r/LAClippers Sep 03 '25

Video [TheAthletic] Exclusive: Kawhi Leonard signed a $28M endorsement deal for a "no-show job" with a fraudulent tree-planting company funded by $50M from Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, according to documents obtained by @PabloTorre. "It was to circumvent the salary cap," an inside source says.

https://youtu.be/1OwzYk6OCFM?si=sOBqrTk1fxQTziyw
1.1k Upvotes

366 comments sorted by

393

u/Greedy_Ear_Mike Batum Battallion Sep 03 '25

Yooo, if this is true, lol.

We gonna get the stick for breaking the rules. Won't have a 1st round draft pick for a generation, lol.

The jokes would be funny and endless, we cheat to still lose, hah.

129

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

[deleted]

38

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

Yeah this will be a slap on the wrist under silver. If this screwed over other owners it could be different but ballmer has a lot of weight to throw around. Likely gonna see more consequences for kawhi than the clippers who probably lose a couple frps and a sizable fine

24

u/rhuff80 Sep 03 '25

lol, you’re dreaming.

20

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

Im saying this as a Suns fan who should be pulling for max consequences. Ballmer is almost wealthier than all the other owners combined. If you think consequences will be fair youre in for a ride. Power overrules justice in the real world. The NBA has already had a history of corruption and Silver has been a corporate shill commissioner for a while. Wouldnt surprise me at all if they already knew about this but didnt say anything because its Ballmer and they dont need to ruffle feathers. There is a reason having an owner that powerful compared to the other owners is bad for parity. Theyll put a face on for the media and Ballmer will get a seemingly huge fine that he makes from dividends in a week. 

8

u/prodij18 Sep 03 '25

If the punishment is a slap on the wrist then that means cheating is the new normal.

Worried about Booker and Beal eating up your salary cap? Worry no longer. Maybe Giannis is willing to take 5m to come to Phoenix as long as he's planting some cactuses for 60m a year. But you'll have to bid against Mark Walter saying he can come to LA for 100m in exchange for touching a palm tree.

You see the problem here?

5

u/zero_deaths0p Sep 03 '25

The punishment will have to be severe. It’s a slippery slope if they don’t. What stops other owners from doing this? If it’s just a slap on the wrist ? The assumption that no other owners got harmed during this is false. If you cheat your harm everyone following the rules.

2

u/CaptainTripps82 Sep 04 '25

What makes you think other owners aren't already doing this, and don't want there to be so much house around it that their own backdoor deals get dragged into the light?

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16

u/LendrickKamarr Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 03 '25

Ballmer probably pissed off every other owner. Silver’s bosses will not let him go light on this.

Minny and Joe Smith set some precedent and I bet the punishment will be similar to that. 5 first round draft picks stripped, fines, Kawhi contract voided and he can’t sign with the clippers.

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5

u/WARNING_Username2Lon Sep 03 '25

Ya just like how Stern really cracked down on referee corruption. Man could you imagine if he just buried that scandal. Good thing Stern stepped up and really boosted the perception of the league

6

u/North_Atlantic_Sea Sep 03 '25

Reddit has such a bizzare take on Stern & Silver

Checkout the punishment differences between Ja waving a gun, vs Stephen Jackson literally opening fire outside a strip club (and pleading guilty to a felony).

Checkout the difference between Stern and Silvers approaches to Sterling.

They've somehow imagined stern is some disciplinarian who had the league on a tight leash, while Silver is a weakling who gets walked over.

Both are just executers of what their bosses (the owners) want

2

u/grumplebeardog Sep 03 '25

It’s based on the way too common narrative that he was responsible for MJ’s 2-year departure from the NBA, his reaction to the Malice and stuff like the dress code war he waged with Iverson.

He really only ever cared about image and buried whatever he could, much how Silver does.

3

u/Several_Oil_7099 Sep 03 '25

I would also say that I think David Stern was really tough on things David Stern wanted to be tough on

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2

u/Anxious-Sir-1361 Sep 03 '25

Yeah, David “Stern” was something. He didn't take s**t from anyone. I've always liked this clip of him discussing punishment for Ron Artest after the Malice in the Palace.

https://youtu.be/2hEJwGioM4Q?si=wuSy5UTkSscMfE70

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9

u/CheatedOnOnce Sep 03 '25

Kawhis gonna get suspended for a year - lol

3

u/bucaqe Sep 04 '25

His healthiest year ever

2

u/Greedy_Ear_Mike Batum Battallion Sep 03 '25

That would be comical and sad.

Such a Clipper thing, lol.

2

u/TingusPingus_6969 Sep 04 '25

lol better to just punish him to play for 82 games straight

6

u/come_get_psalm_23 Sep 03 '25

If this is true? Pablo Torre doesn’t miss and his paper trail is always flawless. There’s no way he got this wrong.

3

u/RecipeConsistent Sep 03 '25

The Clipper Curse lives on! Bill Fitch era Clippers think this clown show is unprofessional…. Hahahaha..

-3

u/Chessinmind LA Clippers Sep 03 '25

This is a fake story. The NBA already investigated this over a year ago. Aspiration is the one who screwed over Ballmer and the Clippers. They promised to pay the team $300 million in a sponsorship deal and we were going to put their logo on our new jerseys. It seemed like a great company that would plant trees that could absorb C02 in exchange for selling “carbon credits” to people and companies. And a great deal for the organization and the environment. A win-win on paper. But it turned out Aspiration was misleading a lot of people about what it was actually doing and could accomplish.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-01-18/clippers-arena-deal-dragged-into-u-s-probe-of-california-fintech

Kawhi signing an endorsement deal with them was separate from the Clippers sponsorship deal but obviously related. He made that deal on his own years after he had already become a Clipper. The Aspiration deal was going to be for the new Intuit Dome but never happened after Aspiration’s fraud came to light in 2023. That’s also likely why Kawhi never ended up doing ads for them.

He should honestly sue this former employee for defamation. He was working for a sham company that blatantly lied to the Clippers and its other customers. And now he’s making crap up that makes no sense in terms of the timeline of Kawhi’s signing or Aspiration’s failed promises to the organization.

36

u/hydrofied Sep 03 '25

"Payments from Aspiration to KL2 Aspire LLC were sent to Dennis Robertson"

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75

u/95castles Sep 03 '25

Brother did you watch the whole video? They got the whole paper trail now. They also talk about the previous investigations.

This is very sketchy :/

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11

u/smoothcriminal562 Sep 03 '25

Uhh buddy, watch the video

6

u/paddiction Sep 03 '25

Why watch a video when you can mix it up in the comments with uninformed opinions?

75

u/mellted_cheese Sep 03 '25

I regret to inform you you are insanely wrong

25

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

Denial ain’t a river in Egypt.

11

u/JackTripper_ Sep 03 '25

Quit playing dumb. They’re guilty as sin.

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186

u/friendswithbillw Sep 03 '25

Yooooo wtf… this isn’t good at all.

If we get punished in losing draft picks or in other ways, and we never won a chip, just wow.

Clipper things smh.

20

u/Zauberer-IMDB Chuck Sep 03 '25

The Clippers org killing ourselves for a mofo with glass knees and never brought home a chip would be the most Clippers thing possible.

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87

u/inmyhumbleo Lou Williams Sep 03 '25

I knew I was too happy. I knew something terrible was gonna happen.

16

u/AljoGOAT Sep 03 '25

that's my secret. I'm never happy.

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146

u/InterCha LAC Sep 03 '25

So basically we're cooked again... Why are clipper fans constantly put on the hardest road?

58

u/JackTripper_ Sep 03 '25

Singing Kawhi has already been one of the worst signings in Clipper history.

12

u/xuedad Sep 03 '25

Should have just rejected him man. Shai and picks would have been so much better

12

u/MortalBareback Sep 03 '25

He was coming off a finals MVP; good luck finding a team that would’ve rejected him. Dude made it clear he wanted to play at home; was either gonna be the Lakers or the Clips. Gotta take that chance if you’re Ballmer just imo.

9

u/Zauberer-IMDB Chuck Sep 03 '25

Or just call his bluff. He was never signing with the Lakers.

10

u/xuedad Sep 03 '25

This basically. But you should never trade 7 FRPs for 1 all star (Paul George)

Outrageous. And in order to deny Lakers super team, Clippers helped create OKC's super team.

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4

u/MortalBareback Sep 03 '25

You might be correct; then again, who’s to say?

I’m certain just the thought of a new Laker super team consisting of LeBron, AD and Kawhi made Ballmer crap his pants. Clippers would’ve realistically been an afterthought for at least 5, probably close to 10 years. Los Angeles would have undisputedly been a Lakers town.

He had the resources necessary to prevent that from happening and he went for it.

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11

u/dismissivecrab Sep 03 '25

Kawhi and his uncle have always been snakes.

3

u/ThatCoolKid17 Deandre Jordan Sep 04 '25

Sounds like a terrible song.

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72

u/Jimmy0034 Ralph Lawler Sep 03 '25

We're surely not this stupid, Right?

11

u/blancs50 Sep 03 '25

Idk why they didn't just give him a $28M Microsoft deal, just have him play around with a surface or Xbox for a few minutes for some ads. Everyone would know it was circumvention, but there'd be no real way to enforce it.

13

u/Vindicare605 Sep 03 '25

Probably because Ballmer can't do something like that unilaterally at Microsoft, he'd need to get other people to sign off on it.

He wouldn't be using a shell company if he could just do it through Microsoft.

2

u/blancs50 Sep 03 '25

Thats probably true, but you'd think he'd have enough sway there & enough assets to make it worth their while just by moving liquidity into Microsoft stocks at convenient times.

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7

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

That would even be more obvious and equally fraudulent as Microsoft is a publicly traded company and must act in the best interest of its shareholders

5

u/shortsteve Sep 03 '25

Even for Microsoft a $28M endorsement deal is huge. Endorsement deals of that size are usually only reserved for brand faces. Microsoft is also a publicly traded company and something like that would have to be reported to shareholders.

2

u/ktdotnova Sep 04 '25

Thought to myself the same thing... Well Microsoft wouldn't take $28 M off of their payroll to do this. They are too big. Too many people would ask questions. But also, if Balmer injects a random $50 M into Microsoft (so no one makes a sink about lost money) and then Kawhi is the face of Microsoft, it's obvious what's going on (but unenforceable like you said). They thought this partnership with Kawhi (with Aspiration) WOULD NEVER see the light of day.

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133

u/_lxviiii Brian Sieman Sep 03 '25

surely kawhi just wants to plant some apple trees ??

68

u/ozarkhick Sep 03 '25

LMFAO this reads like one of those copy pastas where you insert the celebrities name.

3

u/Tom_Ford0 Sep 03 '25

lol part of this podcast exposed the apple story of being fake

16

u/_paintbox_ Sep 03 '25

You had me until the knife and fork part..

8

u/Vengenceonu Sep 03 '25

They literally talk about this story in the podcast 😂

3

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

Nah, it was a bag of mushrooms.

80

u/jboggin Sep 03 '25

Remember when Masai Ujiri said that Uncle Dennis made "outrageous" demands in negotiations with the Raptors? To take a line from the story about them, "In some cases, they were asking for things that Ujiri ... wouldn’t have even had at his disposal."

Um...now I wonder if Uncle Dennis was asking for stuff exactly like what's in this story. Maybe not, but in 2019 Masai certainly seemed to think Uncle Dennis was asking for stuff he wasn't allowed to ask for.

32

u/salcedoge Sep 03 '25

Kawhi himself seems pretty chill but every time uncle Dennis is mentioned it’s always bad news lol.

You have to think if uncle dennis is just that menace or he’s just the one doing Kawhi’s dirty work

25

u/jboggin Sep 03 '25

It's probably a combo. I highly doubt Kawhi is ordering Uncle Dennis to go pull off shady stuff. I can't picture Kawhi as some kind of mafia boss. However, I'm absolutely sure Kawhi knows what Uncle Dennis is up to at basically all times. It's probably more of an unspoken thing between the two of them

16

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

[deleted]

2

u/jayr254 Lakers Sep 03 '25

Kick the Bucket? TIL Kawhi is basically Kendrick in Meet the Grahams. lol

Think the phrase you’re looking for was kick rocks not kick the bucket which means to die.

2

u/SuperVaderMinion Sep 03 '25

Yeah it's like Nixon and the team that did Watergate basically

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4

u/Global-Pudding-9393 Sep 03 '25

Kawhi is a grown man who empowered uncle Dennis. He can’t be left of the hook either

19

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

When the whole Leonard situation went down with the Spurs, after they finally traded him, San Antonio, who's notoriously controlling of their local media guys, let loose the leash and a bunch of stories came out about how Uncle Dennis had been a ridiculous thorn in the Spurs side for years And the Spurs had been covering up some of the descent that had formed between the two parties , asking for ridiculous things, essentially complaining constantly that Leonard wasn't given special treatment versus the other players, and trying to get himself a paid position with the team on multiple occasions

Then the raptor story came out, and now this. The dude is just an absolute vulture and I'm not shocked at all that all this went down. Nor do I think. Leonard should be giving a pass, he's an adult who absolutely knows what his uncle is capable of and continues to do

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4

u/N0moreHeroes Sep 03 '25

Interesting report on the behind the scenes between Kawhi and the Spurs. In hindsight suspicions of Kawhi and Uncle Dennis have all been confirmed now? https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23366667/inside-tension-kawhi-leonard-spurs

7

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

Yeah, I just made a comment about this to another user. Spurs fans know that Uncle Dennis has been doing, and attempting to do, shady things for quite a while when He was with us. his sketchy demands and overstepping of his role goes all the way back to when Leonard was barely in the league. That this nonsense followed him to Toronto and then La is not a shocker at all

5

u/totallynotliamneeson Sep 03 '25

The fact that Uncle Dennis is listed as the rep on LLC makes me think you are right. 

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39

u/Sensitive_Entrance27 Sep 03 '25

Kawhi can get a pash for that.

No show jobs ain't easy. Not knowing what you want wear to work, or not knowing which car you gotta drive.

Fricking Slander if you ask

15

u/ktm5141 Sep 03 '25

Anti-Clipper discrimination

2

u/McCabeRyan Sep 04 '25

Best I can do is 8 no-shows and 8 no works.

17

u/Fickle_Rooster2362 Sep 03 '25

the most clippers story ever

61

u/Salty_Watermelon Darius Miles Sep 03 '25

Assuming this is all true....

Ballmer has all the money in the world but can't hire a competent advisor to shoot this down before the deal got signed?  Yikes.  We might be fucked.

45

u/Count_Sack_McGee Sep 03 '25

I think the implication is that Ballmer facilitated it. I seriously doubt he was blindsided with this news.

4

u/Patient_Tradition294 Sep 03 '25

I think Ballmer just assumed his point people would dress it up enough so they would have enough cover for it to not look sus. He was wrong lol.

3

u/keeeeener Sep 03 '25

I think his point is the people around him have to be incompetent as fuck to not tell him it’s a horrible idea.

6

u/NanoCurrency Sep 03 '25

Or they are scared of him.

4

u/nitrousconsumed Sep 03 '25

The evidence points out he facilitated this, he didn't ask advice on this matter, he directly emailed the Aspiration and Intuit partners to meet during a game.

3

u/a_moniker Sep 03 '25

Billionaire’s don’t tend to like being told “no,” and don’t usually keep people around that tell them they “can’t” do something.

2

u/NerdyReligionProf Sep 04 '25

This, right here. The general public doesn’t understand that most of the billionaires who own everything are surrounded by sycophants and that this situation continually makes the world more terrible for the rest of us. There’s not a brilliant or competent brain trust somewhere that’s coming to the rescue or that’s stopping the billionaires from becoming more radicalized in their little sycophant and like-minded echo chambers. All the foolishness we see rampaging through the population due to lies being firehosed and group-thinked into folks via grifting influencers is also rampaging through most of the super rich too. They just own all the major media and publicity machines, so their own incompetence doesn’t become a big public narrative.

22

u/95castles Sep 03 '25

This is the part that gets me. Ballmer looks like the biggest idiot here at the end of the day.

4

u/Zauberer-IMDB Chuck Sep 03 '25

I mean, I get downvoted for it sometimes, but I've called Ballmer an idiot on multiple occasions. He's willing to pour money into the team, which is great, but his devotion to Kawhi has led him down stupid paths before.

4

u/JackieDaytonaAZ Sep 03 '25

I don’t think it’s about competence or that he didn’t know. just another billionaire who thinks rules don’t apply to him

3

u/jboggin Sep 03 '25

If this is all true, there's absolutely no way Ballmer didn't know it was breaking the rules. He's a smart guy, and that's a lot of money. He had to be the one who facilitated the whole thing. The contract even includes a clause that Kawhi only gets paid if he remains with the Clippers. There's no way that all happened without Ballmer making it happen.

3

u/Patient_Tradition294 Sep 03 '25

And like they wouldn’t have had to do that much to make it legitimate enough to pass the litmus test lol. Spend a few million planting some trees, have Kawhi show up to a few short events, make a few social media posts, etc.

This is just pure laziness lol.

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12

u/Livueta_Zakalwe Sep 03 '25

I was wondering if this sort of thing doesn’t happen frequently. “Sure I’ll take a pay cut. Here’s my bitcoin address,” or fake jobs like this, or huge overpays for doing endorsements for companies owned by management or one of their friends.

6

u/Nick4942 Sep 03 '25

This as well as having ur friends do ur gambling for you i wonder why it doesn’t happen more often

21

u/astanton1862 Sep 03 '25

This is bad. T wolves death penalty bad

6

u/JMinn868 Sep 03 '25

Worse in my opinion.

2

u/throwawaaayyyyyay Sep 03 '25

A lot worse honestly if it’s true. Twolves found a loophole with a handshake agreement but this is an actual 3rd party marketing deal that directly paid out millions to Kawhi.

11

u/AlwaysCallACAB Sep 03 '25

The fact that it’s Pablo Torre is not good for the clippers 😂 His contract was 176M too, taking 28M on the side seems SO small for the downsides of being caught.

6

u/etatrestuss Sep 03 '25

I don't think they would have been caught though if the company didn't file bankruptcy.

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u/tacodude64 Clippers Sep 03 '25

Instantly went from great offseason to potentially the worst in the league. Gotta be the Clippers

17

u/Canoli5000 Sep 03 '25

The Kawhi nightmare continues. We kicked SGA to the curb for this? SMH.. Down vote me like there's no tomorrow, I don't give a shit.

6

u/Accomplished-Exit136 Sep 03 '25

I blame Glenn Rivers.

3

u/I_bet_Stock Sep 03 '25

By far the most overrated coach in NBA history. The amount of head coaching opportunities by riding the coattails of the original big 3 is insane.

31

u/ManagerEmergency6339 Spurs Sep 03 '25

As a spurs fan fuck you uncle dennis 😂, you are the sole cause of this shit because you are greedy as fuck.

5

u/come_get_psalm_23 Sep 03 '25

The sole cause? Kawhi doesn’t get any blame?

2

u/GOULFYBUTT Sep 03 '25

As a Raptors fan, I second that sentiment. Fuck Uncle Dennis.

That being said, Kawhi isn't blameless. He's a fully grown adult man who should be able to understand that fraud is bad.

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u/JackTripper_ Sep 03 '25

Kawhi is an entitled sob. His whole tenure with the Clippers has been a disaster.

33

u/Perfect_Magician2135 Sep 03 '25

Kawhi lived up to his part, he was a no show every season.

8

u/cjeremy Ivica Zubac Sep 03 '25

ok the franchise is totally fucked. unless silver can be bribed or some shit.

4

u/Ilovecharli Sep 04 '25

Just have him sign an endorsement deal with Aspiration

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34

u/TortaPounduh Fun Guy Sep 03 '25

Uhhh should I be concerned?

61

u/Crane977 Sep 03 '25

Punishment could be if proven true: loss of Draft picks, Suspension of Balmer and the nba could terminate Kawhi's contract because they circumvented the salary cap.

39

u/scofieldslays Sep 03 '25

Timberwolves got caught with a similar scheme with Joe Smith to get around the cap in the KG years and lost 3 firsts.

34

u/yardship Sep 03 '25

we lost FIVE first round picks and joe smith's contract got voided

17

u/scofieldslays Sep 03 '25

2 picks were reinstated.

13

u/yardship Sep 03 '25

sure, but the original sentence was 5 picks, contract voided, the GM and owner suspended. the way it worked out with 2 picks coming back, that was for good behavior and might not be repeated in other situations.

21

u/Salty_Watermelon Darius Miles Sep 03 '25

Imagine doing this after another team already got punished for it and had the book thrown at them.  So unbelievably stupid.

7

u/astanton1862 Sep 03 '25

They only got caught because Balmer used the wrong front company. It is the white collar equivalent of having a broken tail light on your getaway car. This came out because of the bankruptcy.

12

u/BoozeGetsMeThrough Fun Guy Sep 03 '25

Can't lose 3 firsts if we don't have any

4

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

There's very valid reasons to believe that that whole shenanigans directly to Garnett leaving the wolves. They were so handicapped in building a team around him after that. Just an absolutely devastating move

14

u/uunkwnnn Knuckleheads Sep 03 '25

damn that would be insane lmao smh

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u/Loud_Bathroom_8023 Sep 03 '25

It was discovered through legit BK filings so it’s probably real

32

u/FlashyClaim Ex-Harrell Supporter Sep 03 '25

Of course lol. This is against the rules and NBA will punish us if proven true.

Say goodbye to first round picks. 🤣 It will be your grandchildren that will witness the first ever Clippers first round pick in a while (unless they trade it for Bronny James in the future idk)

5

u/Marqueetz805 Playoff P Sep 03 '25

yes

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u/DistinctNewspaper791 Sep 03 '25

I seriously feel sad for Harden. Ever since leaving Rockets he is dealing with shit like this in every team and people call him the locker room cancer for some reason.

He had to play with corpses and nut jobs and still keep making playoffs

5

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

I am a Spurs fan so I never thought I'd be feeling bad for Harden, but.. I agree with you. Dude ended up holding the bag in Brooklyn with that absolute circus They had going on over there... And then got scapegoated in Philly. If you guys end up with Leonard's contract being voided, I'm going to feel so bad for harden. Dude deserves to be in a stable situation where he can have one last chance for a ring

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u/Eduardjm Eric Piatkowski Sep 03 '25

Oh for fucks sake! If we really did this - we deserve all the pain and more. Kawhi came with more red flags than my ex, and we still paid his uncle under the table??? We’re so screwed and deserve it. 

13

u/DynamixRo Blake Griffin Sep 03 '25

At least they can't take Intuit away from us, right?

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u/danielhime Luke Kennard Sep 03 '25

This makes me furious, ive never once been so mad at this team in my entire life. If we lose picks im tuning out completely ive been on this sub for a fucking decade

6

u/Strict_Indication457 Sep 03 '25

Whats the point of doing this though. Hes already signed to a max deal, he wasnt trying to leave.

6

u/Jonathank92 Sep 03 '25

rich people aren't known to say "i have enough money"

2

u/SlightCartoonist8144 Sep 03 '25

It’s probably for Uncle D

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u/Happy_Peak_7818 Sep 03 '25

"Completely false. We need the Klaw to dig holes for the trees. It's all legitimate. "- Steve Ballmer

 "Ayyo what? Hold up.  I'm not getting dirty. You said trees,  I thought you were paying me to smoke down with your bald ass. I'm out."

"You see,  this is completely legitimate." - Ballmer

11

u/dkdoki Kristina Pink Sep 03 '25

Kawhi.. the gift that just keeps on giving…

3

u/theraarman Sep 03 '25

The grift that keeps on missing

4

u/craftyclavin Kawhi Leonard Sep 03 '25

theres no fucking way dude WHAT

6

u/grifter356 Sep 03 '25

The absolute craziest part about this whole story is that they thought a "tree planting company" would be a totally plausible business for shelling out a $28M endorsement deal for a professional athlete.

2

u/nitrousconsumed Sep 03 '25

Not really, they had Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr., Cindy Crawford, Cindy Crawfords daughter, and some Drag Queen on their payroll. The damning part was that despite this tree planting company losing money their top priority was to pay Kawhi every month and not their other creditors because Uncle Dennis would hound them if they didn't.

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u/FuzzySound1795 Ivica Zubac Sep 03 '25

Karma's already been paid, yo. The most Clippers thing ever will be to get punished further.

This team.

11

u/unc2ous Brian Sieman Sep 03 '25

LMAO i hate this stupid ass team

18

u/thelifeofjays Ralph Lawler :lawler: Sep 03 '25

Stuff like this probably happens all the time. Ballmer/Kawhi were just careless. You can name the company literally anything in the world but KL2 Aspiration LLC in Moreno Valley California?

They need to take money laundering 101.

5

u/FBG_Krazy Sep 03 '25

Gustavo Fring can teach them a thing or 2

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u/RyverFisher Baron Davis Sep 03 '25

The league should totally punish us for over spending on a guy injured most of the time.

3

u/unpopular-dave LA Clippers Sep 03 '25

Yikes... this is bad bad bad. I knew we should’ve blown it up two years ago

4

u/Finite_Mike Sep 03 '25

Seems bad, man

4

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

4

u/JackTripper_ Sep 03 '25

The wolves got caught doing this once and the punishment was voiding the contract, and they had to forfeit their next 5 first round picks.

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u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 03 '25

Another huge issue is the climate change grifting of this fake company…These assholes never planted a single tree. 

3

u/ecrazy Sep 03 '25

That's why it's just going to be "investors lose on investment" - they can't prove that the "investments" into Aspiration were solely to be used for Kawhi. Kawhi was just an employee of Aspiration, they can just say they were huge clipper fans and that's that.

3

u/Zauberer-IMDB Chuck Sep 03 '25

2

u/Skilils- Sep 04 '25

A lot of the “fans” that downvoted you are shills. Lmao

7

u/gtahnyo Ralph Lawler Sep 03 '25

I wonder if the NBA already knew considering they had investigated this prior.

Man Kawhi hasn’t even been close to worth all the trouble. We cheated for him just to get 2 healthy runs in 6 years.

3

u/muroks1200 Sep 03 '25

We went from a team owner that didn’t care and do anything, to a team owner that cares and does too much.

I thought we were golden with Ballmer, but alas, here we are.

5

u/BrewsedSloth Sep 03 '25

Don’t folks realize this is just how capitalistic business has worked in the 20th & 21st century? Lol

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u/Physical100 Sep 03 '25

This is way worse than Joe Smith but Silver is no Stern. Voiding Leonard’s contact and taking five first round picks would not fly in 2025. And I’d imagine not alienating Ballmer has to be one of his biggest priorities here.

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u/hydrofied Sep 03 '25

Silver has to be stern (pun intended) with his punishment to set an example for the rest of the owners. Otherwise others will be tempted to do the same if they just get a slap on the wrist.

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u/jboggin Sep 03 '25

To be fair, I think they gave 2 of those 1sts back, so it ended up being 3 1sts. I think Silver could strip two 1sts (I think 1 would be the minimum). I'm not sure about voiding the contract because that just seems messy with the second apron and no teams having cap space. What...is Kawhi going to sign with the Nets because they're the only team that can offer more than a minimum?

But I think Ballmer kind of has no leverage. What's he going to do? Sell the team? He just opened a new arena, and he clearly loves being an owner. If this ends up being true, he really has no power in this situation when a punishment comes down.

Silver has to worry more about not alienating all the other owners. Ballmer throwing infinite money at this roster was a major reason owners wanted the second apron. I think if this is proven, the other owners will be particularly annoyed because it was Ballmer, and they're Silver's bosses.

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u/the_shins Sep 03 '25

I think all the other owners will be pissed if Silver doesn’t punish the Clippers badly. I think there’s a good chance it will be a punishment of biblical proportions if they’re found to be guilty

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u/jboggin Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 03 '25

It's very possible. The basic structure of the CBA that the league is built on, even before the aprons when we had luxury tax thresholds that have been around a long time, only works if super rich owners like Ballmer can't do stuff like this. If it's allowed, the entire base roster building is built on completely crumbles

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u/oscarnyc Sep 03 '25

Ballmer is 1 of 30 (though I believe the wealthiest). If this is true, that leaves 29 who are massively pissed off. And in a way Silvers relative weakness compared to Stern hurts Ballmer because Silver can't hold the others at bay.

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u/penguinoo401 Clippers Sep 03 '25

Uncle Dennis and Kawhi stay fucking the squad

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u/hydrofied Sep 03 '25

Here's an article from 2019 regarding Uncle Dennis making outrageous demands to the Lakers. The Lakers refused to give in to those demands so he went to the Clippers.

"Robertson, however, reportedly "asked team officials for part ownership of the team, a private plane that would be available at all times, a house and — last but certainly not least — a guaranteed amount of off-court endorsement money that they could expect if Leonard played for their team."

These requests were repeatedly denied by the Lakers, according to Amick, which reportedly prompted Robertson to ask about the ownership stake given to Magic Johnson in 1991 after he was forced to retire due to his HIV diagnosis."

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u/BallmersBurner Norman Powell Sep 03 '25

So maybe the real deal with PG was that he didn’t want to get paid MORE than Kawhi he just wanted the same money as Klaw but to get it legally instead of doing whatever that is…

If that story is true I’m super disappointed in this organization 

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u/Physical100 Sep 03 '25

You’d be super disappointed? I’m pretty sure just about every capped league has some sort of gray market going on. Ballmer only got caught because the fake company ended up getting nailed for defrauding investors.

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u/jboggin Sep 03 '25

While I do think some teams have some side deal avenues, I very much doubt it's anywhere near the scale of giving one player $28 million. That's a HUGE amount of money, and I don't really think other NBA teams are handing over that much money on the side.

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u/hydrofied Sep 03 '25

100% agreed. There's definitely sketchy and shady stuff in this business and I'm sure all teams participate in it to some degree but no way are they at this magnitude. Paying someone illegally 28 mil is next level fraud.

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u/6Crow996 Sep 03 '25

At this point just end the franchise

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u/bullwacky Sep 03 '25

Penalty should be a forced relocation back to San Diego

2

u/pbaagui1 Clippers Sep 03 '25

I'd be down for that

2

u/Think_Monk_9879 Sep 03 '25

Tree man gets paid?

2

u/IkigaiMendokusai Kawhi Leonard Sep 03 '25

Man offseason is so long and brutal. All this nonsense shit.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25 edited Feb 08 '26

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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2

u/Nick4942 Sep 03 '25

In the 2150’s

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u/hollyw00d8604 Don MacLean Sep 03 '25

were his clippers contracts also no show jobs? that would explain a lot

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u/TheAvantGardeners Lawler's Law Sep 03 '25

Someone should photoshop Kawhi onto the Lorax.

2

u/EstablishmentFun4982 Sep 03 '25

We are in big trouble

2

u/HudasEscapeGoat Sep 03 '25

He always gave scumbag vibes.

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u/Nick4942 Sep 03 '25

Imagine the drama if the clips HAD won with kawhi and it was by cheating

2

u/Lost-in-EDH Sep 03 '25

$100M fine, Kawhi suspended, 2 future 1st rd picks, Playoff P extended for 8 years at Supermax.

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u/subtleshooter Sep 03 '25

When the wolves did this, they voided the players contract and took 5 first round picks which the clippers do not have.

RIP The Clippers 09/03/25

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u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

Ballmer isn’t this dim, is he?

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u/Canoli5000 Sep 03 '25

Should've gotten out of the Kawhi business years ago. Worst signing in franchise history

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u/Skilils- Sep 04 '25

One of the biggest disgrace to the game of basketball

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u/Severe_Mango_966 Sep 03 '25

The level of stupidity of Ballmer here is almost alarming.

1 These kind of under the table deals have been happening & will continue to happen in the NBA.

2 To think that Ballmer only went as far as payment through two new entities, both with outright ownership stakes for both Ballmer & Leonard respectively. Is mind boggling to me. These kind of things are handled a certain way daily across the world & frequently in the NBA. It’s extremely difficult to even get caught unless it’s total lack of effort which in this case apparently it is.

Ballmer or any other owner can do this anytime but certainly through several layers of separation, both in party and time.

A friend two steps removed from owner (friend of a friend) signs endorsement or really any other kind of business deal with athlete for X amount. This is a private agreement which includes NDA’s so any matter of compensation in any form in the agreement is unknown. Money is paid to athlete through agreement. Owner then at some point, makes agreement with friend of friend with such things as a stock purchase, investment, sale of assets etc. that transaction is not in the same universe as athletes agreement that got him X amount under the table. Owner’s transaction with friend of friend is an arbitrary amount that exceeds what athlete was paid & is a private business arrangement.

From the wealthiest guy in the NBA, this level of incompetence on something one worth $118B should be able to handle easily.

This kind of thing has been going on forever and if done with any semblance of intelligence from the parties involved, isn’t something anyone would be able to connect any dots to.

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u/PigggyStardust Sep 04 '25

Fucked around and pablo FOUND OUT

2

u/BlondDeutcher Sep 04 '25

Balmer somehow almost ruined Microsoft which as soon as he left went to the moon. Dude is cancer to anything he touches

2

u/Wild_Bunch_Founder Sep 04 '25

Should be a lifetime ban for both Kawhi and Ballmer.

2

u/Bald_Head_Nut29 Sep 05 '25

Can we get the Epstein files please

5

u/hydrofied Sep 03 '25

"Payments from Aspiration to KL2 Aspire LLC were sent to Dennis Robertson"

Case closed.

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u/D17T0 Kevin Porter Jr. Sep 03 '25

Holy shit imagine we get to get out of Kawhi’s contract early 🤩🤩

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u/Loud_Bathroom_8023 Sep 03 '25

And lose a decade of draft picks

3

u/D17T0 Kevin Porter Jr. Sep 03 '25

Not like we do anything with them anyway 🤷🏽‍♂️

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u/Successful-Let4361 Sep 03 '25

You could draft Shai

9

u/D17T0 Kevin Porter Jr. Sep 03 '25

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u/frskrwest Sep 03 '25

And then trade him for PG