2025-2026: Around the League

[yoyojw17]

BTW... I know its offseason but any of you guys following this ISH about Kawhi-Clippers-Ballmer-etc?

This is intense! Wonder why our team doesn't do that. lol

They are screwed!!!

Minnesota lost 5 1st round picks when they did this with joe smith. Clippers already have no picks! lol

[RookieStar]

BTW... I know its offseason but any of you guys following this ISH about Kawhi-Clippers-Ballmer-etc?

This is intense! Wonder why our team doesn't do that. lol

They are screwed!!!

Minnesota lost 5 1st round picks when they did this with joe smith. Clippers already have no picks! lol

Depends... Silver probably bows down. Lol i mean Ballmer is the richest owner right? His networth alone is bigger than the orher 29 owners COMBINED

[pepe1991]

BTW... I know its offseason but any of you guys following this ISH about Kawhi-Clippers-Ballmer-etc?

This is intense! Wonder why our team doesn't do that. lol

They are screwed!!!

Minnesota lost 5 1st round picks when they did this with joe smith. Clippers already have no picks! lol

Depends... Silver probably bows down. Lol i mean Ballmer is the richest owner right? His networth alone is bigger than the orher 29 owners COMBINED

I assume stuff like this go down all the time. Assuming billionairs will play fair despite fact they are billionairs because they never do it is laughable and naive.
That's why i assume whole "lottery" system has no luck involved in process.

Not to mention FA. What stops owner from paing player, below dask, additional $15M in cash, tax free?
There are billion easy ways so cheat and play system, like that time when Kirilienko declined $10,1M to sign for Russian owner for $3M

[RookieStar]

They are screwed!!!

Minnesota lost 5 1st round picks when they did this with joe smith. Clippers already have no picks! lol

Depends... Silver probably bows down. Lol i mean Ballmer is the richest owner right? His networth alone is bigger than the orher 29 owners COMBINED

I assume stuff like this go down all the time. Assuming billionairs will play fair despite fact they are billionairs because they never do it is laughable and naive.
That's why i assume whole "lottery" system has no luck involved in process.

Not to mention FA. What stops owner from paing player, below dask, additional $15M in cash, tax free?
There are billion easy ways so cheat and play system, like that time when Kirilienko declined $10,1M to sign for Russian owner for $3M

Never underestimate the power of GREED especially these billionaire owners. They will def not let ths stand. They will not letn others pay under the table do you know why? luxury tax!!

If an owner/team overpays a player, the luxury tax hit on that team is given to the other teams. So these billionaires def do not want other billionaires to skimp on the fines that they will recieve.

[pepe1991]

Depends... Silver probably bows down. Lol i mean Ballmer is the richest owner right? His networth alone is bigger than the orher 29 owners COMBINED

I assume stuff like this go down all the time. Assuming billionairs will play fair despite fact they are billionairs because they never do it is laughable and naive.
That's why i assume whole "lottery" system has no luck involved in process.

Not to mention FA. What stops owner from paing player, below dask, additional $15M in cash, tax free?
There are billion easy ways so cheat and play system, like that time when Kirilienko declined $10,1M to sign for Russian owner for $3M

Never underestimate the power of GREED especially these billionaire owners. They will def not let ths stand. They will not letn others pay under the table do you know why? luxury tax!!

If an owner/team overpays a player, the luxury tax hit on that team is given to the other teams. So these billionaires def do not want other billionaires to skimp on the fines that they will recieve.

Whole story with more informations is just draw dropping level bad for nba and how outsiders will look at league going forward.

And only reason why whole thing surfaced was glorious fall of Aspiration, admitted by co-owner for $250M fraud ( deeply involved in high politics and many other stuff )

[pepe1991]

Ballmer is more cooked than Aspirations books were. My God, new podcast, even more dirt on him & Kawhi.

[drsd]

Ballmer is more cooked than Aspirations books were. My God, new podcast, even more dirt on him & Kawhi.

I was thinking here, what is there to keep the DeVos family from paying Banchero 30M a year to be an Amway spokesman?
I guess nothing.

It's really surprising that what Ballmer/Leonard did is not more common.

[pepe1991]

Ballmer is more cooked than Aspirations books were. My God, new podcast, even more dirt on him & Kawhi.

I was thinking here, what is there to keep the DeVos family from paying Banchero 30M a year to be an Amway spokesman?
I guess nothing.

It's really surprising that what Ballmer/Leonard did is not more common.

Begs the question: what's the point of cap space?

[Knightro]

It's really surprising that what Ballmer/Leonard did is not more common.

It is. We just haven't had an investigative reporter like Pablo Torre willing or able to take the time and effort to uncover all of it.

[eyriq]

They are screwed!!!

Minnesota lost 5 1st round picks when they did this with joe smith. Clippers already have no picks! lol

Depends... Silver probably bows down. Lol i mean Ballmer is the richest owner right? His networth alone is bigger than the orher 29 owners COMBINED

I assume stuff like this go down all the time. Assuming billionairs will play fair despite fact they are billionairs because they never do it is laughable and naive.
That's why i assume whole "lottery" system has no luck involved in process.

Not to mention FA. What stops owner from paing player, below dask, additional $15M in cash, tax free?
There are billion easy ways so cheat and play system, like that time when Kirilienko declined $10,1M to sign for Russian owner for $3M

ConspiracyPepe

[basketballRob]

It sounds like Ballmer may be throwing Kawhi under the bus. The company paid Kawhi, but he never showed up.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

[Knightro]

It sounds like Ballmer may be throwing Kawhi under the bus. The company paid Kawhi, but he never showed up.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

Watch the Pablo videos. It was a no-show agreement from the start.

And Ballmer, as well as another Clippers minority owner, invested their own money into this company money that happened to get funneled directly to Kawhi.

It's all circumstantial at this point, but the optics are very bad.

[MasterGMer]

Just finished the podcasts. It is pretty convincing to me after today's release.

When I was watching Mark Cuban defending Steve Ballmer, I thought he did make his point as a NBA owner.

But after today? It is harder for the Clippers to justify it now.

The investigation is going to take months. But it is not looking pretty for Ballmer and the Clips. I hope NBA strikes them hard if found true

[RookieStar]

It sounds like Ballmer may be throwing Kawhi under the bus. The company paid Kawhi, but he never showed up.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

Watch the Pablo videos. It was a no-show agreement from the start.

And Ballmer, as well as another Clippers minority owner, invested their own money into this company money that happened to get funneled directly to Kawhi.

It's all circumstantial at this point, but the optics are very bad.

Based on NBA rules/laws... circumstantial evidence is all you need

[RookieStar]

Just finished the podcasts. It is pretty convincing to me after today's release.

When I was watching Mark Cuban defending Steve Ballmer, I thought he did make his point as a NBA owner.

But after today? It is harder for the Clippers to justify it now.

The investigation is going to take months. But it is not looking pretty for Ballmer and the Clips. I hope NBA strikes them hard if found true

Next governors meeting, Ballmer will arrive carrying 29 bags of 50m in cold hard cash and say " let bygones be bygones eh"

[MasterGMer]

It sounds like Ballmer may be throwing Kawhi under the bus. The company paid Kawhi, but he never showed up.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

Watch the Pablo videos. It was a no-show agreement from the start.

And Ballmer, as well as another Clippers minority owner, invested their own money into this company money that happened to get funneled directly to Kawhi.

It's all circumstantial at this point, but the optics are very bad.

Based on NBA rules/laws... circumstantial evidence is all you need

Then why they stopped the investigation against Uncle Dennis, KW's uncle, 4 years ago? Because it wasn't circumstantial?

NBA is not a law firm. But they need evidence to connect dots. Smoking gun debate is not going to do it. NBA has the rights to reveal text messages and emails. I hope they indeed do a thorough investigation. But to make a claim and prove it, we still might need more breakthru

[basketballRob]

Ballmer has a $151B net worth. He can appeal anything and keep it in the courts for 10 years. I think his money will get him out of this. That will make me further lose confidence in the NBAs credibility. This is off the heels of Dallas winning the Cooper Flagg lottery.

I miss David Stern because he would quickly hand out harsh penalties.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

[RookieStar]

Watch the Pablo videos. It was a no-show agreement from the start.

And Ballmer, as well as another Clippers minority owner, invested their own money into this company money that happened to get funneled directly to Kawhi.

It's all circumstantial at this point, but the optics are very bad.

Based on NBA rules/laws... circumstantial evidence is all you need

Then why they stopped the investigation against Uncle Dennis, KW's uncle, 4 years ago? Because it wasn't circumstantial?

NBA is not a law firm. But they need evidence to connect dots. Smoking gun debate is not going to do it. NBA has the rights to reveal text messages and emails. I hope they indeed do a thorough investigation. But to make a claim and prove it, we still might need more breakthru

Because the NBA is run by 30 BILLIONAIRE owners. They make the rules and whatnot. They all agreed in their bylaws that only circumstantial evidence is needed for this case. Yet they also decide what is circumstantial evidence and what penalties are to be given.

P.S. What investigation 4 years ago? Can you be specific? Was it with the Clips or Raps?

[MasterGMer]

Based on NBA rules/laws... circumstantial evidence is all you need

Then why they stopped the investigation against Uncle Dennis, KW's uncle, 4 years ago? Because it wasn't circumstantial?

NBA is not a law firm. But they need evidence to connect dots. Smoking gun debate is not going to do it. NBA has the rights to reveal text messages and emails. I hope they indeed do a thorough investigation. But to make a claim and prove it, we still might need more breakthru

Because the NBA is run by 30 BILLIONAIRE owners. They make the rules and whatnot. They all agreed in their bylaws that only circumstantial evidence is needed for this case. Yet they also decide what is circumstantial evidence and what penalties are to be given.

P.S. What investigation 4 years ago? Can you be specific? Was it with the Clips or Raps?

That is what I saw from Pablo's podcast. Can't remember exactly. I think it is the Clips when KW and Uncle Dennis wanted endorsement deal money written in his contract.

Yes, Circumstantial evidence can be pretty elastic. It can stretch all the way from many to one or two evidences.

Now it is on the hands of Adam Silver now. If he acts, I think Clips get hit hard.

[pepe1991]

Then why they stopped the investigation against Uncle Dennis, KW's uncle, 4 years ago? Because it wasn't circumstantial?

NBA is not a law firm. But they need evidence to connect dots. Smoking gun debate is not going to do it. NBA has the rights to reveal text messages and emails. I hope they indeed do a thorough investigation. But to make a claim and prove it, we still might need more breakthru

Because the NBA is run by 30 BILLIONAIRE owners. They make the rules and whatnot. They all agreed in their bylaws that only circumstantial evidence is needed for this case. Yet they also decide what is circumstantial evidence and what penalties are to be given.

P.S. What investigation 4 years ago? Can you be specific? Was it with the Clips or Raps?

That is what I saw from Pablo's podcast. Can't remember exactly. I think it is the Clips when KW and Uncle Dennis wanted endorsement deal money written in his contract.

Yes, Circumstantial evidence can be pretty elastic. It can stretch all the way from many to one or two evidences.

Now it is on the hands of Adam Silver now. If he acts, I think Clips get hit hard.

For whatever reason this whole thing is like car crush to me, ugly to watch, but can't turn head away. i even got engaged into conversation at GB that i usually don't do often.

So... circumstantial evidence is enough evidence, it's literally written into CBA. Now, we don't know how much of piled evidence is needed, because things like that don't see light of a day often.
And that is biggest problem. How we got here.

What we do know:
- we know that there were lot of raised eyebrows during Kawhi/Uncle Roberson- Raptors negotiations in 2019, and even Lakers side had few complains how it went down. Now, according to Toronto star media, there are rumors that Roberson asked part time ownership over NFL team, Paul George trade and secured $10M off court. If you look what Clippers actually did, it sounds very similar.

- NBA had investigation over this, but due lack of evidence, found nothing.

- media ( Pablo Torre ) would never have a chance to find any trace evidence Kawhi- Aspiration- Ballmer connection if Aspiration co-founder didn't go down in flames as company was one big scam, so all their files aren't publicly available and if Kawhi & Ballmer weren't so ignorant and obvious in what they were doing.

- In this "case", smoking gun is timeline. Ballmer investing $50M in what at that point is late startup, KL2 Aspiration is established on Kawhi's name, with person of trust being his uncle Dennis Roberson. Aspiration in about same time signs contract with Ballmer's arena as one of biggest sponsors, while bidding for even name of arena, offering most money, but Ballmer turns them down ( goes with Intuit ).
KL2 becomes highest paid client of Aspiration, but unlike Robert Downey Jr or Leo DiCaprio, Kawhi has contract written in such fashion where:
- he is not obligated to do anything
- he is not shooting commercials or doing marketing stunts for them
- nobody really knows outside selective few that he even has this deal
- guy literally doesn't even have social media at this point, and for whatever reason, he is getting $48M over 7 years for such deal, money that is pretty close to amount of money Ballmer "invested".
- reading how contract between him and Aspiration is written is fingerprint/DNA evidence in this case. His contract can be voided by Aspiration if he changes a Team. Capital T here is important from law POV, because Team means Clippers and Clippers only. This is part where circumstantial evidence becomes way more than just circumstantial. Why would environmental care if NBA superstar play for Clippers, Nets or Bucks if that player is superstar, paid to do promotion. But wait. Why would environmental company pay somebody $48 000 000 to do nothing and never use his name in any type of marketing or PR stuns. Again, this is company that used Robert Downey jr. The Star of Hollywood. But Kawhi is paid more to keep his name hidden from public? This is probable cause territory.


- Fast forward, year later, Aspiration can't pay Kawhi, they already laid off half of the stuff, and is yet to pay their own stuff salary. Uncle Roberson is calling Aspiration every day demanding money ( $1,75M owned for that period).
Company is pretty much already dead at that point, out of thin air, Dennis Wong, Clippers 1% minority owner ( who is only owner with Ballmer) is making $1 999 999,96 "investment" in company. He knows for sure company is flat out dead ( his daughter works there ) and it's late startup and investing $2M in company that year prior had $360M worth of investments is like trying to stop forest fire with crying. Timeline here is even more hilarious. 9 days between Kawhi's payday and Wong's "investment".
Funny enough, but this could be coincidence, Kawhi is "hurt" and isn't playing before he gets Aspiration/Wong check, but starts playing after he got paid. Could be nothing. Could be something.




Imo, another damming evidence is how Kawhi's contracts were lined up. He always took player's option at the end of his deals so he can opt out. All the way until last contract, when he took 3 years flat, for first time. Why? Because at this point Aspiration already filed for bankruptcy. if they didn't, his usual practice of player's option at the end, that he declines, would lead him to free agency right into April of 2026. Can you guess when his contract with Aspiration expires? March 2026. Month before FA.
He also took "paycut" so Clippers can resign him, George and Harden worth $9M.


Again, to me, the biggest problem for nba and it's transparency and thing that puts credibility of whole damn league in question is simple notion that non of this would ever see daylight IF Aspiration wasn't hoax company that under excuse of saving planet, ran by two very smart, highly educated, influential, politically deeply involved left wing people, who were running for Congress played system for personal gain. Fact that some tree planting/self proclaimed carbon-fixing- company is allowed to present their financial plan ( in 2021) while hiding "marketing costs" from public, and nobody asked any questions, because one of owners was chairmen of Democrat party in Arizona and other was Bill Clinton's project for Congress is very telling .

How scummy Aspiration as company was is best viewed through 2021 article written by Pro Publica. Among things they found ( way before Aspiration co founder plead guilty for $250M scam ) is that they lied and fabricated numbers of users (claimed 5 millions, had 590 000 ), lied who are biggest investors and also had no issue "saving planet Earth from Carbon" by being funded by Southwest Airlines, who, during "poor flying year" via their planes, emitted 12,6 tones of carbon in air . You can't even make those stuff up.


It's just nightmare for nba. In mean time, NBA is doing their annual snowflake-lubing thing and is removing heave shots from FGA. Because this will fix nba.
And in shadow of all this, League's commissioner flat out admits that league turned into highlight league.

i can't imagine how League could have any worst summer than they did. Burned credibility, admitted declining interest among fans and "fixed" thing nobody but primadonna stars asked for. And Giannis still didn't leave Bucks