Kawhi "no-show job" that paid $28M

[bstein14]

Reportedly the Raptors met his demand of $15 million of sponsorship money from 3 sponsors....

"From what I know from sources, when Kawhi signed with the Clippers, the Toronto owner Larry Tanenbaum was beside himself because he believed he bent over backwards for Kawhi — including calling three sponsors to meet Kawhi's demand of an extra $15 million in endorsement money."

I think there is a vast difference between introducing a player to potential sponsorship opportunities and providing the actual money to a sponsor so that it can be funnelled through to the player for doing absolutely nothing beyond staying with your team.

You are absolutely correct.

Legitimate endorsement deals are:
(1) publicly known
(2) athlete does commercials/ads and makes public appearances to earn the money
(3) the endorsement money is paid by the sponsoring company (Ford, Nike, Audi, etc) and not by the NBA team/owner.

Here is how Kawhi's deal is different from a legit endorsement:
(1) deal was 100% secret
(2) Kawhi provided ZERO services to earn the money
(3) Balmer (the team owner)gave the company $50 million of his own money, which then covered Kawhi's $28 million fee

Seven employees of Aspiration came forward and said the deal was purely designed to circumvent the salary cap. Period.

I agree there is a massive difference on where the "guaranteed sponsorship $" is coming from... but I was mostly pointing out the fact that the Raptors brought 3 sponsors to the table to get him an extra $15 million after he asked for it and it sounds like the Raps were pissed before they thought that by getting him those (which he asked for) would have sealed the deal to keep him in Toronto.

[Zeno]

It just occurred to me how thankful Silver must be right now that as much as this coming out sucks, that the Clippers with Kawhi has been an absolute failure. Imagine if the Clippers won a championship with Kawhi. NBA would be in Astros banging on trash cans territory.

[Zeno]

I think there is a vast difference between introducing a player to potential sponsorship opportunities and providing the actual money to a sponsor so that it can be funnelled through to the player for doing absolutely nothing beyond staying with your team.

You are absolutely correct.

Legitimate endorsement deals are:
(1) publicly known
(2) athlete does commercials/ads and makes public appearances to earn the money
(3) the endorsement money is paid by the sponsoring company (Ford, Nike, Audi, etc) and not by the NBA team/owner.

Here is how Kawhi's deal is different from a legit endorsement:
(1) deal was 100% secret
(2) Kawhi provided ZERO services to earn the money
(3) Balmer (the team owner)gave the company $50 million of his own money, which then covered Kawhi's $28 million fee

Seven employees of Aspiration came forward and said the deal was purely designed to circumvent the salary cap. Period.

I agree there is a massive difference on where the "guaranteed sponsorship $" is coming from... but I was mostly pointing out the fact that the Raptors brought 3 sponsors to the table to get him an extra $15 million after he asked for it and it sounds like the Raps were pissed before they thought that by getting him those (which he asked for) would have sealed the deal to keep him in Toronto.

I do remember that after Kawhi was reportedly going to the Clippers, Masai made a point of specifically saying that Kawhi was always upfront and direct in what he wanted from the team. The implication was, I believe was that Uncle Dennis was not. So I believe that the anger was based on Uncle Dennis’ attempts to negotiate for things(many not cba compliant) from the Raptors with only the intentions of trying to get the Clippers to match or exceed them (likely by breaking rules) , all while having zero intention of staying in Toronto. I don’t think he was beside himself because he thought he secured his services as much as because he knew that the Clippers getting him likely indicated they crossed the line in a way like this report indicates.

[JustLucky]

wew I just heard the good news. looks like were getting a couple clipper draft picks

[PushDaRock]

Watch on YouTube

[CPT]

I know that we’re kind of desensitized to the ridiculous sums of money thrown around in pro sports, but something about this feels especially gross.

Right down to the $2M given to Aspiration like it’s a tip for a DoorDash delivery.

[Airmiess]

The league is very lucky that Clippers barely advanced in the playoffs during his tenure.

[DreamTeam09]

wew I just heard the good news. looks like were getting a couple clipper draft picks

How does this affect the Raps, wasn't this on his 2nd deal with the clippers ?

I still think there's enough plausible deniability to avoid any wrong doings

[WuTang_CMB]

Guys this is just a nothing burger

[DelAbbot]

Guys this is just a nothing burger

Time to change that profile pic

[bobbyp3588]

If the allegations are true, then Kawhi is going to pay a big price - as well as Ballmer.

It’s not beyond the realm of possibilities for Kawhi to be suspended for a year without pay. I can see a penalty in that range.

Additionally, scumbag Uncle Dennis will be banned for life from having anything to do with the NBA.

On Leonard's side, if he was asking for "guaranteed $XX million of sponsorship dollars" I am not sure that is ban worthy. The way the Clippers did it was against the rules, but asking for a certain amount of money of sponsorship deals may be a common thing. Even the Raptors reportedly brought in $15 million worth of sponsorhip deals to the table for as that was what he asked for.... likely all legit since the Raptors just won the championship probably none were actually cicumventing. But that said, some might have been corporate sponsors that in theory the Raptors could have cut better deals to moving forward since they would have been shelling out more money to Kawhi.

Everyone involved in this fiasco should pay a heavy price.
Kawhi put his signature on a statement of work / contract that he knew was a fraudulent method of giving him an additional $28 million above and beyond what the NBA salary cap allows.
Clear and purposeful cap circumvention by both player and team.
The Clips should be made to forfeit the next 3 or 4 1st round pick that they still maintain. Ballmer needs to pay a fine of an amount that he actually feels and Kawhi should be banned from the league for life or at least a year which will likely amount to life anyway.
Oh, and if criminal charges can be laid against Unc D then that should clearly happen as well.
FAFO.

[bobbyp3588]

wew I just heard the good news. looks like were getting a couple clipper draft picks

How does this affect the Raps, wasn't this on his 2nd deal with the clippers ?

I still think there's enough plausible deniability to avoid any wrong doings

Please explain this plausible deniability. I don’t see any.
Ballmer and Kawhi are both guilty af of fraud.

[dTox]

Watch on YouTube

Ramona and ESPN represent everything that's wrong with mainstream "reporters" in the current day, this was all propaganda laid with softball questions.

[OakleyDokely]

If the punishment isn't severe (a fine only isn't enough), then the salary cap becomes completely meaningless.

The blueprint is right there. Give large investment to a firm that transfers that cash to the player whether they perform services or not.

Unless this results in multiple picks taken away from the Clippers, teams will just ignore the cap when it suits them.

[WaltFrazier]

Watch on YouTube

He certainly comes across smarter than the goofy guy you see cheering at courtside. Which of course makes sense for such a wealthy successful guy. I can't tell if he's throwing Kawhi and co. under the bus when he stresses, we made the introduction, after that it's Kawhi's business.

Mark Cuban defended Ballmer here:

https://www.si.com/nba/clippers/news/mark-cuban-defends-steve-ballmer-amid-controversial-kawhi-leonard-reports-01k48tmardmb

I’m on Team Ballmer.

As much as I wish they circumvented the salary cap, First Steve isn’t that dumb. If he did try to feed KL money, knowing what was at stake for him personally, and his team, do you think he would let the company go bankrupt ? Knowing all creditors would be visible to the world ?

They got scammed by Aspiration, along with many others. Crimes for which they pleaded guilty last week.

Scammers do scammy things. They did a $300m sponsorship deal with the clippers in 2021. That’s a HUGE deal. The better the team does , the more value the sponsorship has. It actually makes perfect sense that if they stole money from investors and want the clippers to succeed, why not give stolen money to help keep their best player ?

It’s sad that
@PabloTorre
didn’t take the time to find out how these scammers pulled off their scam. The idea that the default is Ballmer is the bad guy is going to back fire on him.

for what it's worth

[MoneyBall]

"Steve Ballmer isn't that dumb. He got scammed."

That's at least a little bit funny, no?

[SharoneWright]

Steve Ballmer. Terrible investor.

[DreamTeam09]

wew I just heard the good news. looks like were getting a couple clipper draft picks

How does this affect the Raps, wasn't this on his 2nd deal with the clippers ?

I still think there's enough plausible deniability to avoid any wrong doings

Please explain this plausible deniability. I don’t see any.
Ballmer and Kawhi are both guilty af of fraud.

Not if Ballmer was a victim of fraud himself, he made some contributions & sponsorship deals with a fraudulent company, who then made some sponsorship deals with Kawhi, probably not the first or last time a sponsorship company/deal was less than truthful

[Tofubeque]

How does this affect the Raps, wasn't this on his 2nd deal with the clippers ?

I still think there's enough plausible deniability to avoid any wrong doings

Please explain this plausible deniability. I don’t see any.
Ballmer and Kawhi are both guilty af of fraud.

Not if Ballmer was a victim of fraud himself, he made some contributions & sponsorship deals with a fraudulent company, who then made some sponsorship deals with Kawhi, probably not the first or last time a sponsorship company/deal was less than truthful

There is zero motive in that scenario for the scamming company to take the $50M they got from Ballmer, and instead of using it to enrich their scam, immediately give it away to Kawhi Leonard to do nothing for them. Meanwhile all the motive in the world for the Clippers to pay Kawhi off the books to evade the salary cap, and it never comes to light if the patsy company doesn’t go under.

Cuban’s “scammers do scammy things” argument is so stupid. What kind of scam gives out $48M for free, where can I find a scam like that?

[ciueli]

How does this affect the Raps, wasn't this on his 2nd deal with the clippers ?

I still think there's enough plausible deniability to avoid any wrong doings

Please explain this plausible deniability. I don’t see any.
Ballmer and Kawhi are both guilty af of fraud.

Not if Ballmer was a victim of fraud himself, he made some contributions & sponsorship deals with a fraudulent company, who then made some sponsorship deals with Kawhi, probably not the first or last time a sponsorship company/deal was less than truthful

This whole "Ballmer was a victim" angle is completely ridiculous. The important piece here is the contract Aspire gave Kawhi, no company just gives $48M to a player to do absolutely nothing of their own volition. Absolutely ludicrous to suggest Aspire was simple protecting their investment in the Clippers the way Mark Cuban did in his interview, it's not even clear that the Clippers keeping Kawhi would affect the value of their sponsorship at all I can't believe Cuban would even suggest this.

Ultimately it comes down to who you want to believe, a top notch investigative journalist with access to documents and eye witness accounts as factual evidence, or a fiercely competitive owner who was previously caught and punished for circumventing the salary cap and had every reason to accede to Kawhi's demand for under the table money.