West Texan said:

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The fact that Duncan never won a dpoy is still criminal.

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DPOY was always a "who had the highest counting stat" award through Timmy's entire career. There was always somone else with a big blocks year or big steals year that took it. Timmy was never the league leader in these, just always consistently near the top.

Seems like Wemby was everywhere this summer!

https://t.co/bzB8sURGAm pic.twitter.com/M7bYTKTp2g

— Josh Paredes (@Josh810) September 8, 2025

Giddey wanted 30/year, Bulls wanted 20/year and they met in the middle.

Josh Giddey reaches $100M contract with Bulls - via ESPN https://t.co/nZTcXgwbVg

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 9, 2025

That's only about 15% of the cap. I think it's pretty good value if last year wasn't a fluke.

Wemby collecting infinity stones pic.twitter.com/Mkigqk7LVi

— Playoff Sports (@PlayoffSports_) September 8, 2025

Lowe out here acting like ESPN still pays him. Thinks the NBA sweeps it under the rug or gives minor penalties like a small fine and loss of 2nd.

Loaded new Zach Lowe Show! @McCannSportsLaw w/ expert legal analysis of Kawhi situation; reflecting on Melo/Dwight/Redeem Team w/ @HowardBeck; @AlanSiegelLA joins for some special Simpsons nostalgia:

Spotify: https://t.co/AFZGK8LW5N

YouTube: https://t.co/IFPBxKhnNj

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) September 8, 2025

Every Wemby answer from today's Q&A (https://t.co/PVuDaMZMPY) 👇

Wemby shares it was his idea to bring 'ultras' to Spurs games. These are special fan sections popular in soccer that create an especially intense environment.

"Now's the time, and here's the place." pic.twitter.com/Q9EZa0M8Fs

— Josh Paredes (@Josh810) September 10, 2025

Guitarsoup said:

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Lowe out here acting like ESPN still pays him. Thinks the NBA sweeps it under the rug or gives minor penalties like a small fine and loss of 2nd.

Loaded new Zach Lowe Show! @McCannSportsLaw w/ expert legal analysis of Kawhi situation; reflecting on Melo/Dwight/Redeem Team w/ @HowardBeck; @AlanSiegelLA joins for some special Simpsons nostalgia:

Spotify: https://t.co/AFZGK8LW5N

YouTube: https://t.co/IFPBxKhnNj

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) September 8, 2025

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Sure sounds like Silver has already made up his mind.

BREAKING: Adam Silver speaks on the Clippers investigation

"The burden [of proof] is on the league if we're going to discipline a team, owner or player ... As a matter of fundamental fairness I would be reluctant to act if there was only an appearance of impropriety ... The… pic.twitter.com/jBUYvAl7by

— APHoops (@APH00PS) September 10, 2025

LawHall88 said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Lowe out here acting like ESPN still pays him. Thinks the NBA sweeps it under the rug or gives minor penalties like a small fine and loss of 2nd.

Loaded new Zach Lowe Show! @McCannSportsLaw w/ expert legal analysis of Kawhi situation; reflecting on Melo/Dwight/Redeem Team w/ @HowardBeck; @AlanSiegelLA joins for some special Simpsons nostalgia:

Spotify: https://t.co/AFZGK8LW5N

YouTube: https://t.co/IFPBxKhnNj

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) September 8, 2025

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Sure sounds like Silver has already made up his mind.

BREAKING: Adam Silver speaks on the Clippers investigation

"The burden [of proof] is on the league if we're going to discipline a team, owner or player ... As a matter of fundamental fairness I would be reluctant to act if there was only an appearance of impropriety ... The… pic.twitter.com/jBUYvAl7by

— APHoops (@APH00PS) September 10, 2025

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Definitely sounds like Silver is gently letting everyone know that Ballmer's Billions outweigh public perception. Bold strategy.

Still up in the air to me. Saw a quote about their not being a timeline, so that seems like it's going to be thorough. I've seen quotes about some teams being super pissed. And nobody can ignore that Ballmer's intense wealth changes everything. Owners have incentive to side with the Clippers if they've got their own shady things to hide. Owners have incentive to side against the Clippers becauae duh, cheating *******s should pay.

Feels like this ambiguity (will we ever know what the BoG -really' thinks?) gives Silver the room to come up with a solution knowing he has got something to hold over everyone's head. Nobody is "winning" this mess.

Everything else aside, no one is giving a player with the personality of a used Amazon box a $48 million dollar contract that requires them to do ****all besides cashing checks.

Good stuff here!

Victor Wembanyama leads the Spurs out as the team tries to brighten the day of a bunch of kids here that endured the tragedy of the recent flooding here in hill country. pic.twitter.com/TUgU7Eaunh

— Michael C. Wright (@mikecwright) September 10, 2025

More

Uncle Dennis was reportedly furious after Aspiration was late paying Kawhi Leonard $1.75M. Days later, Clippers minority owner Dennis Wong invested $2M into the failing firm, per @pablofindsout

Ex-staff: “We’re broke… To invest in a broke company is beyond me.” pic.twitter.com/NUuTSpWGss

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 11, 2025

I love that silver makes those comments like they're going to sweep it under the rug. NBA has to prove something and then Pablo dropped something else

Saw some clips super early this morning but just now getting to the full episode. There was even a tease a little yesterday but this is far beyond any "we didn't know!" cover the team could hide behind.

Dennis Wong's daughter worked for Aspiration. Lmao

Guitarsoup said:

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Iowaggie said:

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superunknown said:

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Still up in the air to me. Saw a quote about their not being a timeline, so that seems like it's going to be thorough. I've seen quotes about some teams being super pissed. And nobody can ignore that Ballmer's intense wealth changes everything. Owners have incentive to side with the Clippers if they've got their own shady things to hide. Owners have incentive to side against the Clippers becauae duh, cheating *******s should pay.

Feels like this ambiguity (will we ever know what the BoG -really' thinks?) gives Silver the room to come up with a solution knowing he has got something to hold over everyone's head. Nobody is "winning" this mess.

---

I have been trying to think of what punishment would be fitting for this situation-specifically how can it punish the Clippers and Kawhi, without tremendously helping the Thunder and Sixers, who own future picks (or pick swaps) with the Clippers. And would Kawhi even care if he was suspended for a significant amount of time? The guy "self-suspends" so regularly that I'm not sure that a 50-game punishment would be a negative for him.

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He's still getting paid when he sits out.

Voiding his contact and making him pay back his endorsement is going to hurt him real bad

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I was referring to him being suspended, similar to Ja's 25-game suspension that cost him over $7mm, so he was not paid during his suspension.

"When we have a standard for conduct detrimental, at the end of the day, it's one based on what we see as the values of this league and what our expectations from our players are in terms of the image we're portraying to our fans. So, it's not a legal standard. It's a private organization standard." - Adam Silver


If Silver's punishment for Morant is based on deterring future behavior that is harmful to the league, doing side deals that circumvent the salary cap is way worse than a 1-second gun flash on Ja's friend's Instagram Live (accidentally) that followed a suspension/warning from the commish earlier. Grizzlies got "cap-relief" during the suspension.

Kawhi's crew had been warned post-2019. Probably more than once. It was an obvious, premeditated plan to circumvent the cap. This isn't a surprise for KL camp that what he did broke the rules.



I suppose the way to come down strongly on this is to suspend Kawhi without pay for the season (or more), but not give the Clippers cap relief. (Yes, void the contract and not let him back in the league). Punish the player strongly, and do not make it fatal to the organization.

Again, I don't know.

Iowaggie said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Iowaggie said:

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superunknown said:

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Still up in the air to me. Saw a quote about their not being a timeline, so that seems like it's going to be thorough. I've seen quotes about some teams being super pissed. And nobody can ignore that Ballmer's intense wealth changes everything. Owners have incentive to side with the Clippers if they've got their own shady things to hide. Owners have incentive to side against the Clippers becauae duh, cheating *******s should pay.

Feels like this ambiguity (will we ever know what the BoG -really' thinks?) gives Silver the room to come up with a solution knowing he has got something to hold over everyone's head. Nobody is "winning" this mess.

---

I have been trying to think of what punishment would be fitting for this situation-specifically how can it punish the Clippers and Kawhi, without tremendously helping the Thunder and Sixers, who own future picks (or pick swaps) with the Clippers. And would Kawhi even care if he was suspended for a significant amount of time? The guy "self-suspends" so regularly that I'm not sure that a 50-game punishment would be a negative for him.

---

He's still getting paid when he sits out.

Voiding his contact and making him pay back his endorsement is going to hurt him real bad

---

I was referring to him being suspended, similar to Ja's 25-game suspension that cost him over $7mm, so he was not paid during his suspension.

"When we have a standard for conduct detrimental, at the end of the day, it's one based on what we see as the values of this league and what our expectations from our players are in terms of the image we're portraying to our fans. So, it's not a legal standard. It's a private organization standard." - Adam Silver


If Silver's punishment for Morant is based on deterring future behavior that is harmful to the league, doing side deals that circumvent the salary cap is way worse than a 1-second gun flash on Ja's friend's Instagram Live (accidentally) that followed a suspension/warning from the commish earlier. Grizzlies got "cap-relief" during the suspension.

Kawhi's crew had been warned post-2019. Probably more than once. It was an obvious, premeditated plan to circumvent the cap. This isn't a surprise for KL camp that what he did broke the rules.



I suppose the way to come down strongly on this is to suspend Kawhi without pay for the season (or more), but not give the Clippers cap relief. (Yes, void the contract and not let him back in the league). Punish the player strongly, and do not make it fatal to the organization.

Again, I don't know.

---

There are specific punishments in the Cap Circumvention section of the CBA and they don't actually include suspension.

For player:

* max 350k fine
* contract voided
* Forced to pay back fake endorsement deal


For team:
* 1y suspension for anyone that knew
* loss of draft picks (no limit)
* $7.5M fine

Like you said before, pretty much all the solutions help OKC. Also, the team should have to pay the retroactive luxury tax with interest to the other teams.

Windy:

"These revelations that came out today had substantially less plausible deniability because of the amounts, because of the relationships involved. This one is going to be harder to explain...this probably will widen the scope of the investigation" https://t.co/CiUShvcuuf pic.twitter.com/x9YbxDJEpw

— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) September 11, 2025

Windy coming around.

superunknown said:

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Pablo is whipping ESPNs ass on this.

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He certainly is. Admittedly, there's a very small part of me that questions his "journalistic integrity" when it definitely seems like her baited Balmer and the clippers and the NBA with that. Seems like he's trying to stick it to them rather than being an unbiased journalist.

But that far greater majority of me is like **** the clippers and balmer. And especially **** uncle Dennis and Kawhi.

HummingbirdSaltalamacchia said:

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superunknown said:

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Pablo is whipping ESPNs ass on this.

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He certainly is. Admittedly, there's a very small part of me that questions his "journalistic integrity" when it definitely seems like her baited Balmer and the clippers and the NBA with that. Seems like he's trying to stick it to them rather than being an unbiased journalist.

But that far greater majority of me is like **** the clippers and balmer. And especially **** uncle Dennis and Kawhi.

---

That's bull***** There's no code of ethics that says you have to report on everything you know all at once. There's no way for him to know how Ballmer will react or what he will say.

It's not uncommon for investigative reports to be multi-part and Pablo has done that in the past with his reports.

If Ballmer is honest, he doesn't get caught in lies.

Guys with that much money are good at bending the rules.

Guitarsoup said:

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HummingbirdSaltalamacchia said:

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superunknown said:

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Pablo is whipping ESPNs ass on this.

---

He certainly is. Admittedly, there's a very small part of me that questions his "journalistic integrity" when it definitely seems like her baited Balmer and the clippers and the NBA with that. Seems like he's trying to stick it to them rather than being an unbiased journalist.

But that far greater majority of me is like **** the clippers and balmer. And especially **** uncle Dennis and Kawhi.

---

That's bull***** There's no code of ethics that says you have to report on everything you know all at once. There's no way for him to know how Ballmer will react or what he will say.

It's not uncommon for investigative reports to be multi-part and Pablo has done that in the past with his reports.

If Ballmer is honest, he doesn't get caught in lies.

---

I had a big ol reply typed out but it was too wonky and probably hokey "ok boomer" type stuff but damn...I'll just say its a damn shame actual journalism isn't a profit center, because none of the big companies will ever break any investigative type stories again...they'll cover breaking news that they can't ignore, but forget anything like Pablo sinking his teeth into the Kawhi saga coming from a big company.

Hope they lifetime ban Dennis the menace in this too.

Meanwhile Pablo is about to ruin this dude's prospective House campaign.

I wonder if Ballmer has a fall guy ready to go for this. Come out on Monday and announce that his pool guy was actually the one investing this money.

He's got to of at least considered that this terrible plan would blow up in his face someday right?

Guitarsoup said:

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Ballmer made a separate $9.99M investment into the failing Aspiration after the Wong investment.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6624269/2025/09/12/clippers-steve-ballmer-kawhi-leonard-aspiration-investment-sponsorship/

18 months after he was "scammed" out of that $50M.

Quote:

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As part of the agreement, Sanberg also pressured the company to pay for fees incurred by Frankel, who did not respond to The Athletic's request for comment.

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That's crazy. Sanberg wanted Aspiration to give Kawhi MORE money to cover his agent's fees.

What he was required to do and the opt out:

Quote:

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The contract specified that Leonard would, among other asks, participate in one eight-hour day of production, one four-hour day of public relations, two one-hour community service events, one five-minute segment per week "in conversation with (Clippers) Coach Ty Lue" while he sat out the 2021-22 season recovering from an injury, "five organic comments/likes/RTs as requested by Aspiration" and three off-court projects.

But the deal, which allowed Aspiration to terminate it for cause or if Leonard was no longer playing for the Clippers, also gave Leonard sign-off on the requests and allowed him to refuse to do anything "not consistent with his beliefs."

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"**** them trees"

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Cuban is all in on Team Ballmer.

Sanberg, a founder of Aspiration, in 2020, and then 2021, pre Clippers, borrows a total of $145m from a bank, using his Aspiration shares as collateral. The bank says that’s not enough. So he pays a guy $12.3m to go Madoff and falsify statements to make it look like he has 86m… https://t.co/SQi09j23pO

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) September 12, 2025

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.