A story that's gone relatively under the radar this season when it comes to the Los Angeles Clippers has just received a new update.

For over seven months, the NBA has been conducting an investigation into a $28 million sponsorship deal that Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard received which NBA officials are now investigating under the suspicion that Leonard was given the deal as an extra financial incentive in order to get around the NBA salary cap. 

The claims first arose after podcaster and journalist Pablo Torre reported that the $28 million deal from Aspiration, a now bankrupt green banking company, was for that purpose.

Increased suspicion arose when considering that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invested a total of $60 million into Aspiration and that the Clippers entered into a $300 million sponsorship deal with the company.

A report from ESPN stated that Ballmer's attorney confirmed that the Clippers owner lost his entire $60 million investment and the Clippers are unlikely to see any of the payments related to the $300 million sponsorship.

All of those factors brought attention to Leonard's sponsorship with Aspiration.

With the co-founder of Aspiration Joseph Sanberg awaiting sentencing from a federal judge after pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud for his role in a scheme that allegedly defrauded investors of $248 million, the NBA has taken the opportunity to question Sanberg for the purposes of their investigation.

David Anders, the attorney leading the NBA's investigation, interviewed Sanberg twice and provided documents that Sanberg described as "relevant to our investigation," in a letter to judge Stephen V. Wilson of the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California, per ESPN.

"Mr. Sanberg's cooperation substantially assisted our investigation, including our ability to develop a more complete understanding of key events. At no time during our dealings with Mr. Sanberg and his counsel did they seek, nor did we make, any promises in exchange for his cooperation," Anders wrote in the letter.

In the months since Torre first broke the story around Leonard and Sanberg has been subject to federal investigation, Ballmer has made increased efforts to both distance himself from Sanberg and his attorneys dismissed Torre's reporting as a "vitriolic public campaign against Mr. Ballmer." 

Ballmer has been named in a lawsuit filed by 11 former Aspiration investors alleging that Ballmer participated in fraud by by using aspiration to distribute money to Leonard outside of an official NBA contract in order to circumvent the NBA salary cap. 

Ballmer's attorneys have asked for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that the investors "failed to allege facts sufficient enough to state a legal claim," per ESPN.