Steve Ballmer and the Clippers to bypass the league’s salary cap rules.

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Kawhi Leonard was certain that Aspiration deal wasn’t a no-show job

While revealing his findings, journalist Pablo Torre disclosed that Kawhi Leonard had a “no-show job” for which Leonard was set to receive $7 million each year for four years. That added suspicions that the deal was the Clippers’ way of working around salary cap rules.

Leonard, though, denied these allegations. He said he fully understood the details of the endorsement agreement and the responsibilities it required for him to fulfill.

“I understand the full contract and the services that I had to do,” Leonard said. “I don’t deal with the conspiracies or the clickbait analysts or journalism that’s going on.”

However, when asked about the specific financial terms, Kawhi Leonard was unable to answer. He said that he couldn't remember exactly how much money he was owed.