Every time someone an ESPN pundit says there’s not enough evidence, another shoe drops.

It’s not even just Pablo digging anymore:

• John Karalis of the Boston Sports Journal got the scoop on the $20m in stock options to Kawhi and the dissent from the Aspiration executive board on giving Kawhi the contract.
• Bruce Arthur of The Star got Raptor sources describing the same demands of the team that line up with what Kawhi got from Aspiration.
• Mike Vorkunov of the Athletic uncovered the $10m payment from Ballmer in 2023, when Aspiration was well-known to be a failing company.

Everyone is on this story. It will be hard to hide the remaining skeletons.

“Guilty until proven innocent” is a very dumb way to say “unless the Clippers produce some exculpatory evidence, the current public evidence to sufficient to punish them.”

Maybe that is the perception because that standard is essentially written into the CBA, and nobody was buying Ballmer’s aggressive spin to transmute this into an episode of Law & Order.

I don’t know how the NBA can ignore all the breadcrumbs at this point, and that’s still pending the legal investigation and possibly more evidence to come.

I understand they want all the facts before going after the biggest owner in the league, but…if they come back and say “investigation turned up nothing to see here”, it is going to be a bad look.

There is so much smoke that the 29 other owners will push for a punishment.

I’m guessing it will be 2 first round picks, a 1 year ban, and whatever the max fine is.

Where there is smoke there is fire.

But hey… the Patriots in the NFL did it. They paid Tom Brady tens of millions thru his TB12 company and it gave them a dynasty.

Its not like they are the first to come up with this.

Like obviously they’re guilty. Maybe not (yet) to the point that it would be “beyond a reasonable doubt” in a court of law, but come on? Does anyone operating in good faith think that Aspiration gave Kawhi a no show contract for \(28M and \)20M in stock just for shits?

And then there is Mark Cuban …

shows proof

yes but what about 2nd proof

Everyone’s just using the Trump defense these days. Just deny everything, admit to nothing and eventually people will move on.

It’s like Ballmer thought people are stupid everyone is basically aware of it, 

I hope they get the harshest punishment 

When there’s smoke there’s fire, when there’s this much smoke come on.

They’ve been proven guilty imo. In order to believe the Clippers, Ballmer and Kawhi are 100% innocent as far as cap circumvention, I have to suspend my belief to the point that I believe I’m going to end my day a billionaire with 7 Hollywood actresses waiting for me at home.

Is it me or is the sports media weirdly silent on this story? ESPN is trying to hand wave i and be like “yeah that was dumb” then chuckle as if it’s minor contract tampering while FS1 and other places are barely covering this, or at all. It’s so weird. I get more news about this from this sub and podcasts on YouTube.

Somehow “Based on this evidence presented so far, we think you’re guilty, and you’re going to have to find something exculpatory to prove otherwise” has been turned into “innocent until proven guilty.”

“We’ve got a lot of evidence pointing to him being the murderer, so unless he produces an airtight alibi or similar, he’s cooked.”

“How unethical. They’re treating him as guilty until proven innocent. It’s a witch hunt!”

Ive seen enough where if there isn’t some kind of major punishment I’m taking a break from being an NBA fan for at least a year probably longer

Banish Kawhi permanently from the League. Remove Clippers and bring back Supersonics. Divide Ballmers wealth in half and give half of it to me.

Damage control working overtime to set up that $50,000 fine and losting a 2nd round pick in 2031

Every day it’s another “league source say managers and GMs are pissed and want the clippers to get a penalty”. Until we get an article that actually says what a punishment is can we stop reposting the same thing that everyone’s been posting the last 2 weeks😂

We truly live in the time of the rich cheat and do what they want and the billionaire owned media becomes their mouthpiece.

IMO this subreddit’s analysis on this has been way off. First of all, since every defense of the Clippers comes with accusations of conspiracy and bias, I believe if the NBA can prove any connection between Ballmer and the payments and, in fact, prove that he knowingly lied on national TV, the league should force him to sell the team. Full stop.

Now, think about the implications if this is truly as bad as people think it is. If Ballmer knowingly used a fraudulent organization as a front to launder improper payments to his star player, that means that he not only broke the NBA rules, but engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the other investors of Aspiration. (Recall that Ballmer put in around 50 million, but it represents less than 10% of the total investment raised during that period). That puts him right front and center in the crosshairs of both the government’s investigation and jilted aspiration investors looking to get their money back.

Here’s another thing to consider: the Feds have much more power than the league to subpoena materials. This was a federal investigation conducted over the course of several years, and the Feds probably have far more internal documents from Aspiration than the league. If there were incriminating documents there, they would have set their sights on Ballmer. Yet we have not heard anything about the Clippers or Ballmer being under federal investigation as co-conspirators.

This is key because any punishment that the league enacts would have implications on both federal and civil cases. If the NBA fines Ballmer on the theory that he knew and was a co-conspirator, they better be damn sure because Ballmer would likely file a countersuit against the league and use as proof that he was cleared in a federal investigation. You can also expect that disgruntled investors would see any punishment by the league as proof of wrongdoing and bring him to court. In fact, any punishment could be seen as assigning guilt, and if you can’t prove it, Ballmer can litigate the league into oblivion.

Point is, this is messy shit that the NBA is attempting to respond to with the backdrop of fan outrage. The suspicious timing of payments is not a smoking gun, and with the Fed’s evidence of Sanberg’s constant manipulation of finances, I find it difficult to believe that you could even prove by a preponderance that Ballmer knew.

This isn’t to say that more incriminating shit won’t come out that eventually skewers him to the Intuit Wall. But I’m saying to be careful what you wish for because if the league isn’t careful here, we may be watching a Saudi Arabian sponsored league in few years.

It’s not guilty until proven innocent. It’s there’s a lot of stuff that’s verifiably true which seem to indicate guilty. All these attempts at misrepresenting facts, arguments, what’s in the CBA, etc are weak and desperate.

People forget that the NBA is an actual, legal, cartel. They can do what they want here.

Well, there’s quite a bit of circumstantial evidence that makes it look like the Clippers are guilty.

I don’t think there will be any direct evidence found (like a message saying “this is for cap circumvention”). But that doesn’t mean that all the clues can’t be pieced together.

It’s like Cuban saying “Balmer isn’t that dumb”. Well, maybe he’s dumb enough to try this but had enough common sense to not send a text message or email saying it directly. That doesn’t absolve him from being found guilty tho.

I mean, when the circumstantial evidence is that incriminating…..

This isn’t a guilty until proven innocent situation; Clippers have already been proven guilty. 

I mean that’s like saying a guy who was next to a body, holding a weapon, seen following the victim , is guilty until proven innocent because he’s expected to have an explanation beyond shrugging.

I feel many teams, at least the competitive ones, have to be pretty pissed about the situation and want something done.

Celtics blew up their team to get under the cap. Knicks had to see Hartenstein walk away because they weren’t allowed to pay him more. Wolves traded KAT most likely to not be locked in anymore by his contract. Lakers were scrounging the bottom of the barrel for anyone to fill in at C.

So many tough decisions had to be made “because of the rules”. Meanwhile Clippers said “screw the rules. I have money.” If the punishment is fairly light I’m sure many teams are just going to do the same.

This is like a microcosm of our society.

They only look guilty because of the mountain of incriminating evidence though , so could be a close one.

Forget the Peabody, at this point just call it the Pablo.

But when tho

The CBA states that punishment may be levied in the face of strong circumstantial evidence…

I just don’t see any other way to explain a $28m do-(Literally)-nothing job, especially when that was being paid and prioritized even in the face of Aspiration’s inability to make payroll.

41Forever’s One Legged Fadeaway pose as the NBA logo is a good look! Fire Nico

It’s not “guilty until proven innocent” its “we’ve already seen enough evidence of guilt, so if you’ve got something to say for yourselves other than a blanket denial, now’s the time”

If the clippers don’t get punished at this point, then what’s the point of the salary cap? People acting like there needs to be a physical piece of paper saying “I Steve Ballmer am circumventing the salary cap” in order for there to be proof are insane.

It makes sense that people are convinced that the Clippers are guilty because the evidence is really quite convincing.

It’s not “guilty until proven innocent,” it’s that the evidence points clearly towards guilt and the Clippers denials so far have provided close to zero evidence.

This isn’t that complex. But Stein has to suck up to his patrons, I guess.

it’s frustrating how so many people think “in this country you’re innocent until proven guilty” applies to all everyday situations and not specifically a court of law..

It’s not criminal court. Doesn’t need to be “beyond a reasonable doubt”.

I loved kawhi and his character, but he should be made an example of, he is literally the perfect target. Important star player, past his prime, literally the face of now hated load management (somehow he plays amazing when he is healthy, injuries have seemenly no effect), egregious evidence. 1 year suspension is literally nothing, next team will just hide the payments better or claim plausible deniability by actually “promoting” tje 3rd company.

they’re 100% guilty

There may not be evidence of them doing, but there’s still enough evidence of them damaging the league’s competitive image.

1 year suspensions for players/owners is kind of weak - I think they would feel 2 years though. You can distract/preoccupy yourself for a year focusing on other aspects of your life but that’s tricky to do for two years. 

Lmao, look at r/nba

Everyone here is going to be shocked when the clippers just get a 10 million dollar fine.

That’s probably got something to do with the ever-growing mountain of stuff people have dug up indicating the Clippers were doing something deserving of a penalty.

When there’s a bunch of shit indicating you did in fact do a thing, yeah, it’d probably help your case to find something credible indicating you did not. If such a thing exists.

Not Mark Cuban.

And the 1st pick in the NBA draft goes to the Dallas Mavericks. Never forget.

It’s just insane to me how hard Uncle Dennis blundered the 2019 free agency.

He saw right before his own eyes how Kawhi became a King in Canada, with a literal “King of the North” billboard in the middle of Toronto. He could’ve had dozens of megacorps lining up for sponsorships, created a massive apparel brand in a market with no equal competitors as beloved as Kawhi, cross media opportunities etc. Kawhi’s brand would’ve been huge.

With continued excellence (which was highly likely if they ran it back), who knows how much the Kawhi / Klaw / Fun Guy brand would be worth by now.

Instead he tried to extort teams for short term gain, and they’re stuck in whatever mess he created. Kawhi’s legacy is firmly in the past. Of course Ballmer thought he’s too smart to get caught.

i think it’s a positive sign. if what balmer did was not against the rules, then evey team should be able to do it

Cuban out here advising Balmer and Dolan. Billionaires going to billionaire I guess. Welcome to the era of mask off corruption 

I mean all the evidence is circumstantial, but if you have literal mountains of circumstantial evidence it’s not hard to draw conclusions. There are dozens of things that don’t make sense about this situation. Any single one could be explained away as incompetence, but all of them? No freaking way dude.

If they get off with a minor punishment or nothing it will look very bad.

Excuse me, alleged? Do they actually want to find a video of Balmer saying to Kawhi “I’m going to funnel you the money via Aspirarion”?

Because that’s the only thing that’s left at this point.

The way of ‘Merica nowadays, only see the negative, never the positive, someone has to demand a homerun ball from a 10 YO to illicit any sympathy, ir get a positive reaction.

Some guy on Reddit went to California’s business registry and found several other LLCs listed to Kawhi! This could be the tip of the iceberg but only came out due to the bankruptcy!

Honestly, I don’t think anything’s gonna happen to Balmer. Unless the league somehow digs up an actual text or email where he personally promised something shady, it’s all just noise. It’s like the O.J. case, there was DNA, blood, the glove, everything pointed his way, but the defense cast doubt and he walked. Same deal here: unless there’s a smoking gun directly tying Balmer himself, the NBA can’t do much. Suspicion alone doesn’t stick.

Plus, let’s be real, most of the rich owners have probably done stuff like this, and none of them want a full-blown investigation. It wouldn’t just make Balmer look bad, it would make the entire league look bad. Fans of small-market teams would feel like the system is rigged and might even tune out. If the NBA just sweeps it under the rug, people will eventually forget and things go back to normal. But if they actually fine Balmer or drop penalties, then every fan is gonna start demanding investigations into their rivals, and suddenly you’ve got a huge mess on the league’s hands.