AggieEP said:

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I think it tells us something that the best denial Ballmer could come up with was to claim he was scammed.

As you point out, usually when people scam you they want to take your money for their own benefit. It's a pretty lame scam to rob a rich guy and then give almost the entire haul back to one of the employees of the guy you just scammed.

Again, Ballmer is the worst money launderer of all time. Not that I'm am expert here, but it seems like figuring out an arrangement to funnel extra cash to Kawhi shouldn't have been complicated.

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And it isn't like he's playing Robin Hood. Kawhi has made like half a billion dollars in fifteen years

Yeah, to be honest if you think too much about the scam, it kind of forces you to conclude that Kawhi was the mastermind since he was the only person really benefitting here.

Which of course I'm ok with if that's the conclusion they come to here. Force Kawhi to pay back 50 million dollars and make him a toxic villain.

He's not the only NBA super star to force a trade, but the Spurs didn't get 5 first round picks back because teams knew they were trading for a pansy ass that only cares about himself.

Greetings.

In response to Aspiration co-founder Andrei Cherny — who now claims that Kawhi Leonard’s secret, $28M endorsement deal was not a “no-show job” — @pablofindsout has just obtained the following statement.

It is signed by Aspiration’s ex-CFO; ex-COO and CLO; and ex-CTO. pic.twitter.com/bwqKu5fEY5

— Pablo Torre 🕳️ (@PabloTorre) September 13, 2025

Pablo is Cookin!

Lol more saved rounds.

At this point I don't understand why people close to Ballmer or affiliated with Aspiration keep talking. Almost as fast as they make a statement Pablo puts out something that shows they are lying again.

AggieEP said:

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Lol more saved rounds.

At this point I don't understand why people close to Ballmer or affiliated with Aspiration keep talking. Almost as fast as they make a statement Pablo puts out something that shows they are lying again.

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This seems to me like the folks at Aspiration are basically all trying to shove (whoever) under the bus. I suppose massive fraud (even taking away the KL2 Aspire bs) will do that to you. Everyone's pointing fingers. Someone's gonna be left holding the bag.

Also not being a legal mind here, throughout this saga I've learned that when you read through legalese documents like the Klaw's Clauses...when seemingly random words are capitalized, it's because they're defined elsewhere in that document.

Another thing I've learned is that Ballmer is screwed lol. Get rekt, dude.

Good evening. You don't "remember" a lot about what happened at Aspiration, it seems. But I strongly recommend the opinion of the Hon. Lewis J. Liman, in the Southern District of New York, in the federal case that was explicitly cited in the statement I posted.

Because he does: pic.twitter.com/KS6xpuI6R1

— Pablo Torre 🕳️ (@PabloTorre) September 13, 2025

Also kind of a tell that you say you "don't remember" conversations about salary cap circumvention rather than saying they didn't occur.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) September 13, 2025

Pablo just sitting back waiting to play the next draw 4 card with a hand full of them.

It's high entertainment value.

Kawhi and Uncle Dennis probably trying to burn receipts right now also. Transferring money to the Cayman's and Switzerland lol.

The "because he does" line on that....oh man. So good.

I know Nate Silver is kind of a weirdo but I thought the same thing, "I don't remember" is a very important way to categorize that. Very specific for legal purposes.

Pat Bev says Steve Ballmer promised him 94 basketball courts anywhere he wanted around LA after he turned down a 3-year, $50M offer from the Kings to return to the Clippers for $10M less

Covid hit and only 2 of the courts got built

(Via @PatBevPod) pic.twitter.com/b3dNXZU2BI

— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) September 14, 2025

Someone ask Steve Ballmer what’s good with the other 92 courts! pic.twitter.com/C5yr0HTL2o

— Pat Bev Pod (@PatBevPod) November 6, 2024

Have a good weekend everyone pic.twitter.com/Svbp4zHmup

— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 13, 2025

Honestly had never heard of Pablo before this story, now I'm going to have to start listening to his stuff. Grade A troll job on the Clippers and Aspiration to keep baiting them into looking stupid over and over again.

He's legit.

This was his first major thing: https://vault.si.com/vault/2009/03/23/how-and-why-athletes-go-broke

Led to the 30for30 "Broke"


This was last year:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45983157/nflpa-puts-lawyer-allegations-led-fbi-probe-leave-sources-say

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45763049/arbiter-ruled-nfl-grievance-vs-nflpa-rb-advice

I liked this:





This made Bill Simmons big mad, where he denigrated Pablo as a wannabe journalist.

Bismack is back

Free agent center Bismack Biyombo has agreed on a one-year deal to return to the San Antonio Spurs, sources tell ESPN. Spurs and Biyombo's agents at Wasserman reached a new contract for his 15th NBA season. Biyombo averaged 5.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in 28 games last season. pic.twitter.com/fmtBMEgXMX

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 15, 2025

Wemby/Kornet/Bismack
Barnes/Sochan/Olynyk

Really nice how we have upgraded the PF/C depth around Wemby.

Two years ago, that depth chart was

Wemby/Collins/Bassey
Sochan/Cedi/Mamu

The Atlanta Hawks are trading guard Kobe Bufkin to the Brooklyn Nets for cash considerations, sources tell ESPN. Bufkin was Atlanta's No. 15 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, and this now gives him a fresh opportunity in Brooklyn, and the Hawks some roster flexibility. pic.twitter.com/5km2RMICrS

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 15, 2025

Hawks dump off their 15th pick in 2023 for nothing.

Hawks have about 7.7M in space over the luxury tax line with two open spots. So can sign vet mins.

I'm convinced I could run the Nets because what the hell are they doing

AA said:

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I'm convinced I could run the Nets because what the hell are they doing

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They are tanking and creating max space in the free agent market next year. They will have three players under contract that are not on rookie deals. Mann at 9%, Claxton at 13% (declining) and MPJ, who they got an unprotected 1st for taking. And they will probably flip MPJ later when he is an ending contract to acquire more assets. Heck, all three could be flipped later. They also have future picks incoming from the Rockets, Knicks, 76ers, and Nuggets.

Yoooo check this out, #porvida fans.... Spurs Victor Wembanyama aka "Wem-ben- yum-yum" makes a cameo on Futurama, voicing an alien basketball player, of course..... 😅 #nba #porvida #sanantonio #gospursgo pic.twitter.com/eYuNUh19Q6

— JeffGSpursKENS5 (@JeffGSpursZone) September 16, 2025

Guitarsoup said:

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San Antonio Spurs No. 2 pick Dylan Harper underwent surgery Friday to repair a partially torn ligament in his left thumb that he suffered in a workout Wednesday, and the hope is Harper will be ready for the season opener Oct. 22 in Dallas, sources tell ESPN.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 5, 2025

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Broke his wrist trying to block a Castle dunk.

Edit - wrong emoji

ESPN reporting that the Clippers were tampering with Kawhi as far back as the Zaza injury.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46271285/inside-tumultuous-kawhi-leonard-era-la-clippers

Guitarsoup said:

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ESPN reporting that the Clippers were tampering with Kawhi as far back as the Zaza injury.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46271285/inside-tumultuous-kawhi-leonard-era-la-clippers

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**** Kawhi, **** uncle Dennis, **** Zaza, **** the clippers, etc.

I feel bad for Kawhi he has to deal with court dates and then come home to this https://t.co/MMI0AHMVF5 pic.twitter.com/zGMZxUwjuX

— The Truth (@TruthBerner34) September 17, 2025

Anyone else an Arrested Development fan and remember Ann?

Teaser clip

EXCLUSIVE: Two weeks before Kawhi's first "no-show" payday, the Clippers bailed out Aspiration with a $21M deal signed by the team CFO.

(Yes, @mcuban sent @PabloTorre down this rabbit hole: "He literally described exactly what they did," a source says, "to circumvent the cap.") pic.twitter.com/5lQNMLm8Or

— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 18, 2025

Mark Cuban:

I wonder if Cuban has some skeletons in his closet regarding Dirk:

Pablo’s investigation into how Dirk Nowitzki conveniently started taking less money at the same time a documentary came out about him made by Mark Cuban’s production company will slap so so so hard https://t.co/RqNA63UeUc pic.twitter.com/RxQssFUR4j

— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) September 12, 2025

(Side note: Because this is likely going to drag into the NBA season. KL and Pablo and the Clippers may be worth a separate thread or throwing into the off-season thread so that Spurs fans can have a Spurs-only thread. JMO)

We do love ****ting on Kawhi and Uncle Dennis.

I think it's going to be very interesting once the NBA investigation start coming out.

The initial feeling by a lot of insiders was that silver was just going to sweep it under the rug but I don't know how he can anymore.

Guitarsoup said:

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We do love ****ting on Kawhi and Uncle Dennis.

I think it's going to be very interesting once the NBA investigation start coming out.

The initial feeling by a lot of insiders was that silver was just going to sweep it under the rug but I don't know how he can anymore.

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You could also add in that Cuban acting like a pro wrestling jobber for Pablo doesn't hurt either.

I mean the NBA is kind of like pro wrestling in some ways. The fights are fake, some things are rigged (lottery) etc.

So I think most fans would have been pissed for a day or so but then forgotten about this if the NBA tried to just make it go away. NBA conspiracy theories are already part of the culture (Jordan's pseudo gambling ban) so the league has precedent for just moving on business as usual.

To me, it's always been a question of the other owners opinions on this in regards to whether we see real penalties or not. Silver works for them. The Raptors have to be pissed. Kawhi cares about money, and the Raptors could offer the most money. Kawhi signs with the clippers because the clippers funnel him the difference. You'd think the Spurs would be pissed too, just to pee in Kawhi's cheerios a bit for forcing his way out. OKC would be in favor of anything that makes the clippers suck. So then you wonder, are the rest of the owners willing to go down this path? Do they all do similar things (Dirk example above)? Maybe they are worried Ballmer would throw them under the bus if the NBA hits him too hard with penalties? Do they really want those OKC picks to become more valuable if Kawhi is booted off the Clips?

If the Clippers have to cut Kawhi, I don't think the biggest competitive dynamic risk is that the OKC picks in 26 and 27 skyrocket toward the top of the draft. The Clips won 50 games in 2025 mostly without Kawhi and have made some solid roster improvements since then. I think they're still a playoff team.

Even if Kawhi plays, I think the four seed is probably their best case scenario (they aren't better than HOU, OKC or DEN). That puts them at the ~22-25 pick in the draft. If Kawhi doesn't play and they're like the 6-8 seed, they're more in the high teens. I suppose the risk of them getting them backing into the lottery from the 7-10 play-ins goes up, but Silver will make sure it's rigged such that OKC doesn't score a top 4 pick.

That's just a longer way of saying that I think the Clips would still be good/solid in 25-26 without Kawhi (as they were in 24-25).

To me, the biggest competitive dynamic risk (by far) of the Clips cutting Kawhi is him signing with the Lakers the next day.

Clippers aren't going to cut him when the NBA may void his contract and give them max space next year.

Lakers may get Kawhi and a Bron/Kawhi/Luka team would be insane. But they are out of cash. They don't even have enough to sign Kawhi with a vet min deal. So to get him they would have to make some other trades to dump salary.

The only teams that can give Kawhi the full MLE are Chicago, Charlotte, Golden State, and Washington. GSW likely has other deals agreed to with Hortford, GP, etc. Indiana is close to full MLE available, but they are going to have a gap year. Also Kawhi tried to force Toronto to trade Spicy P.

Several teams can sign him for less than the MLE, including the Spurs at 5.1M/year

Guitarsoup said:

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Clippers aren't going to cut him when the NBA may void his contract and give them max space next year.

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That's what I meant

Guitarsoup said:

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Clippers aren't going to cut him when the NBA may void his contract and give them max space next year.

Lakers may get Kawhi and a Bron/Kawhi/Luka team would be insane. But they are out of cash. They don't even have enough to sign Kawhi with a vet min deal. So to get him they would have to make some other trades to dump salary.

The only teams that can give Kawhi the full MLE are Chicago, Charlotte, Golden State, and Washington. GSW likely has other deals agreed to with Hortford, GP, etc. Indiana is close to full MLE available, but they are going to have a gap year. Also Kawhi tried to force Toronto to trade Spicy P.

Several teams can sign him for less than the MLE, including the Spurs at 5.1M/year

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What if the Lakers can hook him up with a sponsorship deal with an eco-friendly startup?

AggieEP said:

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To me, it's always been a question of the other owners opinions on this in regards to whether we see real penalties or not. Silver works for them. The Raptors have to be pissed. Kawhi cares about money, and the Raptors could offer the most money. Kawhi signs with the clippers because the clippers funnel him the difference. You'd think the Spurs would be pissed too, just to pee in Kawhi's cheerios a bit for forcing his way out. OKC would be in favor of anything that makes the clippers suck. So then you wonder, are the rest of the owners willing to go down this path? Do they all do similar things (Dirk example above)? Maybe they are worried Ballmer would throw them under the bus if the NBA hits him too hard with penalties? Do they really want those OKC picks to become more valuable if Kawhi is booted off the Clips?

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I think the ownership knows that because of this, all the teams are soon going to be required to regulate or monitor the sponsorship deals their players get. I think I'd be annoyed if this situation meant more oversight to what the players are doing.

Also with the ownership, how many owners are in tech and having a good relationship with Ballmer is beneficial or essential for their other business. I don't know if there are any, but a good relationship with Ballmer is better than antagonistic if you are in tech. And yet, he's been gone long enough from Microsoft, that maybe it doesn't matter one bit.



I think there are two options with the NBA: Either a report of not enough evidence, with no punishment to the Clippers, or an incredibly stiff sentence. I don't think they can go halfway on this (i.e. Two 1st round picks and a fine).

They can't say "we found evidence" and go light, and then warn teams. The deterrent has been there. The punishment needs to be there.

Whatever the max is for Kawhi, including a possible ban, should be given. (I know GSoup gave the CBA punishment earlier but I couldn't find it)

I don't know what is a great punishment for the Clippers, but maybe they should have to operate at 85% of the salary cap (and aprons) until they have their own first-round pick again. And then lose a couple after that.