Pablo Torre: Kawhi/Clippers/Ballmer/Aspiration Thread (part 2)

[whatisacenter]

The Clippers seem to be doing a good job putting out the fire so far...Leonard and Frank be all like.

[BruttoNostra]

Few WTF moments for me:
1. Kawhi doesn't remember, nor can anyone find online, any proof or documented example of his most lucrative endorsement (his New Balance deal from 2018 was reportedly $5.5M yearly - and he had to put quite some work to get that money, including shooting promo videos)

2. Kawhi expecting to get paid more as the company collapses (put options) - all that for providing endorsement services, which, in most cases not involving Aspiration- or KL, are expected to promote the company, and hopefully to increase its value.
Once again for Cuban and ESPN:
There is an endorsement agreement. A Player is expected to promote the company, make it better, more valued.
But his payment will decline the better job he does. And his payment will increase the worse job he does.
Well, sounds legit, for sure. Where can I sign up for something similar?

[xb3at band1tx]

Felt like there was a dark cloud hanging over the Clips media day, even with the reporters pulling any/or all punches

[BruttoNostra]

[BruttoNostra]

[BruttoNostra]

Hearing Kawhi just blatantly lying in his Clippers media day press conference saying right now he has a hard time remembering details about the Aspiration endorsement deal or how he would receive money from it. Hilarious.

Paraphrasing: Q: "Can you describe what you did for your endorsement deal?" A: "Uhh.. a lot. It was a while back so I just don't remember details".

According to him this is all just "clickbait journalism".

Looks like Ramona Shelburne was the only reporter allowed to ask anything about the investigation. And there were no follow-ups. All softball questions.

I want to edit this since it was quick and I just watched it again.

Q: "What is your understanding of the endorsement deal you had with the company and did you perform any services for them:
A: "I understand the full contract and the services I had to do. Like I said, I don't deal with the conspiracies or the clickbait analysis or research that is going on."
Q: "I think the allegation was that you didn't perform any services. Is that accurate?"
A: "I don't think it's accurate. It's old. This is all new to you."

[manlisten]

In addition to Kawhi's admission of guilt via Freudian slip, it was pretty funny when Frank was directly asked if Uncle D asked for illegal infusions and the first thing out his mouth was "yea". Then he was asked if that was a yes or no and again the first thing he says is "yes". This is like a dream real time case study for psychoanalysis. People are being critical of Shelbourne and rightfully so as she's clearly a shill, but at least she asked direct questions and pressed enough to get some interesting sound bites. Like Kawhi saying he knew exactly what his contractual obligations were but then his memory was foggy on how much he was supposed to be compensated. He did know it was a lot more than $7M tho.

[Zeno]

Crazy how Ramona Shelbourne, lifetime LA hack, has moved on from being the Jeanie Buss’ Laker mouth piece to Balmer’s mouth piece.

Guess those Laker fans claiming Clippers were picking up Laker castaways had a point

She has access because she practices journalism that way. When she stops, she'll stop getting access, and then she won't have a job.

This is the way it works now throughout society and government. This is how corruption is enabled.

[bfchs123]

These guys are all so dang guilty

[hyper316]

If the fines and punishment are anything less than the Joe Smith incident, the media and fans will uproar

I don't think Adam Silver has the balls to void Kawhi's contract

[ATLTimekeeper]

Lawrence Frank once spent an entire season attending Raptors games just to tamper. Time he could have spent evaluating a promising young rookie names Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It's pretty hilarious that the Clippers would have been significantly better off had they done nothing at all that summer.

I'm still intrigued by this Rwanda sponsorship and why Kawhi suddenly decided it was time to accompany his former GM to Africa. There's a charity involved and a nation that has had a spotty human right's record throwing money at major sports franchises. This guy won't even drive down the street for a photo with a sapling for the richest endorsement deal in his pocket and he's suddenly doing charity work half way around the world?

[Blame Rasho]

Well this saga seems very quiet… just like Kawhi.

[Blame Rasho]

I guess he didn’t want to do these type of things

Watch on YouTube

[G R E Y]

I guess he didn’t want to do these type of things

Watch on YouTube

Or do... Anything.

But kitschy HEB commercials are a Spurs right of passage that players with personality who don't take themselves seriously off the court have fun with, and together. If it's good enough for multiple-time HOF legends...

p.s. HEB IS AWESOME.

[RLPH]

I've never seen a man so comfortable

[PushDaRock]

It's actually hilarious how we managed to not even get an answer to what he needed to do for his endorsement deal and how nobody asked how they managed to get an endorsement deal valued at that much money even more than his New Balance deal.

[PushDaRock]

The only admission so far from these guys is that they all know the rules!!!

[p0peye]

Been here since '06. Serbian fan living in Ireland the last 5 years. Watching this Kawhi/Clippers situation and it's making me question what this league even stands for. Yesterday's media day was the smoking gun everyone's ignoring:

Ramona Shelburne to Lawrence Frank: "Has Uncle Dennis ever asked for extra benefits outside the salary cap?"
Frank: "Dennis knows the rules, Kawhi knows the rules... we know the rules."
Shelburne: "Is that a yes or no?"
Frank: "YES, we all know the rules."

Wait - he said YES. The question was whether Dennis ASKED for illegal benefits. He answered YES, then tried to cover with "but we know the rules." That's not a denial. That's an admission with a deflection.

Add this to Torre's five episodes showing:

• $118M from Clippers to Aspiration, timed perfectly with Kawhi's payments
• Ballmer's charity still funding the "fraudster" in late 2024
• Bank records, contracts, insider testimony

And here's why nothing will happen: Ballmer is worth $120-150 billion - 4x richer than the next NBA owner. He saved the league from Donald Sterling. Built a $2B arena. He's untouchable. The league is afraid to lose Ballmer.

And the media? Torre does all the work on an independent podcast while ESPN barely covers the follow-ups. One Ballmer interview, case closed. Where's the outrage? Where's the daily coverage? The media is afraid to lose the NBA.

The league is afraid to lose Ballmer. The media is afraid to lose the NBA. What they're all missing is they might lose the fans.

When the salary cap is just a suggestion for billionaires, executives can admit to illegal propositions on camera, and the media looks the other way - why are we pretending this is competitive sports? This is WWE with a salary cap we don't enforce.

Maybe I'm too Balkan about this, but competition should mean something.

[Blame Rasho]

It's actually hilarious how we managed to not even get an answer to what he needed to do for his endorsement deal and how nobody asked how they managed to get an endorsement deal valued at that much money even more than his New Balance deal.

Saying nothing says something.

[SkyBill40]

Hearing Kawhi just blatantly lying in his Clippers media day press conference saying right now he has a hard time remembering details about the Aspiration endorsement deal or how he would receive money from it. Hilarious.

Paraphrasing: Q: "Can you describe what you did for your endorsement deal?" A: "Uhh.. a lot. It was a while back so I just don't remember details".

According to him this is all just "clickbait journalism".

Looks like Ramona Shelburne was the only reporter allowed to ask anything about the investigation. And there were no follow-ups. All softball questions.

I want to edit this since it was quick and I just watched it again.

Q: "What is your understanding of the endorsement deal you had with the company and did you perform any services for them:
A: "I understand the full contract and the services I had to do. Like I said, I don't deal with the conspiracies or the clickbait analysis or research that is going on."
Q: "I think the allegation was that you didn't perform any services. Is that accurate?"
A: "I don't think it's accurate. It's old. This is all new to you."

That's classic deflection if there ever was any. He's doing precisely what he's been told the entire time he's been with the Clippers: Say (next to) nothing.