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

[Clay Davis]

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The more interesting part is Aspiration. Oaktree Capital Management was heavily involved in 2 rounds of financing for this fraud, totaling at least $450M. Oaktree is 62% owned by Brookfield, our recently elected PM's previous employer. Not a good look.

The world is not ready for a Justin Trudeau, Kawhi->LAC narrative. The evil rizz.... of Trudeau...

[carlosey]

There is something I want to remind everyone of, that I'm sure the San Antonio Spurs fan would know more details of is the tampering conducted by the Clippers started while Kawhi was part of the Spurs organization. The public assumes Kawhi wants to go home because that's a narrative put out from his camp after the Clippers approach uncle Dennis and other close associates. In the light of the recent developments, it's not improbable to conclude that was a false narrative to disguise promises made by the LA Clippers. It's not that he has to go home, but rather to a team that was ready to pay him millions in extra money.

Absolutely, thats why things soured in SA. Balmer had promised him things to leave already. Uncle Denis got incredibly greedy and corrupt. You are looking at fraud charges.

[Son Goku 25]

Don't have the energy to read everything.

Will the Raptors get something out from this or an apology letter is in the works from the league as usual?

[RyderMike]

Kawhi didn't even need to plant trees. We had a guy to do it for him

[dballislife]

the thing is kawhi and his people were already asking for shady deals openly during contract talks that summer, lol they were asking for all this under the table nonsense that weren't part of normal contracts...oh give us stocks and part ownership in this and that and bring this guy on and do this and do that lol so at the end they settled on a shady deal which shouldn't be surprising

[inonba]

Absolutely, thats why things soured in SA. Balmer had promised him things to leave already. Uncle Denis got incredibly greedy and corrupt. You are looking at fraud charges.

That's the power of PR. Repeat something enough times, people will believe it's reality. How many people still believe that it's true, after seeing how much Kawhi got paid under the table.

Currently, lots of media reporting/commenting on the requirements of Clippers to be severely punished. Everyone is saying a smoking gun which is equivalent to a signed confession.

What we know already from the public record:
Uncle Dennis solicited a no work endorsement deal corroborated by both the Lakers and the Raptors.
Funds were transferred from Ballmers personal LLC to Aspiration.
Aspiration distributed funds to Kawhi Leonard controlled KL2 Aspire LLC via endorsement deal and stock option.
Kawhi Leonard as the controlling party to KL2 Aspire LLC presumably collected those funds.

So evidence of solicitation, transfer, distribution, and collection of money is nice but what really missing is the flow chart titled scheme to circumvent the salary cap sign by both Ballmer and Kawhi. Preferably, it should be notarized so there wouldn't be any doubt about the authenticity of the document.

[mathgeek]

Kawhi's camp asking for ownership stake is not new news. This was reported back in 2019 but obviously no real details. Obviously the Raptors were not going to give him this. Also, the PG news makes zero sense as the Raptors were a top 3 team in the NBA. They would have easily made the finals in 2020 and maybe even 2021.

[Johnny Bball]

**** that guy. I just want to see the clippers get hammered with penalties. There's no way they can just sweep this under the rug now.

[Basketball_Jones]

I’m sorry partial ownership of the leafs? They were out of their minds

[CPT]

I’m getting further radicalized the more I hear about this story.

Force Ballmer to sell. They did it for Sterling and Sarver (I think?) who were clearly worse people, but didn’t have the same history of breaking league rules. The league doesn’t need Ballmer at all. There will be no shortage of other **** billionaires willing to buy the Clippers. He’ll make a 200-300% return on his investment as a “penalty.”

Ban Kawhi for life. While I think Ballmer takes more of the blame pie, there have to be real consequences for players agreeing to take these shady deals.

[NinjaBro]

I’m sorry partial ownership of the leafs? They were out of their minds

They were out of their DAMN minds!

[mkot]

I’m getting further radicalized the more I hear about this story.

Force Ballmer to sell. They did it for Sterling and Sarver (I think?) who were clearly worse people, but didn’t have the same history of breaking league rules. The league doesn’t need Ballmer at all. There will be no shortage of other **** billionaires willing to buy the Clippers. He’ll make a 200-300% return on his investment as a “penalty.”

Ban Kawhi for life. While I think Ballmer takes more of the blame pie, there have to be real consequences for players agreeing to take these shady deals.

Ban Kawhi. Suspend him for a year or something like that. This guy, is everything that is wrong in today's NBA - load management, GM role playing and greed. It's been an embarrassment and disaster ever since he joined the Clippers. 4 combined lawsuits, 3 knee surgeries, over 40% of games missed, sold the farm for a podcaster who he wanted and later Harden just to watch SGA and Jalen Williams won the chip while all they got is 4 playoff series wins in 6 years. Did the fans for that team not suffer enough?

Good things happen to good people? That's right Kawhi.

[WuTang_CMB]

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[NinjaBro]

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Can't read the tweet on Mobile. What does it say?

Edit: fixed

[tecumseh18]

So evidence of solicitation, transfer, distribution, and collection of money is nice but what really missing is the flow chart titled scheme to circumvent the salary cap sign by both Ballmer and Kawhi. Preferably, it should be notarized so there wouldn't be any doubt about the authenticity of the document.

Too bad Trump didn't get that birthday card notarized.

Point being, people will dispute ANYTHING these days. No-one accepts objective reality, let along strongly circumstantial evidence.

[StopitLeo]

The more interesting part is Aspiration. Oaktree Capital Management was heavily involved in 2 rounds of financing for this fraud, totaling at least $450M. Oaktree is 62% owned by Brookfield, our recently elected PM's previous employer. Not a good look.

I find Aspiration interesting only because it is a classic VC ponzi-esque scheme all the way to its SPAC merger. It was a company that provided an aura of legitimacy but could easily be used in the way that the Clippers allegedly did.

Brookfield's ownership in Oaktree isn't that consequential when you consider that $450M represents 0.00045% of the 1 Trillion dollars in assets that that Brookfield has under management.

Unless Ballmer or the Clippers left a paper trail it could be tough for the league to hand down a "stern" punishment. This is despite the fact that Kawhi had a contract with Aspiration where he explicitly wasn't required to do anything AND his compensation was tied to being/remaining a Clipper, terms that are so sketchy.

[brownbobcat]

Unless Ballmer or the Clippers left a paper trail it could be tough for the league to hand down a "stern" punishment. This is despite the fact that Kawhi had a contract with Aspiration where he explicitly wasn't required to do anything AND his compensation was tied to being/remaining a Clipper, terms that are so sketchy.

Per the CBA, they don't need a paper trail if they can infer based on the circumstances.

The bolded part is interesting too. All the Ballmer defenses have been based on, "he didn't know".

I have not heard a single legitimate reason why it was important to Aspiration that Kawhi remain a Clipper (given that he did no endorsement work).

The only reason can be to appease Ballmer somehow, and that only works if he's aware of the deal.

So even if he didn't actively tell them to do it, Ballmer must have known about the deal.

[Grew]

Are they gonna force balmer to sell the team? Fire and sue anyone who knew? If not we definitely should have given uncle dennis what he wanted and won more championships.

[mtcan]

I’m getting further radicalized the more I hear about this story.

Force Ballmer to sell. They did it for Sterling and Sarver (I think?) who were clearly worse people, but didn’t have the same history of breaking league rules. The league doesn’t need Ballmer at all. There will be no shortage of other **** billionaires willing to buy the Clippers. He’ll make a 200-300% return on his investment as a “penalty.”

Ban Kawhi for life. While I think Ballmer takes more of the blame pie, there have to be real consequences for players agreeing to take these shady deals.

Ballmer isn't going anywhere. He is rich and has made the Clippers a real organization again.

At most...they fine him a few million which is pennies to him and maybe take away a pick.

As long as Kawhi is allowed to make the money he makes all wearing a Clippers uniform...justice will not have been served.

[StopitLeo]

Unless Ballmer or the Clippers left a paper trail it could be tough for the league to hand down a "stern" punishment. This is despite the fact that Kawhi had a contract with Aspiration where he explicitly wasn't required to do anything AND his compensation was tied to being/remaining a Clipper, terms that are so sketchy.

Per the CBA, they don't need a paper trail if they can infer based on the circumstances.

The bolded part is interesting too. All the Ballmer defenses have been based on, "he didn't know".

I have not heard a single legitimate reason why it was important to Aspiration that Kawhi remain a Clipper (given that he did no endorsement work).

The only reason can be to appease Ballmer somehow, and that only works if he's aware of the deal.

So even if he didn't actively tell them to do it, Ballmer must have known about the deal.

I know that circumstantial evidence can be sufficient for the league per the CBA.

I assume Ballmer is smart enough to have plausible deniability though, so someone else will take the fall (Lawrence Frank?). In terms of punishment, obviously they'd take away draft picks but I think they should also take away their ability to use cap exceptions (at least some of them). What I am most curious about is whether they would actually void the remaining years of Kawhi's contract.