Steve Ballmer flies home to Seattle as the NBA Clippers probe drags on

Steve Ballmer flew from Reno (0XA0) back to Seattle's Boeing Field early on June 11, a 3-hour, 29-minute hop that lands him at his Hunts Point home base the same week the NBA's independent investigation into the Clippers and a disputed sponsorship deal entered its ninth month without resolution.

The timing is notable: two days before the flight, NBA commissioner Adam Silver told reporters ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals that he has instructed the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to 'wrap it up,' per reporting from [yahoo.com](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/adam-silver-stresses-urgency-end-164203341.html) and [nbcsports.com](https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/adam-silver-sounds-ready-for-clippers-investigation-to-wrap-up-also-talks-nba-europe-expansion). The probe centers on whether Ballmer's $60 million investment in Aspiration — whose co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced to 14 years for wire fraud — was used to funnel a $28 million no-show endorsement deal to Kawhi Leonard, a potential salary-cap violation the Clippers have denied.

Ballmer, a former Microsoft CEO and the NBA's richest owner, splits his time between Seattle and Los Angeles, and his G650 is a regular sight at LA-area airports during the Clippers season. This quick Reno turn — the aircraft's only logged trip on file — comes as the league and its 30 teams await what Silver has called an overdue conclusion to one of the most closely watched cap-circumspection cases in recent memory.