Around the NBA 2024-25 - In Our Offseason, Vol. 1

[BKlutch]

Fine then. Corruption it is.

Oh man, Silver digging deep into that law school bag with “a smoking gun is circumstantial evidence.” Wow. Sounds like he just got caught in the humidor with Monica Lewinsky —depends on what your definition of “is” is

Adam is gonna be really upset when he wakes up to see this

Watch on YouTube

Pablo found bank statements. Payments to Kawhi are marked as "Critical". One payment day lines up with 20% of the staff being laid off. A week before, the company got a 2m investment from a new investor, another member of the Clippers, Dennis Wong, the only other guy who owns a percentage of the Clippers, and the guy who fills in for Ballmer when he misses governor meetings. Ballmer's former roommate.

Pablo explains how much financial trouble the company was in at this point, that they were late for payments, and that lines up with the finance person in episode 1 claiming Uncle Dennis was bothering them a lot for payments.

And this Dennis Wong might have known they were in financial trouble at this point and that it's probably a bad investment because apparently... his daughter also worked there?

Also, some owners were frustrated by the lack of Silver addressing the Ballmer stuff during the BOG meeting - they had to have chats on the side about it. Owners Pablo spoke to seem to agree with him that this stuff is cut and dry

These guys are f*cked. The other owners need to call for a complete tear down of the Clippers. Draft picks need to be gone for a decade. Leonard's contract should be voided.

I'm starting to see why the Spurs had no problem trading Leonard. A "No show" job is literally mob sh*t. What kind of racket is he and Uncle Dennis running here?

How can you call this stuff mob sh*t? Just compare this behavior to that of the President of the US.

[BKlutch]

silver still not gone do ****

Probably not, because there was something published that said the allowed penalties for this would be rather small. But who made up what's allowed? It couldn't be the owners, could it?

[ctorres]

Clippers need to be sold, moved to Seattle, and just re-branded as the Supersonics

Clippers are by far the most cursed franchise. The whole point of their existence is to be the cheaper 2nd rate alternative to the Lakers.

Same way Brooklyn doesn't need an NBA team either!

Sorry, I know that sounds mean to their respective fanbases, but I feel the league would actually benefit more if the Clippers and Nets were in two different cities entirely.

[jvsimonetti0514]

Ratings are down and we’ve got the commissioner of the league telling ppl to go to YouTube. I’m sure the media rights holders are super pumped to hear that you don’t need to watch the full games. It’s basically the equivalent of my wife saying why bother watching the full games and just turn it on in the last 5 mins.

[ctorres]

Ratings are down and we’ve got the commissioner of the league telling ppl to go to YouTube. I’m sure the media rights holders are super pumped to hear that you don’t need to watch the full games. It’s basically the equivalent of my wife saying why bother watching the full games and just turn it on in the last 5 mins.

WWE has been doing the same thing for a while now too. It's weird how the NBA and WWE are paralleling each other.

[thebuzzardman]

silver still not gone do ****

Why should he?

He's got Google paying for those sweet YT highlights and that gambling money just keeps flowing in.

Oh, and NBC, Amazon, ESPN, TNT, those contracts already paid for.

It'll be interesting to see if anyone gives a sh*t about the NBA 15 years from now.
They probably will.

Also, under the table money isn't new in basketball, so not sure how to feel.

I mean, Walter Berry's mom got a job doing security at St Johns as part of him being recruited there.
There's all kinds of these stories from over the years.

[Guano]

Silver, "catch thehighlights, bum"
Guan0, "catch me on topstreams, mf"

Read on Twitter

what a crazy thing to say. watching the whole game aint important lol

the thing that's really obnoxious is games being on peacock. nobody has that sh*t lol. i don't even know what's on there. that's just a blatant attempt by nbc to force some people to subscribe to it. i already pay for cable and multiple streaming services, now i gotta pay for this sh*t for the 3 or 4 games the knicks play on there this year ? and it aint even about the money. what's it gonna cost me ? 40 dollars for the few months i need it for. but y'all are just taking advantage with that sh*t.

Mrs guan0 copped peacock awhile back to watch one of her trash shows and forgot to cancel it. so its the only legit stream I have to watch games this year. though ill prolly still end up using an illegal stream. cause ill forget its easier than remembering what the game is streaming on or that Im actually paying for a streaming service I dont use.

Also fck em. "Watch the highlights, peasants" is such a wildly disrespectful statement.

[jvsimonetti0514]

Ratings are down and we’ve got the commissioner of the league telling ppl to go to YouTube. I’m sure the media rights holders are super pumped to hear that you don’t need to watch the full games. It’s basically the equivalent of my wife saying why bother watching the full games and just turn it on in the last 5 mins.

WWE has been doing the same thing for a while now too. It's weird how the NBA and WWE are paralleling each other.

I was really fascinated with WWE’s jump to Netflix for Raw and what it would mean for the nba. Netflix is in like 300 million homes worldwide and Amazon has 200 million worldwide. Outside of the first episode of Raw on Netflix, the ratings have been similar to what they were on USA. I’ve always figured that there was a large missing audience that was watching through stream east and whatever other illegal streams cuz they didn’t want to pay for cable. I’d be worried if I was Silver now that’s not the case with WWE.

[MrDollarBills]

Oh man, Silver digging deep into that law school bag with “a smoking gun is circumstantial evidence.” Wow. Sounds like he just got caught in the humidor with Monica Lewinsky —depends on what your definition of “is” is

Adam is gonna be really upset when he wakes up to see this

Watch on YouTube

Pablo found bank statements. Payments to Kawhi are marked as "Critical". One payment day lines up with 20% of the staff being laid off. A week before, the company got a 2m investment from a new investor, another member of the Clippers, Dennis Wong, the only other guy who owns a percentage of the Clippers, and the guy who fills in for Ballmer when he misses governor meetings. Ballmer's former roommate.

Pablo explains how much financial trouble the company was in at this point, that they were late for payments, and that lines up with the finance person in episode 1 claiming Uncle Dennis was bothering them a lot for payments.

And this Dennis Wong might have known they were in financial trouble at this point and that it's probably a bad investment because apparently... his daughter also worked there?

Also, some owners were frustrated by the lack of Silver addressing the Ballmer stuff during the BOG meeting - they had to have chats on the side about it. Owners Pablo spoke to seem to agree with him that this stuff is cut and dry

These guys are f*cked. The other owners need to call for a complete tear down of the Clippers. Draft picks need to be gone for a decade. Leonard's contract should be voided.

I'm starting to see why the Spurs had no problem trading Leonard. A "No show" job is literally mob sh*t. What kind of racket is he and Uncle Dennis running here?

How can you call this stuff mob sh*t? Just compare this behavior to that of the President of the US.

I mean you're right.

I just thought of mob sh*t because there are two other times I've seen a "No show job":

1) On the Sopranos. Little explanation is needed there.

2) I used to work for a municipal authority 18 years ago. There was a guy who was a patriarch of a well connected family in the city whose hooks were embedded in the authority from the top down. This dude would show up every two weeks to pick up a check.

He didn't work for the municipal authority in any capacity, but he was on the payroll, literally pocketing city tax payer money for doing nothing.

I think you've got to be some kinda scumbag to do this, but I digress.

[MrDollarBills]

Silver, "catch thehighlights, bum"
Guan0, "catch me on topstreams, mf"

Read on Twitter

what a crazy thing to say. watching the whole game aint important lol

the thing that's really obnoxious is games being on peacock. nobody has that sh*t lol. i don't even know what's on there. that's just a blatant attempt by nbc to force some people to subscribe to it. i already pay for cable and multiple streaming services, now i gotta pay for this sh*t for the 3 or 4 games the knicks play on there this year ? and it aint even about the money. what's it gonna cost me ? 40 dollars for the few months i need it for. but y'all are just taking advantage with that sh*t.

Mrs guan0 copped peacock awhile back to watch one of her trash shows and forgot to cancel it. so its the only legit stream I have to watch games this year. though ill prolly still end up using an illegal stream. cause ill forget its easier than remembering what the game is streaming on or that Im actually paying for a streaming service I dont use.

Also fck em. "Watch the highlights, peasants" is such a wildly disrespectful statement.

Yeah that kind of rhetoric isn't exactly brand safe. Silver's head is so far up his own narrow ass that he doesn't realize he's gonna force people towards pirating or just skipping altogether

I've been very blunt about how my NBA viewing habits have decreased over the years. If the Knicks aren't playing, I'm probably gonna watch something else or do other stuff during that time. The game isn't really worth paying for anymore.

[MrDollarBills]

Ratings are down and we’ve got the commissioner of the league telling ppl to go to YouTube. I’m sure the media rights holders are super pumped to hear that you don’t need to watch the full games. It’s basically the equivalent of my wife saying why bother watching the full games and just turn it on in the last 5 mins.

WWE has been doing the same thing for a while now too. It's weird how the NBA and WWE are paralleling each other.

Yeah but WWE has an audience that is used to spending money for paid live event shows dating back to the 80s. Putting up a paywall for NBA games beyond basic cable is very short sighted.

Also, WWE has beautiful women all over their roster. If its not a game I'm invested in and if I see Liv Morgan wrestling Rhea Ripley on another platform, I'm probably gonna watch the ladies tumble around for a few mins over a boring regular season NBA game that's not the Knicks.

[MrDollarBills]

Wow, they are f*cked. The 1% owner of the clippers first time invested 1,999,999 in to the company 9 days before they were delinquent on a Kawhi agreed too payment.

I mean its over for the Balmer and the clippers.

The evidence before was damning enough. But sinking 2 MM now when you know the company is going bankrupt as a Ponzi scheme. To pay off there "one critical" investor who did nothing for them.

And on the same day lay off 100 employees is wild!

I wonder if this is even legal? Not basketball wise but federal criminal statute wise. I'm not sure.

Ballmer and ESPN look crazy right now.

[BKlutch]

Clippers need to be sold, moved to Seattle, and just re-branded as the Supersonics

Clippers are by far the most cursed franchise. The whole point of their existence is to be the cheaper 2nd rate alternative to the Lakers.

Same way Brooklyn doesn't need an NBA team either!

Sorry, I know that sounds mean to their respective fanbases, but I feel the league would actually benefit more if the Clippers and Nets were in two different cities entirely.

Brooklyn doesn't really have a fanbase. I've only been there a few times to see the Knicks play. There were really no "home team" fans there at any time. LOL

Not sure how many fans would miss the Clips.

[BKlutch]

Adam is gonna be really upset when he wakes up to see this

Watch on YouTube

These guys are f*cked. The other owners need to call for a complete tear down of the Clippers. Draft picks need to be gone for a decade. Leonard's contract should be voided.

I'm starting to see why the Spurs had no problem trading Leonard. A "No show" job is literally mob sh*t. What kind of racket is he and Uncle Dennis running here?

How can you call this stuff mob sh*t? Just compare this behavior to that of the President of the US.

I mean you're right.

I just thought of mob sh*t because there are two other times I've seen a "No show job":

1) On the Sopranos. Little explanation is needed there.

2) I used to work for a municipal authority 18 years ago. There was a guy who was a patriarch of a well connected family in the city whose hooks were embedded in the authority from the top down. This dude would show up every two weeks to pick up a check.

He didn't work for the municipal authority in any capacity, but he was on the payroll, literally pocketing city tax payer money for doing nothing.

I think you've got to be some kinda scumbag to do this, but I digress.

If you have to be s ome kinda scumbag to do this, and the president does this, what does that make him?

Spoiler:

A very nice man who every child wants to grow up to be like?

[Guano]

what a crazy thing to say. watching the whole game aint important lol

the thing that's really obnoxious is games being on peacock. nobody has that sh*t lol. i don't even know what's on there. that's just a blatant attempt by nbc to force some people to subscribe to it. i already pay for cable and multiple streaming services, now i gotta pay for this sh*t for the 3 or 4 games the knicks play on there this year ? and it aint even about the money. what's it gonna cost me ? 40 dollars for the few months i need it for. but y'all are just taking advantage with that sh*t.

Mrs guan0 copped peacock awhile back to watch one of her trash shows and forgot to cancel it. so its the only legit stream I have to watch games this year. though ill prolly still end up using an illegal stream. cause ill forget its easier than remembering what the game is streaming on or that Im actually paying for a streaming service I dont use.

Also fck em. "Watch the highlights, peasants" is such a wildly disrespectful statement.

Yeah that kind of rhetoric isn't exactly brand safe. Silver's head is so far up his own narrow ass that he doesn't realize he's gonna force people towards pirating or just skipping altogether

I've been very blunt about how my NBA viewing habits have decreased over the years. If the Knicks aren't playing, I'm probably gonna watch something else or do other stuff during that time. The game isn't really worth paying for anymore.

I just dont have the time to watch a ton of hoops anymore. Im also vv lazy and convenience is bliss. So if I dont have to research where to watch a game I'm going that route. I'm not going to let capitalism ruin my escapism. That said if I could pay to watch all knicks games on 1 streaming service id do that. But we cant have nice things. So ill just continue to illegally stream the games and post late in the gamethreads.

[mpharris36]

Wow, they are f*cked. The 1% owner of the clippers first time invested 1,999,999 in to the company 9 days before they were delinquent on a Kawhi agreed too payment.

I mean its over for the Balmer and the clippers.

The evidence before was damning enough. But sinking 2 MM now when you know the company is going bankrupt as a Ponzi scheme. To pay off there "one critical" investor who did nothing for them.

And on the same day lay off 100 employees is wild!

I wonder if this is even legal? Not basketball wise but federal criminal statute wise. I'm not sure.

Ballmer and ESPN look crazy right now.

Nah circumventing the cap isn't illegal.

I fully believe Balmer was ponzi schemed into believing this company was legit and could afford to keep his Kawhi circumvention a secret. It was a well thought out elaborate scheme....it only came to light because Aspirations the company is in legal issues and bankrupt ponzi scheme so that makes all its creditors information legal which is how Pablo found all this information out because its public knowledge. Only way Balmer is legally in trouble is if he was part of the investor fraud but that doesn't look like its the case.

Basically a legal company can keep this information private...which is why no one knew...once they defaulted and filed for bankruptcy and got into fraud charges...they had to hand over all there documents and creditors effected and the Kawhi/Clippers deal was hidden within the ponzi scheme.

Balmer probably pissed that months after he invested 50 MM to help payoff Kawhi he learned they couldn't hold up there end and pay Kawhi...which is why he had his 1% owner pay off the other 2 MM to cover the Kawhi payment so Kawhi's uncle didn't go scoarched earth.

And the Clippers couldn't pay Kawhi directly or they would have been in trouble so they were funneling money threw a 3rd party to circumvent the cap.

[thebuzzardman]

Yo. Even MSG TV isn’t free. It’s part of your cable bill

[bballoctober]

Mrs guan0 copped peacock awhile back to watch one of her trash shows and forgot to cancel it. so its the only legit stream I have to watch games this year. though ill prolly still end up using an illegal stream. cause ill forget its easier than remembering what the game is streaming on or that Im actually paying for a streaming service I dont use.

Also fck em. "Watch the highlights, peasants" is such a wildly disrespectful statement.

Yeah that kind of rhetoric isn't exactly brand safe. Silver's head is so far up his own narrow ass that he doesn't realize he's gonna force people towards pirating or just skipping altogether

I've been very blunt about how my NBA viewing habits have decreased over the years. If the Knicks aren't playing, I'm probably gonna watch something else or do other stuff during that time. The game isn't really worth paying for anymore.

I just dont have the time to watch a ton of hoops anymore. Im also vv lazy and convenience is bliss. So if I dont have to research where to watch a game I'm going that route. I'm not going to let capitalism ruin my escapism. That said if I could pay to watch all knicks games on 1 streaming service id do that. But we cant have nice things. So ill just continue to illegally stream the games and post late in the gamethreads.

Just get NBA league pass.

[Guano]

Yeah that kind of rhetoric isn't exactly brand safe. Silver's head is so far up his own narrow ass that he doesn't realize he's gonna force people towards pirating or just skipping altogether

I've been very blunt about how my NBA viewing habits have decreased over the years. If the Knicks aren't playing, I'm probably gonna watch something else or do other stuff during that time. The game isn't really worth paying for anymore.

I just dont have the time to watch a ton of hoops anymore. Im also vv lazy and convenience is bliss. So if I dont have to research where to watch a game I'm going that route. I'm not going to let capitalism ruin my escapism. That said if I could pay to watch all knicks games on 1 streaming service id do that. But we cant have nice things. So ill just continue to illegally stream the games and post late in the gamethreads.

Just get NBA league pass.

Aren't nationally televised games blacked out?

[G_K_F]

This is why I've said time and time again that Adam Silver is the worst commissioner in all of sports.

He was handed a beautiful thing by David Stern and he tanked the hell out of it.

The NBA is not a good product in its current form.