Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO

[Texas Chuck]

I don’t think the roles with the team are the question. The question would be how much work does it actually entail and does the total money paid close the gap from what Dirk and Duncan gave up. If Dirk is getting $3-4m a year (pure speculation on my part) as a “special advisor” then I have questions. If it’s a much smaller salary then it makes more sense.

Well considering the team basically kicked Dirk aside when the Vegas boys took over, I'll assume Dirk is paid too much for whatever work he does for them. For the record I assume he was overpaid for the work he was doing prior to that too except for the massive intrinsic value of having the face of the city continue his association with the franchise. I'd put the value on that way more than whatever they paid him.

I also think that has nothing to do with his contract decision in 2014 and I refuse to believe you actually think this either. It's just fun speculation for you based on this current story.

I never once thought Tim Duncan was engaging in anything nefarious when he started making only $10M way back in 2012 and ended his career playing 3 years on the minimum despite still being an all-NBA/all defensive player during this time something Dirk wasn't during his cheap years.

Because it fit with everything I understood about Tim Duncan that he had priorities other than making the most money.

[ATLTimekeeper]

The Raptors current GM Bobby Webster actually gave an account of what happened here. Masai was worried that Kawhi might sit out, but Webster reminded him that he wasn't going to sacrifice millions in salary. Masai never spoke to him to convince him to play. You know, a guy who doesn't seem to leave a dime off the table is probably going to leave 20 some off million on the table and with that injury history out there I think he likely realized he needed to play. iirc it was just some media fluff, either Chris Haynes or Chris Carter who tried to bluff down the trade negotiations by insisting he wouldn't show up.

[Curmudgeon]

Multiple team strategists say that if the Clippers aren't docked multiple 1RPs and Leonard's contract isn't voided while his salary remains on the Clippers' books—they will feel emboldened to seek out their own version of shell companies to provided additional compensation to their players

https://marcstein.substack.com/p/adam-silver-says-the-onus-is-on-the?r=nuq3a&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true

Players' agents were opening the Dom Perignon Brut as soon as Silver made his "burden of proof" statement.

[Clemenza]

No matter what, this confirms suspicions that a vast majority of basketball media is financially influenced by Ballmer. I wonder how many of them are protecting their own shady investment vehicles.

And/or Silver has already told the owners if this becomes a national story it'll hurt the owners more and maybe Ballmer has privately promised them all recompense. Let's just say they're lucky it's Kawhi Leonard and not LeBron or Steph, or else this was going FBI, especially with this administration.

It was and has been a national story all week. Its just not going to outshine the numerous murders and assassination from yesterday

[Clemenza]

As a clipper fan what makes all of this worse is Kawhi has proven to be worth none of this extra effort to satisfy. The extension has been a complete failure and damn near the whole 213 run was worse than lob city given expectations.

Worst signing in team history. And its been like this for several years now. This Aspiration sandal might be strictly to line Uncle Dennis' pockets.

[bstein14]

Yeah it sounds like the Raptors somehow found Leonard 3 sponsors totaling $15 million of no show endorsements which is also kind of crazy.... maybe they at least would use his name and likeness in advertising to try to recoup some of their investments.

[ciueli]

But I really have to question the professional athlete who's main goal as an active productive contributor is not just to win but also to maximize earnings throughout his/her time as an athlete...so team friendly deals aren't always truly altruistic. Dudes aren't typically leaving millions on the table at the chance to compete or to "go home"...there are probably other deals going on behind the scenes to make the athlete whole while they leave millions on the table on their team friendly deals. All unusual team friendly deals should perhaps be scrutinized...

How far do you want to go? Tim Duncan also guilty? David West turned down $10M PO to go play for the min to try and win a title. Is he guilty? Karl Malone and Gary Payton signing with the Lakers? Guilty?

Dirk at the time was already in the top 10 for career earnings. His mom was still giving him an allowance when he went back to Germany lol. He never sought out endorsement deals even though in Dallas he could have made a fortune.

Some people are motivated by something other than making the top dollar. Hell I purposively took a sideways step in my career that I knew was going to cap my career ceiling knowing it would cost me money but I gained back so much time I'd do it again 1000 out of 1000 times.

Not sure we should take this story and go on a witchhunt. And that includes Jalen Brunson so you are not suggesting my motivations are selfish. Credible reason to? Absolutely investigate Cuban/Dirk, whomever. Just speculating because we think everyone only chases the almighty dollar at all times? Nah

The Dirk one is strange, because he went from 2nd highest paid player in the league to not even in the top 80 two straight seasons to help the Mavs financially, then when the Mavs had more flexibility they gave him a 1 year $25M payday that made him the 8th highest paid player in the league at the age of 38 even though he hadn't been an All-Star the previous season and it's unlikely any other team would give him that much at that point in his career.

The rest you mention are fairly easy to discount, David West badly wanted to win a title and was a the tail end of his career, the same is true for Gary Payton and Karl Malone, it's understandable for former stars who have made a ton of money already and just want one more chance at a 'chip now that they are in the role player phase of their career.

Tim Duncan took less towards the end of his career for several years, but realistically he was still on a stacked team with Kawhi being a young up and coming star, the Spurs were coming off a 61 win season the when Duncan signed for less to keep it going, then the Spurs won 58 games the first season and 62 the second. And to be clear, Duncan never got a "thank you" contract where he was paid more than his market value the way Dirk did.

[ConSarnit]

The Dirk 2014 thing looks pretty suspicious from someone who has no skin in the game. Not only did he turn down in excess of what would have been an extra $15m per season, he did so to be “competitive” which also doesn’t seem to add up considering the Rockets were a) better than the Mavs in 2013-14 and b) had both Harden and Dwight on their team.

Not only did he turn down money that would have tripled the salary DAL was offering he turned down the opportunity to go to a clearly better team. Combine that with rumors about his doc (nothing substantiated but coincidentally released in 2014) and his continuing nebulous role as “special advisor” with the Mavs and there are a lot of red-ish flags. Ultimately there is no way to tell if Dirk took a wink-wink deal and I think enough time has passed where it doesn’t really matter. I would also add that I think paying a franchise icon like Dirk to continue to promote the franchise is probably the tamest form of possible cap circumvention.

This is going to shock you, but maybe he just really wanted to stay in Dallas? And wanted the team to be competitive even understanding they were not going to be an actual contender.

Some of you appear to believe people only make decisions based on money. Dirk has never struck me this way, but again I'm biased AF. But I don't think any of you really believe Dirk is that guy either. You've followed the league, you know how Dirk has managed his career(didn't even use an agent, just sat down with Cuban when his contract was up).

Shame that Ballmer/Kawhi have done something so egregrious that we have posters just going after Jalen Brunson and Dirk two of the most stand up guys the Association has ever seen.

But its not about truth, its about assumptions no matter how baseless.

The bottom line is he took an unprecedented pay cut. That raises questions no matter who the player is.

I do not even think it is bad if Dirk took a paycut while understanding he’d always have a role with the team. Same for Duncan. If anyone has earned a post career job as an ambassador it’s Dirk. I could see a world in which no actual dollar figure or real plan was discussed to make Dirk whole post-2014 but it was assumed there would be a continued working relationship after Dirk retired and as such Dirk felt confident taking a paycut. It’s much more grey area than the Kawhi hi-jinx.

[HotelVitale]

Yeah it sounds like the Raptors somehow found Leonard 3 sponsors totaling $15 million of no show endorsements which is also kind of crazy.... maybe they at least would use his name and likeness in advertising to try to recoup some of their investments.

Think you're jumbling all this up. From what I've read:
1) the rumor isn't about no-show endorsements, just endorsements from local businesses that Kawhi's camp said they had to find
2) he didn't end up re-signing so no deal ever happened

As I remember it, Kawhi just threatened that he wasn't going to re-sign with anyone besides his chosen destinations, not that he would absolutely not play for them that season. That caused some teams to lower their offers. End of day the Raptors offered a pretty light load with not much meaningful for their future--a scorer who'd proven repeatedly to not be their answer in Derozan, a solid younger role player in Poeltl, and a single 1st. Very light offer for a legit superstar in his prime, and at that price point it was worth him as a rental who might maybe maybe stay longer.

Oh that trade was the best thing the Raptors ever did. Totally agree with you. Raptors were going nowhere with the Derozan & Lowry core.
But I just think the Raptors had to sweeten the pot a bit more for Kawhi to agree for the dance.

There's really no reason to assume this though. During all the trade rumors, I remember a ton of talk about Kawhi not re-signing but nothing about him refusing to play that season. Plus using all your leverage to max $ at FA time is very normal, while forcing teams to illegally pay you more mid-season before you'll play at all seems like it's pretty much unprecedented. Not saying this didn't happen--how could we prove the negative?--but the only reason to believe this definitely happened is if you want to believe it.

[PushDaRock]

Yeah it sounds like the Raptors somehow found Leonard 3 sponsors totaling $15 million of no show endorsements which is also kind of crazy.... maybe they at least would use his name and likeness in advertising to try to recoup some of their investments.

That's not what is being reported. Uncle Dennis asked for extra sponsorship money in excessive of 10m per year. They told them that sponsors would be happy to work with them, which is when Uncle Dennis said "we don't want to do anything". That's when they realized they just wanted money under the table and MLSE rejected what they were requesting.

[bstein14]

It has been reported that....

#1 The Raptors met his demands and found 3 sponsors for $15 million he asked for.
#2 He also asked for "no show" endorsements he wouldn't have to do anything for the $.
#3 The Raptors were upset because they felt like they met his demands, and he still left so then they felt like he had them jump through hoops for nothing.
#4 The Raptors reported Leonard's "unusual" demands to the league and the league investigated.

[manlisten]

What I'm wondering now is what pressured the Clippers/Wong to make the final $2M payment? It's one thing to think you could get away with it when Aspiration was still in the startup phase, but when they're clearly committing fraud and on the verge of bankruptcy, they had to know that this would inevitably come to light didn't they? Was the threat of Kawhi sitting out really more damaging than the almost inevitable outcome of them being exposed for cap circumvention and potential wire fraud? Makes you question how dumb they really are. Also have to imagine they managed to funnel the remaining ~$27M to Kawhi thru other means to placate him considering how many games he was able to play that season.

[PushDaRock]

It has been reported that....

#1 The Raptors met his demands and found 3 sponsors for $15 million he asked for.
#2 He also asked for "no show" endorsements he wouldn't have to do anything for the $.
#3 The Raptors were upset because they felt like they met his demands, and he still left so then they felt like he had them jump through hoops for nothing.
#4 The Raptors reported Leonard's "unusual" demands to the league and the league investigated.

That's not what the most recent report from Bruce Arthur is saying. MLSE turned down the request for the no show job. Uncle Dennis also requested ownership shares in outside companies in addition to the Maple Leafs who they seemed unaware that MLSE owned as well. MLSE turned that request down as well.

[ATLTimekeeper]

It has been reported that....

#1 The Raptors met his demands and found 3 sponsors for $15 million he asked for.
#2 He also asked for "no show" endorsements he wouldn't have to do anything for the $.
#3 The Raptors were upset because they felt like they met his demands, and he still left so then they felt like he had them jump through hoops for nothing.
#4 The Raptors reported Leonard's "unusual" demands to the league and the league investigated.

The timeline wasn't really stated.

We know that the Raptors were complaining to their media immediately that Kawhi's demands were 'unreasonable.' We also know there's a report that Larry Tanenbaum, minority owner, was called to the carpet for arranging 15 million of CBA violating sponsorships. We just don't know if they were no-shows or if there was something else suspect about them. We know he then wanted the league to look into the Clippers/Uncle Dennis.

[PushDaRock]

It has been reported that....

#1 The Raptors met his demands and found 3 sponsors for $15 million he asked for.
#2 He also asked for "no show" endorsements he wouldn't have to do anything for the $.
#3 The Raptors were upset because they felt like they met his demands, and he still left so then they felt like he had them jump through hoops for nothing.
#4 The Raptors reported Leonard's "unusual" demands to the league and the league investigated.

The timeline wasn't really stated.

We know that the Raptors were complaining to their media immediately that Kawhi's demands were 'unreasonable.' We also know there's a report that Larry Tanenbaum, minority owner, was called to the carpet for arranging 15 million of CBA violating sponsorships. We just don't know if they were no-shows or if there was something else suspect about them. We know he then wanted the league to look into the Clippers/Uncle Dennis.

Logically, doesn't seem to make much sense that MLSE was willing to violate CBA rules AND then told the league to look into the Clippers/Uncle Dennis.

Most recent report from Bruce Arthur also tells us otherwise.

[Old_Blue]

If Adam Silver sweeps this under the rug, the chant from opposing fans at every single Clippers game is a simple one...

Plant a Tree. Plant a Tree. Plant a Tree!

A tree is a symbol of change and renewal. Unfortunately, in this case, it has also become a symbol of corruption.

[Zeno]

What I'm wondering now is what pressured the Clippers/Wong to make the final $2M payment? It's one thing to think you could get away with it when Aspiration was still in the startup phase, but when they're clearly committing fraud and on the verge of bankruptcy, they had to know that this would inevitably come to light didn't they? Was the threat of Kawhi sitting out really more damaging than the almost inevitable outcome of them being exposed for cap circumvention and potential wire fraud? Makes you question how dumb they really are. Also have to imagine they managed to funnel the remaining ~$27M to Kawhi thru other means to placate him considering how many games he was able to play that season.

I think that when a deception is unraveling in the present, a lot of stupid choices are made that just push things into an unspecified time in the future. Basically, I think Wong and the Clippers just went into ‘survive and advance’ mode. I’m sure uncle Dennis wasn’t only calling Aspiration when his money was late. But just because this came out doesn’t mean it ever had to come out. Pablo Torre type exist less and less every day.

[bstein14]

It has been reported that....

#1 The Raptors met his demands and found 3 sponsors for $15 million he asked for.
#2 He also asked for "no show" endorsements he wouldn't have to do anything for the $.
#3 The Raptors were upset because they felt like they met his demands, and he still left so then they felt like he had them jump through hoops for nothing.
#4 The Raptors reported Leonard's "unusual" demands to the league and the league investigated.

The timeline wasn't really stated.

We know that the Raptors were complaining to their media immediately that Kawhi's demands were 'unreasonable.' We also know there's a report that Larry Tanenbaum, minority owner, was called to the carpet for arranging 15 million of CBA violating sponsorships. We just don't know if they were no-shows or if there was something else suspect about them. We know he then wanted the league to look into the Clippers/Uncle Dennis.

I don't know the timeline for certain or if the $15 million the Raptors lined up were "no show" but we do have reports that the Raptors were upset because they believed they had met his $15 sponsorship demands and we also have reports that he asked for no-show deals (at some point could possibly be after or could possibly be that the $15 million were no show but the Raptors had 3 corporate partners that were ok with just being able to use his name/likeness and not actually were going to requite him to come in and film or post/tweet anything, etc.

[Kurtz]

It has been reported that....

#1 The Raptors met his demands and found 3 sponsors for $15 million he asked for.
#2 He also asked for "no show" endorsements he wouldn't have to do anything for the $.
#3 The Raptors were upset because they felt like they met his demands, and he still left so then they felt like he had them jump through hoops for nothing.
#4 The Raptors reported Leonard's "unusual" demands to the league and the league investigated.

The timeline wasn't really stated.

We know that the Raptors were complaining to their media immediately that Kawhi's demands were 'unreasonable.' We also know there's a report that Larry Tanenbaum, minority owner, was called to the carpet for arranging 15 million of CBA violating sponsorships. We just don't know if they were no-shows or if there was something else suspect about them. We know he then wanted the league to look into the Clippers/Uncle Dennis.

I don't know the timeline for certain or if the $15 million the Raptors lined up were "no show" but we do have reports that the Raptors were upset because they believed they had met his $15 sponsorship demands and we also have reports that he asked for no-show deals (at some point could possibly be after or could possibly be that the $15 million were no show but the Raptors had 3 corporate partners that were ok with just being able to use his name/likeness and not actually were going to requite him to come in and film or post/tweet anything, etc.

You're confused here - the $15m and the "no shows" are not separate things, they're the same thing. Raptors arranged meetings with sponsors (legal under the CBA) that would have paid $15mil in return for typical celebrity endorsement activities (including showing up to events). Kawhi's camp insisted on not doing any of those activities in return for the money (illegal), which is where the conversation stopped.

As far as the OP, he's either trolling or is clueless. Note also that the ~$50m benefit from the Clippers came on Kawhi's second deal with the Clippers. We don't know what extra incentive they gave him on the first deal.

[Zeno]

If Adam Silver sweeps this under the rug, the chant from opposing fans at every single Clippers game is a simple one...

Plant a Tree. Plant a Tree. Plant a Tree!

A tree is a symbol of change and renewal. Unfortunately, in this case, it has also become a symbol of corruption.

To me ‘Aspiration’ or ‘Circumvention’ are way easier for a crowd to chant than ‘Plant a tree’.