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Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 12:58 am
by mtcan
levon wrote:TwitterFingers wrote:Void Kawhi’s contract. Make him a free agent and suspend him 50 games
Voiding his contract helps the Clippers unless you keep his dead cap on the books.
Bingo. The money stays on the books. And I'd go as far as suspending Kawhi for a year because he willingly accepted the money and knew of the arrangement such that he wouldn't ever leave lest he lose out on that money. Suspend Kawhi's ass for a year with no pay. Then ban him from ever signing with an LA team...any LA team.
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:07 am
by G R E Y
Right. Sure. Independent deals. It just so happened that the re-signing with Clips at a team-friendly deal, Ballmer's $50M personal money investment into Aspiration, and KL2Aspire LLC being registered coincidentally happened within a month or so of one another.
And it just so happened that, as per Brinbe's post above, the difference between what Tor could offer and Clips was... $28M.
And wouldn't you know it, the lone stipulation for getting the $28M wasn't fulfilling any actual marketing obligations, (which could all be turned down for contradicting KL's 'beliefs', a term not further delineated), but simply by staying with the Clips.
Nothing to see here...
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:08 am
by CS707
Do the Clippers even own their draft picks to forfeit lol?
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:10 am
by SFrush
The punishment is going to be insane.
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:13 am
by G R E Y
What's damning for KL and Uncle Dennis is the consistent pattern of behaviour trying to bend teams over going back to at least 2017.
This had started with and was turned down by the Spurs, then attempted with Raps, then LAL, until LAC ponied up.
Uncle Dennis was able to keep bending or breaking it seems rules precisely because he's not an official agent but KL's 'representative'. But now that there's a paper trail linking KL2Aspire LLC to the address of c/o Dennis Robertson...
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:13 am
by ryan in Maine
You can't suspend a man who's already lost so much of his prime lol.
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:18 am
by G R E Y
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:24 am
by mtcan
SFrush wrote:The punishment is going to be insane.
If there is even an investigation. I doubt Silver has interest in pursuing this.
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:29 am
by Larry Ellison
SFrush wrote:The punishment is going to be insane.
Only if proven. Which seems unlikely. Anonymous sources on a podcast repeating hearsay statements from witnesses whose reliability and personal knowledge of the facts has NOT been corroborated isn't going to cut it. Too many people are rushing to judgment. My money is on Ballmer's lawyers.
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:42 am
by Diop
This is what frustrated me as a Bobcats fan, why wasn't MJ pulling off this ****. He had plenty of brands and contacts to do it, he was too worried about profit
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:43 am
by mtcan
Larry Ellison wrote:SFrush wrote:The punishment is going to be insane.
Only if proven. Which seems unlikely. Anonymous sources on a podcast repeating hearsay statements from witnesses whose reliability and personal knowledge of the facts has NOT been corroborated isn't going to cut it. Too many people are rushing to judgment. My money is on Ballmer's lawyers.
You have front office people from the Raptors and and perhaps the Spurs organizations that can testify that the KL camp (read...Uncle Dennis) were making demands beyond the contract which would have been easily the shortest contract negotiation ever i.e..."hey Kawhi...here's a max contract. Sign here". Instead...there are reports that Uncle Dennis was making some unreasonable demands in contract negotiations with the Raptors. There is a tendency from Team Kawhi looking to make extra-contractual deals...it wouldn't be a stretch that what he and the Clippers are being accused can be provable.
https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/report-kawhi-leonards-agent-dennis-robertson-made-unreasonable-requests-of-raptorsThat confidence began to waver after they met with Leonard and his uncle Dennis Robertson in Toronto last Wednesday, sources told TSN. That’s when they first questioned the intentions of Leonard’s camp.
Robertson has a reputation for being hard to deal with and would have been hands on throughout the process. According to sources, Leonard and his camp – namely Uncle Dennis – asked for a lot from the Raptors in that meeting, things players don’t generally ask for in standard contract negotiations.
In some cases, they were asking for things that Ujiri – one of the most well-compensated executives in the league – wouldn’t have even had at his disposal. Their requests were “unreasonable”, a source said, which made the Raptors wonder whether Leonard was seriously considering them at all.
The Clippers just happened to be willing to give Uncle Dennis everything he asked for.
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:43 am
by Diop
mtcan wrote:SFrush wrote:The punishment is going to be insane.
If there is even an investigation. I doubt Silver has interest in pursuing this.
He will have to start an investigation, they won't find anything though.
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:45 am
by basketballRob
I think since Silver took over the NBA, it has lost some credibility. David Stern would've been all over something like this. This is on the heels of Dallas winning the lottery.
Sent from my SM-G998U1 using
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Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:46 am
by Larry Ellison
mtcan wrote:Larry Ellison wrote:SFrush wrote:The punishment is going to be insane.
Only if proven. Which seems unlikely. Anonymous sources on a podcast repeating hearsay statements from witnesses whose reliability and personal knowledge of the facts has NOT been corroborated isn't going to cut it. Too many people are rushing to judgment. My money is on Ballmer's lawyers.
You have front office people from the Raptors and and perhaps the Spurs organizations that can testify that the KL camp (read...Uncle Dennis) were making demands beyond the contract which would have been easily the shortest contract negotiation ever i.e..."hey Kawhi...here's a max contract. Sign here". Instead...there are reports that Uncle Dennis was making some unreasonable demands in contract negotiations with the Raptors. There is a tendency from Team Kawhi looking to make extra-contractual deals...it wouldn't be a stretch that what he and the Clippers are being accused can be provable.
https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/report-kawhi-leonards-agent-dennis-robertson-made-unreasonable-requests-of-raptorsThat confidence began to waver after they met with Leonard and his uncle Dennis Robertson in Toronto last Wednesday, sources told TSN. That’s when they first questioned the intentions of Leonard’s camp.
Robertson has a reputation for being hard to deal with and would have been hands on throughout the process. According to sources, Leonard and his camp – namely Uncle Dennis – asked for a lot from the Raptors in that meeting, things players don’t generally ask for in standard contract negotiations.
In some cases, they were asking for things that Ujiri – one of the most well-compensated executives in the league – wouldn’t have even had at his disposal. Their requests were “unreasonable”, a source said, which made the Raptors wonder whether Leonard was seriously considering them at all.
The Clippers just happened to be willing to give Uncle Dennis everything he asked for.
Whatever Uncle Dennis did with Spurs and Raptors is not proof of what happened with Clippers. That may seem like a reasonable inference in the court of public opinion, but NBA is not going to discipline Clips without direct evidence of wrongdoing. I haven't seen it yet.
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:47 am
by mtcan
Larry Ellison wrote:mtcan wrote:Larry Ellison wrote:
Only if proven. Which seems unlikely. Anonymous sources on a podcast repeating hearsay statements from witnesses whose reliability and personal knowledge of the facts has NOT been corroborated isn't going to cut it. Too many people are rushing to judgment. My money is on Ballmer's lawyers.
You have front office people from the Raptors and and perhaps the Spurs organizations that can testify that the KL camp (read...Uncle Dennis) were making demands beyond the contract which would have been easily the shortest contract negotiation ever i.e..."hey Kawhi...here's a max contract. Sign here". Instead...there are reports that Uncle Dennis was making some unreasonable demands in contract negotiations with the Raptors. There is a tendency from Team Kawhi looking to make extra-contractual deals...it wouldn't be a stretch that what he and the Clippers are being accused can be provable.
https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/report-kawhi-leonards-agent-dennis-robertson-made-unreasonable-requests-of-raptorsThat confidence began to waver after they met with Leonard and his uncle Dennis Robertson in Toronto last Wednesday, sources told TSN. That’s when they first questioned the intentions of Leonard’s camp.
Robertson has a reputation for being hard to deal with and would have been hands on throughout the process. According to sources, Leonard and his camp – namely Uncle Dennis – asked for a lot from the Raptors in that meeting, things players don’t generally ask for in standard contract negotiations.
In some cases, they were asking for things that Ujiri – one of the most well-compensated executives in the league – wouldn’t have even had at his disposal. Their requests were “unreasonable”, a source said, which made the Raptors wonder whether Leonard was seriously considering them at all.
The Clippers just happened to be willing to give Uncle Dennis everything he asked for.
Whatever Uncle Dennis did with Spurs and Raptors is not proof of what happened with Clippers. That may seem like a reasonable inference in the court of public opinion, but NBA is not going to discipline Clips without direct evidence of wrongdoing. I haven't seen it yet.
There certainly is a pattern of behaviour. That's not in question. Since a guy like Masai Ujiri no longer has ties to an NBA organization...and would just share some of those demands from Uncle Dennis...it would further raise suspicion. I know Masai probably wouldn't speak up...but we know he knows something.
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:47 am
by Wallace_Wallace
I wonder if this is more common than imagined. Most billionaires have connects and resources that we cannot fathom. They can have a friend who sign an athlete for endorsements while getting subsidized by the team owners. Or they can pay the players’ family/friends as consultants in those companies.
There are so many creative ways, this may be one of the few times NBA caught the wrongdoing.
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:48 am
by Froob
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:50 am
by levon
Larry Ellison wrote:SFrush wrote:The punishment is going to be insane.
Only if proven. Which seems unlikely. Anonymous sources on a podcast repeating hearsay statements from witnesses whose reliability and personal knowledge of the facts has NOT been corroborated isn't going to cut it. Too many people are rushing to judgment. My money is on Ballmer's lawyers.
They have documents.
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 1:56 am
by Clav
Yeah, "Clav's Easy Tax Evasion LLC" will need some work. Darn!
Re: Kawhi Leonard Signed a Secret $28M Deal. Steve Ballmer Funded a Fraud. We Followed the Money. | PTFO
Posted: Thu Sep 4, 2025 2:01 am
by Dominator83
ReggiesKnicks wrote:TacoLord wrote:This is a really dumb way of doing it, I hope the Clippers get clobbered over it. Fine Ballmer $56 million (2x the amount). Kawhi and Ballmer deserve a full year suspension from the team without pay. Hit these idiots where it hurts, rather than taking away a random draft pick from the team. If they do take a pick, I hope they give it to the Raps, it sucks for them to lose their MVP over shady **** like this.
Also while they are at it, maybe they should investigate Kevin Durants business dealings in the Bay Area after he joined the Warriors on a very cheap contract for a max player. He talked about all the "new business opportunities" that opened up to him by going there. Dude ruined the league for 3 years likely doing the same dumb ****.
Durant signed for the max the Warriors could afford. I don't think that situation is all that similar.
Durant wanted to win and go learn how since he couldn't figure it out himself. Kawhi went to a mediocre (at best) franchise which has never won.
Yea Durant did more the "if you can't beat them, join them" thing. and it paid off with two rings. Kawhi left a team that literally just won a ring, for a tram thats never won a thing