The NBA Thread

LordofCringe7206 Vol. 2 said:
There is some drama with the Clippers this morning: it looks like owner Steve Ballmer had setup some sort of fraudulent shell company so he could pay Kawhi Leonard under the table. Kawhi was getting paid $28 million to "work" for the company via a no-show job.
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@Trombonista this is way fucking funnier than whatever foosball trade happened last week to make Dallas look like more of a shithole than it already is, at least from the outside

fucking hilarious and of COURSE it's fucking developers, developers, developers.
 
Womble of Wimbledon said:
I cannot fathom earning $50 million a year and telling the head of my organisation, "you need to make it worth my while to stay here!"

Did Steve Ballmer not just do this because he wanted to? I can't picture Kawhi suggesting he needed nearly $80 million a year to stay with the Clippers, seeing as no other franchise would pay him that anyway.
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Doesn't Kawhi have weird sketchy greedy people in his camp or something? It does seem like an extremely random thing for Kawhi himself to push for, but maybe not his posse.
 
Womble of Wimbledon said:
I cannot fathom earning $50 million a year and telling the head of my organisation, "you need to make it worth my while to stay here!"
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I can't fathom having the leverage to make such a demand, but I'd love to be able to tell my boss, "You pay me what I think I'm worth or I'm walking." No one forced Steve Ballmer to break the rules to keep a perpetually injured player on the roster of his shitty vanity team.
 
Womble of Wimbledon said:
I cannot fathom earning $50 million a year and telling the head of my organisation, "you need to make it worth my while to stay here!"

Did Steve Ballmer not just do this because he wanted to? I can't picture Kawhi suggesting he needed nearly $80 million a year to stay with the Clippers, seeing as no other franchise would pay him that anyway.
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It could be that Ballmer initially just floated the idea as a possibility and Kawhi immediately decided to take full advantage of it. Ballmer likely couldn't put the genie back in the bottle once it was out. Once the idea was in his head, Kawhi could have just repeatedly threatened to leave if Ballmer refused to capitulate.

A big issue with the Clippers is that in the past decade, for the first time in their history, it felt like they were developing a solid identity and were receiving significant mainstream exposure. Some of which even felt larger than what the Lakers were receiving at the time. I get the impression that regardless if the team could win it all or not, Ballmer was desperate to avoid losing all that. I could envision him bending over backwards to try to maintain whoever the face of the team is.
 
Wait, is this why Microsoft is fucking killing e-tree? I actually liked that program. It got me to use their weather program, and I actually found it useful to track hurricanes.
(I call invests "threat jellybeans" because they are shaped like jellybeans)

So of course, Microsoft killed it. If this is why, I'm not even mad. Ballmer was likely bald and doing cocaine when he was eight years old.

You dangle money in front of a "Basketball American" your hand is already empty cuh.
 
Hucklejo said:
Primarily his uncle Dennis yes. He was a big part of driving Kawhi out of San Antonio.
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Yeah and he was listed as Kawhi's designated representative on the contract. I would not be surprised if he was behind this and splitting the funds with Kawhi.

I can't really disagree with Cuban saying that Ballmer wouldn't be that stupid. Rich people know how to hide shit better. This seems more like the work of a greedy crackhead.
 
LordofCringe7206 Vol. 2 said:
It could be that Ballmer initially just floated the idea as a possibility and Kawhi immediately decided to take full advantage of it. Ballmer likely couldn't put the genie back in the bottle once it was out. Once the idea was in his head, Kawhi could have just repeatedly threatened to leave if Ballmer refused to capitulate.
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Nah. Kawhi's uncle tried to get the Raptors to do cap circumventing illegal shit and they were pissed about it all the way back when he was a free agent there. It was pretty well known back then that Uncle Dennis was asking everyone for backroom deals. Pretty sure his deal with the Lakers fell through as well because they wouldn't play ball. The league previously investigated the Clippers for evidence of shady dealings when he cut them a good deal on his contract.
 
The Clippers controversy has taken yet another shocking turn: Boston Sports Journal is now reporting that Kawhi Leonard was also receiving an additional $20 million through this company. That brings the total to $48 million.

Pablo Torre, the reporter who initially broke this story, has pointed out that from their investigation that Ballmer's initial investment into the company was around $50 million, just $2 million off from what Kawhi Leonard was reportedly being paid.
Screenshot 2025-09-05 at 11.03.12 AM.webp
 
This is a scheme you expect from a sheboon council member in a major American city. You'd think an ultra-rich jewish NBA owner would be better at disguising it. Adam Silver won't do anything because he's basically a public fall-guy for the league and the owners.
 
likeacrackado said:
This is a scheme you expect from a sheboon council member in a major American city. You'd think an ultra-rich jewish NBA owner would be better at disguising it. Adam Silver won't do anything because he's basically a public fall-guy for the league and the owners.
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Zach Lowe and other notable writers are saying that owners are pretty pissed and are going to force the issue. Other owners don't want this to be a precedent, because then every good nba player is going to be expecting tens of millions in backroom deals, and not everyone has the desire to do that like Ballmer does.

I'm expecting the hammer to come down pretty hard. No way they will make him sell the team, as Ballmer would fully chimp out, but multiple first round picks being docked is a given.
 
The Clippers are just a lolcow franchise. Whenever things could conceivably start going right for them, they WILL find a way to self-sabotage.
 
Womble of Wimbledon said:
The Clippers are just a lolcow franchise. Whenever things could conceivably start going right for them, they WILL find a way to self-sabotage.
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I begin to wonder if someone put a jinx on the Clippers?

At this rate, if the Clippers keep losing and losing and the owners thru the towel, will the Clippers leave LA?
 
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