They seem to be insinuating that Ballmer is tacitly letting Wachtell bill unlimited hours. So they know that if they don’t piss him off, they can basically make millions of extra dollars.

Basic-Collection5416 | Pistons

139 | 3 hours ago

If Ballmer limited the firm’s hours, what would the commentary be?

IvCv | Suns

70 | 3 hours ago

if that were the case, probably that Ballmer is doing so to restrict the amount of time for them to reach a proper conclusion to prosecute him. the overarching point is he should have no influence either way

CommissionerAsshole | Warriors

40 | 2 hours ago

This is a really easy problem to solve from a legal and ethical perspective. The NBA office should be the client in control of the matter, but the responsibility for payment should be passed through to the owner by the same contractual obligations said owner has with the league.

If this isn’t the case, it’s just another sign that this is all theater before the preordained conclusion is released. After all, big firms don’t bite the hand that feeds.

Basic-Collection5416 | Pistons

20 | 2 hours ago

That is the case. The league hired the firm. Ballmer gets sent the bill.

IvCv | Suns

-3 | 2 hours ago

no one is refuting that

captain_ahabb | Lakers

6 | 2 hours ago

Is this not exactly what’s happening

stridered | Suns

5 | 2 hours ago

That’s just what’s happening with extra steps.

7LineArmy | Knicks

1 | 29 minutes ago

Big firms don’t bite the hand that feeds, but that’s not unique obviously. There is rarely any incentive for a business to bite the hand that feeds, which is why internal investigations are usually all about damage control and not revealing truth or addressing structural problems.

Basic-Collection5416 | Pistons

2 | 2 hours ago

He’s required to pay for the investigation. No evidence has been presented that he is actually influencing the investigation, Torre and Samson are just doing the Trump thing of “some are saying.” There’s literally no winning for Ballmer here. Either Ballmer limits the hours and Torre criticizes him, or Ballmer allows unlimited hours to be billed, *and Torre criticizes him.*

halfdecenttakes | Lakers

17 | 2 hours ago

There isn’t any winning because…. He clearly circumvented the salary cap lol.

He made his bed, so yes, now he will be criticized for any action he takes but that’s on account of the whole, you know, massive cover up to circumventing the cap.

Basic-Collection5416 | Pistons

-3 | 2 hours ago

If he limits hours, he’s bad.

If he pays for unlimited hours, he’s bad.

Which is Ballmer supposed to do?

halfdecenttakes | Lakers

4 | an hour ago

Not circumvent the cap. The seems obvious.

Basic-Collection5416 | Pistons

-4 | an hour ago

So… you have no real answer for the actual question.

halfdecenttakes | Lakers

0 | 40 minutes ago

It’s a flawed question.

“How does he avoid criticism after already doing something that puts him between a rock and a hard place”

You’re right he’s in a no win situation now, you’re wrong for assuming his hands are tied because of his current situation, as opposed to his previous actions that put him in the current situation has left him with his hands tied.

It’s like murdering somebody and then saying “well great if I go to the police I’ll be charged with murder but if I flea than I’m a fugitive from the law, why is this a no win situation for me? Can’t do anything without criticism!” Like yeah dude, you put yourself in that position with the whole murdering thing and now you’re too far down the road to have good criticism free options

Basic-Collection5416 | Pistons

-1 | 34 minutes ago

This is an absurd logical fallacy.

halfdecenttakes | Lakers

1 | 15 minutes ago

Care to explain how it’s a logical fallacy and not just an opinion you disagree with?

Balmer is in a position now where criticism is unavoidable. This is a result of his actions. Rather or not you believe that circumventing the cap happened or it’s all a big coincidence, the actions taken to prop of a failing fraud of a company with money that was seemingly sent directly to your star player, who appears to have a complete no show endorsement deal valued higher than any other endorser who actually did work, is going to lead you into a spot where criticism is unavoidable.

IvCv | Suns

2 | an hour ago

well, neither of those. but he has put himself in a position where he has to choose between two things that even you could agree are bad. and that’s a bad thing on its own. and that is why this expose exists, at least that seems to be Torre’s point

Basic-Collection5416 | Pistons

-3 | an hour ago

Torre’s only point is to get clicks. He’s not even presenting evidence of anything here, it’s just pure speculation.

IvCv | Suns

2 | an hour ago

if you read back what I said, I never made any claim as to what I believe Torre claimed. I presented something I think is a fact, and you have chosen to present something you think is a fact. but you also just made my point for me when you didn’t refute my presentation. thanks.

darthminx

2 | 2 hours ago

I don’t think the issue is whether and how much he pays or doesn’t pay, but who chooses whether and how much he pays and doesn’t pay. If he controls the flow of money, that”s a problem. If the NBA is requiring him to fund an investigation that they control, that’s not.

Basic-Collection5416 | Pistons

3 | 2 hours ago

The league hired the firm but Ballmer foots the bill.

JebBush333

1 | 2 hours ago

That’s what annoys me so much about Pablo, he opines about journalistic standards and praises himself for his quality work (which he definitely has done). But he also just speculates wildly and uses the appearance of “serious journalism” to justify his baseless speculation. I would probably agree Balmer is not going to receive any punishment from this investigation, and it’s likely due to his wealth, but Pablo is just bending facts to fit his narrative.

He’s clearly milking this whole thing from every possible angle and he’s obviously not impartial, so I have a hard time taking his opinion seriously. I

halfdecenttakes | Lakers

2 | 2 hours ago

“Baseless speculation”

IvCv | Suns

1 | 2 hours ago

who asked? the conceit of this post is that he increased their hours, and you asked for a spin if the opposite was true. that’s exactly what i replied to you with

Live-Cartographer-52

67 | 3 hours ago

kawhi will be guilty……Balmer will get off as being a naive owner……life goes on

welmoe | Lakers

11 | an hour ago

Fuck the billionaires. The funniest thing is that even with the cheating Clippers weren’t any better. Not a single Finals appearance.

Live-Cartographer-52

1 | 31 minutes ago

Yup….thats the irony about all this

moby323 | 76ers

37 | 2 hours ago

They seem to be insinuating that Ballmer is tacitly letting Wachtell bill unlimited hours. So they know that if they don’t piss him off, they can basically make millions of extra dollars.

I think it is even simpler than that- what justice can there be if the investigators are being payed by the person they are investigating.

hockeydavid97 | Hawks

23 | 2 hours ago

Does anyone know what was in the fan envelopes from the end of the episode?

theameer | Lakers

19 | an hour ago

It was the whistleblower complaint to the government that originally started the federal investigation into Aspiration. It includes a sworn statement, on penalty of perjury and prosecution, that the Clippers opened a $32M account with Aspiration (I might have that slightly off, I'm doing this from memory), and that only $2M was used for the stated purpose of buying carbon credits. The rest was used for a varity of other purposes, including “paying Kawhi Leonard to circumvent the salary cap.” Basically it’s as close to a smoking gun as you’re going to get in this case - a sworn statement from a whistleblower.

Fatman10666 | DET

1 | 32 minutes ago

The whistleblower statement was taped to David and amins chairs though. I dont think we know what was under the audience chairs

Rude_Molasses_3976 | Raptors

-122 | 3 hours ago

man i am so tired of this torre saga

TDouglasSpectre | TOR

89 | 3 hours ago

Yeah investigations into corruption are so exhausting. Who needs ethics in sports anyways

Stfu man, it’s the Balmer or Kawhi saga, not the torre saga.

ForneauCosmique | Spurs

55 | 3 hours ago

It’s not the Torre saga, it’s the nba not holding accountability for am extremely rich owner. Torre shouldn’t have to keep spilling all of this. This is 100% directly on Adam Silver’s lack of a spine.

kneecolayokitch

14 | 2 hours ago

This is why you don’t let a guy who is worth more than all 29 other owners combined become an owner in the first place because of the amount of implicit power he would hold over the other owners and the league.

Yes he’s a very passionate and great owner and saved both the Clippers franchise from Donald Sterling and league at the time plus gave Adam Silver the highlight of his career but if you just waited a bit longer you could’ve gotten another decent owner too without all this power.

ForneauCosmique | Spurs

1 | an hour ago

I’m curious how much he was worth when he bought the Clippers as I’m sure he’s worth much more now than he was initially

gmoss101 | Rockets

1 | 27 minutes ago

By quick estimates given to me by Google his net worth has increased by around $100B since 2014 when he bought the Clippers.

ForneauCosmique | Spurs

1 | 7 minutes ago

So he wasn’t insanely richer than the other owners at the time, just much richer than them I guess

ReignMan616 | Lakers

1 | 26 minutes ago

Ballmer bought the clippers for 2 billion, they are now valued at close to 6 billion. Ballmer himself is worth somewhere in the ballpark of 145 billion, so it’s really just a small piece of his personal wealth.

shyhumble | Thunder

33 | 2 hours ago

Imagine blaming Pablo for this shit lmaoooooo

adrienneleuck | Bucks

28 | 3 hours ago

I’m tired of people who don’t want to hold billionaires accountable.

12footjumpshot

18 | 2 hours ago

bro is mad at the journalist exposing the corruption and not the corrupt billionaire causing it.

Joezepey | Knicks

16 | 3 hours ago

Its only dragging on because the nba wants to sweep it under the rug

Adsex

12 | 2 hours ago

Ballmer saga, you shill.

Costcornucopia | Trail Blazers

10 | 3 hours ago

Torre should be in the MVP running. FOH, mate.

outsidehere | Lakers

9 | 2 hours ago

What’s wrong with you?

McJuggernaugh7 | Vancouver Grizzlies

7 | 2 hours ago

Found the Mark Cuban burner