Ballmers PR teams already at work. It was all Kawhi’s fault.

Clippers having won zero title is the greatest gift Kawhi has given them 

Steve Ballmer went to ESPN to pathologically lie as quickly as he possibly could and imo that’s his ‘character’

And there’s the Clip’s first domino in the “throw Kawhi under the bus” strategy.

It turns out ESPN was cooking up a story after all lol. 

Any poster who manages to read the whole story wins a $48 million no-show job from Aspiration.

Kawhi speak to us😭

The thing is, Ballmer can’t leave the Kawhi business, cause Kawhi could talk and absolutely fuck Ballmer more than he is now.

Imagine destroying your brand image, your team culture, and setting yourself up for likely massive punishments from the league… and you didn’t even win shit lmao

We are now in the Kawhi burial part of this saga..

Ballmer PR machine is in swing. The more people leak, the more I am glad the Spurs bailed when they were able

“The allegations have not been true,” Ballmer told Shelburne. “But what’s most important to me is we’ve done the right thing in all those interactions. Kawhi’s business is Kawhi’s business. But we’ve always done the right thing.”

take note: not even a $48 million bonus is enough to keep your boss from throwing you under the bus

I just want to know why Kawhi didn’t continue to buy into what Ujiri sold him. Kawhi, Siakam, Fred, Kyle, OG, Norm, Serge, even Marc (decline was ramping up). Just a myriad of talent. I understand that Kawhi wanted to be home, but it just really frustrates me that Kawhi could not see the vision of what was being cultivated and built in Toronto.

I’m by no means a Raptor fan or Raptors hater, but I just really think tossing a chance at a repeat for the chance to play with Patrick Beverley, and Paul George was a very questionable decision, obviously in 2019-2020 it made sense, but after that Game 7 collapse the foreshadowing could not be more evident.

Clap it up for Pablo. He’s taking us for a ride.

No shit. Even without all this he would be a chronically injured 36 yr old.

This is all just prep for the lawsuit.

this feels like a PR hit lol

The irony is that if they did nothing they would have Shai the MVP.

Oh now espn has done all these interviews and all this research on the Cippers, Ballmer and Kawhi…

Circular firing squad as begun.

Honestly, they were done “building” around Kawhi when they let PG go. I know they dodged a bullet with PG’s knee, they the only thing the 76ers offered that they didn’t was an extra year. Everyone was like, “The Clippers knew about his knee…” but then why did they offer him 4 years (versus 5 from the 76ers).

It’s just that the Kawhi/PG thing didn’t work. They’re both too old and too hurt and the west is too stacked. But tanking doesn’t make sense because they traded all their picks away. Can’t really go 15-65 in a fancy new arena and not even have the lottery to look forward to, right?

When y’all look back on Kawhi’s career, what team would you associate him the most with?

As a Spurs guy, I am, in hindsight, grateful we lost Kawhi when we did.

“nearly 2 dozen” unnamed sources agree that there was “an internal mixture of fear and secrecy”

LOL, dramatic writing from some guy named Baxter Holmes is funny.

It’s weird because they did well in the playoffs but when I went to a game in person, for whatever reason it seemed so obvious that he was playing for himself and not for the team. He would stagnate the offense regularly and ruin momentum. he ended up with decent points but man seeing it in person it looked like he was so bad for the actual team.

By 8:19 p.m. PT on July 5, 2019, as the outlines of the deal with Oklahoma City took shape, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck in Ridgecrest, California, about 150 miles north from where the Clippers’ brain trust had gathered. It was the largest earthquake to hit Southern California in nearly two decades, and was felt as far away as Las Vegas, where the NBA world was gathered for summer league.

As the building shook, dust from ceiling tiles fell on the heads of Clippers staffers, who quickly ducked into a nearby stairwell. Unscathed but rattled, they emerged and worked to hammer out the deal, one they were desperate to close.

Even the universe was like, guys, don’t do this.

Crazy how trading Kawhi was actually a good thing for the spurs. All these years later and they ended up with Wemby and no Uncle Dennis drama

they see the ship sinking. got to throw Kawhi under and scape goat him. I hope Pablo Torre keeps the hits coming. Balmer and the whole Clippers organization should be held responsible.

A little too late. Some of the fanbase wanted this dude gone years ago

Most interesting is the reason he was left off the Olympic team:

It wasn’t until the end of June that they learned that Leonard had undergone a procedure on that knee two months earlier, in early May, which wouldn’t become public for several months.

Team USA officials were shocked to learn about the procedure after the fact, especially with training camp slated to open in early July in Las Vegas.

…

“I think he thought that he could come and rehab for three weeks with [Team USA] and then he’d be ready to play in the Olympics,” one source close to the process said. Team USA couldn’t do that, sources said. Celtics guard Derrick White replaced Leonard on the roster and went on to win the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

While sources say Team USA officials regret how the situation played out, those same officials also recognize that Leonard’s camp hadn’t been forthcoming about the knee procedure or about his recovery.

They were done building around Kawhi for a couple of years now, they wouldn’t commit to any contracts or money past 2027

If you weren’t aware the Clippers were planning for the future you just haven’t been paying attention, it’s why they let Paul George leave he wanted more years and they said no thanks

Well ok… Kind of silly to note all the things they’ve done to build around 34-year-old Kawhi just in the last few months and then claim they’re “done building around Kawhi” as if that’s a response to the latest news. They were probably already done building around him. Got a bunch of aging but still serviceable guys on board to make one last push. Kawhi isn’t just 34 but has also been regularly injured the last 5 years or whatever. He looked great in the most recent playoffs, like his old self. But I doubt anyone thinks it will be that way for an entire season + playoffs. Never mind that the organization itself and its most senior decision makers are implicated in the scandal, so it’s not like any of this is news to the organization. The news is that people found out, and now they’re scrambling to pretend this wasn’t really the team’s fault.

Man, if Kawhi does get to play out his contract, dude better ball the fuck out like his life depended on it. Lol. Reminds me of that Chappelle joke about Kobe balling out after the rape allegation.

Why is this even a post lol even if literally none of the scandal happened they obviously weren’t gonna continue building around a 36 y/o Kawhi.

Do we need confirmation from ‘multiple GMs and other league executives’ that they aren’t gonna be building around a 40 y/o Chris Paul too?

The hit piece has arrived

Would be so funny if the clippers just traded kawhi for a bag of chips right now. 

Feed the Zubac

Gee ya think

“Kawhi enjoyed liquid calories” incoming

Sometimes i wonder how these guys are getting hired. Everyone and their grandma knew kawhi was done years ago, and they still gave him another $bag. Good for kawhi for milking it for all its worth but these guys running the FO need to go. Sheeeit, i could probably do better than these guys.

When is Kawhi going to say something? 

Kawhi is going to have a very complicated legacy. At his peak in San Antonio he was legitimately the best 2 way player I’ve ever seen. He has some injuries and drama, gets traded to Toronto for punishment, and leads them to a freaking NBA championship and dips. Now the end of his career is again marred by constant injuries and controversy.

After the Toronto ring I really thought he had potential to end up as a top 15 player of all time.

So just to confirm: They’re willing to circumvent the cap to keep a guy they’re not planning to build around?

Am I hearing that correctly? Cause it sounds like ownership and the office are not on the same page

Kawaii has been overrated since his first ring, never thought he was a player you build a team around, more like a pippen to someone’s Jordan. Personal opinion

Boardman? More like bad man! Am I right, Steve?

Ballmer failed at Microsoft (stagnant decade plus) and he has failed at the Clippers. You re-run his life 10 million times and this is the only outcome where he achieves his level of wealth / success

Glad we got him at his peak, what a circus it’s been with him and his unhinged uncle with the Clippers.

Mfs on here hate Kawhi but would never say a disparaging word about Dirk who’s viewed to have gotten a similar arrangement

I’d expect Leonard suspended for remainder of his contract and clips being forced to retain the cap hit. Their relationship together is toast and I’m betting the punishment will reflect that in part

For me once shame on me, told me twice strike three

Hit pieces coming out

bold, but we’re just gonna say it: we are DONE building around a mid thirties player with fucked knees who never plays who’s almost certainly only got a couple seasons left before medical retirement.

thinking back, it’s almost admirable that kawhi and uncle squeezed so much out of that one raptors title, when he was, in retrospect, so close to done by then. like literally more than anyone else could have for MORE than the max, too.

like the ghost of donald sterling still haunts this franchise (is sterling dead? who cares he probably is). couldn’t have happened to a more deserving billionaire in ballmer.

Imagine if this is what propels him to say fuck it and he goes superman again this season and they win it all