Isthismynextusername | Timberwolves

352 | 8 hours ago

Whoever is feeding Pablo this information wants to make sure this whole ordeal is not swept under the rug

Costcornucopia | Trail Blazers

147 | 8 hours ago

Presti

McJacknife | Thunder

60 | 8 hours ago

Thunder lose in the finals in spring 2012… aspiration founded in 2013 …. Somebody call Pablo!

snuffaluffagus74

21 | 8 hours ago

Lol

Wehavecrashed | Grizzlies

-17 | 4 hours ago

Pablo doesn’t want this to be swept under the rug. He wants to make a name for himself with the story.

SkyKnight43 | Kings

15 | 4 hours ago

You don’t think he deserves recognition?

Wehavecrashed | Grizzlies

-7 | 3 hours ago

I’m saying he has an incentive to keep pushing the story.

Lone_Phantom | Bulls

5 | 3 hours ago

Thats true, as long as he’s not lying.

Wehavecrashed | Grizzlies

-4 | 3 hours ago

I’m not saying he has lied about anything.

He does have an incentive to publish anything that will validate his scoop.

LarBrd33

-76 | 7 hours ago

It’s probably all that same initial source that has an ax to grind but probably doesn’t actually know what they are talking about and just is guessing along with the other employees that it was cap circumvention. The proof has been extremely lacking.

Adsex

55 | 7 hours ago

The proof hasn’t been lacking at all. You expect to find a literal smoking gun in the middle of a balance sheet ? That’s not how it works.

Stop doing Ballmer’s bidding.

LarBrd33

-17 | 4 hours ago

There’s no proof. It’s definitely lacking.

sewsgup

131 | 8 hours ago

on the episode last week Henry Abbott told Pablo this about Wachtell Lipton (the firm investigating this for the NBA)

“I had a stack of every independent sports investigation I could find from a white glove law firm across sports. I had this stack because a lawyer who worked on those at a very prominent law firm basically told me they don’t do the investigations, they do what the person who pays wants them”

but as Pablo found out, the federal investigation (SEC) into Aspiration is still ongoing. and if it’s mounting to the point complicit execs are trying to shield themselves, maybe there’s a way there can be a punishment tied to cap circumvention even if it isn’t Silver/the NBA directly administering it

pompcaldor

58 | 7 hours ago

Sentencing for the Aspiration CEO hasn’t even happened yet - it’s occurring April 27th. Someone could make a relevant victim impact statement. Sanberg himself might say something.

JGT3000 | Bulls

19 | 7 hours ago

Why do people believe this shit about lawfirms but EY is beyond reproach?

floridabeach9

18 | 7 hours ago

exactly.

“look at all these dirtball companies lying and stealing to make a buck but Ernst & Young is just the perfect golden child who would never bend the truth to make a buck”

Tijenater | IND

11 | 5 hours ago

Ernst & Young also does a shitload of petty white collar crime, someone else made a post with links to a dozen articles detailing the shenanigans

jveezy | Kings

14 | 6 hours ago

I don’t believe EY is beyond reproach, but I do believe if they rigged the weight of any of the 14 lottery balls, the effect would be obvious enough (the same numbers would come up a suspicious number of times) that any of the other team or media reps in the room would raise a shitstorm.

A law firm compiling a report isn’t operating with the same level of scrutiny and has a lot more levers to pull like what questions get asked, who gets questioned, where to include certain facts in a final report, what gets highlighted in their own summary, etc. All levers that have influence over gray areas that affect how the results make people feel, and not something concrete like “draw 4 of these 14 balls over and over again until 4 different teams’ combinations are selected”.

Derk08 | Nets

15 | 6 hours ago

The big thing would be that they’re hired for different purposes.

Law firms hired are often asked to produce a credible report that answers the client’s concerns, not necessarily to expose everything possible. They aren’t going to be like Pablo and dig into every detail unless it’s directly related to the scope of their investigation.

EY has been hired to independently verify the process, which is different here. Their job entirely is verify that the draft process was fair and correct. There’s no wiggle room here where they can say “Oh that wasn’t my responsibility to look into/verify” the same way law firms do. If there was any illegal work that’s 100% on them.

Also we’re still ignoring how any manipulation would require multiple people cooperating and staying silent and the difficulty in directly rigging the lottery with how the current system is drawn, but at this point if you believe that the NBA draft is rigged there’s nothing else that anyone could probably say to convince you lol

kikikza | Knicks

18 | 5 hours ago

also to anyone who scrolls upon this, go to henry abbott’s substack and look at his reporting on epstein’s ties to the nba. he’s been doing it for years and it’s legit some of the best reporting on the subject, even removing the sports connection

StatusVoice2634 | Knicks

2 | 3 hours ago

The lawyers’ job is to protect the league, not the Clippers. It’s not in the league’s interest to not find anything if you’re the other owners.

On top of that, Watchell is the most prestigious firm in the US.

People who fundamentally do not understand law need to stop commenting on it.

Edit: oh my god, 1.3M karma in 2 years. Please seek employment.

Meech66

86 | 8 hours ago

I really am enjoying the way he’s releasing the info. Everything leading up to that email he revealed at sloan was pretty incriminating but was met with “there’s no smoking gun” now we got the smokiest gun and I want to see what Silver does here.

mikesh8rp | Knicks

48 | 8 hours ago

I wonder if he’s sitting on something massive for whenever the sham investigation is done, as a way to show that they tried to cover things up.

Meech66

35 | 7 hours ago

At this point I’m expecting a video of Ballmer holding a sign that says “circumvent the salary cap with Aspiration” that dude is a moron.

LarBrd33

-44 | 7 hours ago

I actually think each subsequent drop has undermined the initial concept that Ballmer put 50 mil into aspiration earmarked for Kawhi. Turns out that’s not what happened.

Meech66

4 | 2 hours ago

Turns out you have no idea what you’re talking about and probably getting your information from some talking head that also didn’t engage with the content. Objectively, reality is the exact opposite of what you said. There’s literally an email where they spell out that cap circumvention is the motive.

LarBrd33

-2 | 2 hours ago

No i definitely have listened to every podcast, but a lot of it was shrug worthy and all of it combined lacks any actual evidence of cap circumvention. Objectively reality.

And no, there is no “email that spells out cap circumvention is the motive”. There was speculation from employees who didn’t know one way or the other what the motive was and all collectively decided cap circumvention might explain it.

At the end of the day the initial podcast took off because it claimed Ballmer had put 50 mil in which was funneled to Kawhi. Fundamentally, that’s false as proven by Pablo’s own podcasts.

Objective reality: Ballmer/Clippers invested over 100 mil into Aspiration, but all of that was quickly spent. Separately, Aspiration had an agreement to pay the Clippers 300 mil for an endorsement deal and then 7 mil per year to Kawhi as a brand ambassador. That arrangement isn’t as odd as it sounds. Literally Rakuten has a massive endorsement deal with the Warriors, but separately pays Steph as a brand abassador.

However, in this case, the company quickly went to shit because it was fraudulent, something the employees weren’t aware of until very late in the game, and neither the Clippers or Kawhi ever fully got what aspiration had agreed to pay them. Kawhi only ever got like 2-3 mil, as shown by Pablo’s own podcast. You can see that even the planned bobblehead night with the Aspiration logo, they quietly removed the logo from their social posts promoting the giveaway because by then the Aspiration had fallen short of paying their bills. If any part of this was a cap circumvention scheme, it failed miserably,

Meech66

4 | 2 hours ago

If you listened to every episode and still say the evidence is lacking I’m forced to assume you’re one of those temporary embarrassed billionaires. It’s just no way you went through all that stuff and there’s a brain in your skull saying “nah, no evidence.”

Edit: Since you listened to every episode you’re aware that Silver doesn’t need to find the 100% “gotcha” moment, right? That’s not the requirement for a punishment to be handed out.

LarBrd33

-1 | 2 hours ago

The evidence is definitely lacking. Often he was just pulling shit out of his ass and acting like it was “evidence”. A couple examples:

- An entire podcast dedicated to charitable donations. It’s a legitimate charity. That charity actually shows how Ballmer knew of Sanberg before Aspiration and likely trusted him. The charity remains a legit charity. The suggestion that Ballmer continuing to donate to the charity after the scandal is “proof” of something is ridiculous. On one end the podcast strongly implies it means Ballmer was guilty for not cutting ties with the charity. On the more extreme end, it implies that Ballmer was using tax deductible charitable donations to funnel money to his employee which would be a MUCH greater accusation.

- The insinuation that “50 mil” was exactly what Kawhi had “given up” by leaving the Raptors for the Clippers. It doesn’t hold up when you recognize that the initial Raptors offer would have been for 5 years and the Clippes offer was for 4 years. Over the actual 5 year period, Kawhi came out ahead by switching teams especially when you consider the bump it did for his endorsement opportunities by being an LA-based athlete (and I’m not just talking about Aspiration). And furthermore, the contract this entire allegation is centered on isn’t even his initial Clippers contract, it was the extension.

I could go on and on and on, but it was jam packed with shit like that. LIke an episode about Kawhi renting a place, for market value, from an associate of Ballmer and the insinuation that somehow proves guilt as opposed to the more obvious explanation that uber rich people have connects with other uber rich people with rentals for the uber rich. Unless you’re showing records of Kawhi renting that place for free or Ballmer footing the bill, it’s just a lot of noise to make it sound like more nefarious “evidence”.

FWIW, I wouldn’t rule out that it was cap circumvention. It still smells fishy. But it’s a lot of filler content without proof and unless the 3rd party lawfirm finds something concrete, I still have a hard time believing the NBA will have a harsh punishment. Speculation from scorned employees is not “evidence”.

NottheIRS1 | Pistons

48 | 8 hours ago

This is incredible work and I am so thankful that Pablo is doing it.
Can someone please just let me know what happens at the end of this and click on the article/pod twice for me?
I know that plays right into Balmer’s hands, but holy shit this thing is getting dragged out (by design?).

floridabeach9

13 | 7 hours ago

silver is saving the release for the day the nukes drop so its 12th page news

heat_fan_ | Raptors

13 | 8 hours ago

Thought we’re getting a Pablo bomb

Rlccm | Pistons

12 | 5 hours ago

It’s so hard to gauge if this matters or not because it matters SO much on Reddit, but Reddit isn’t the real world

That-Combination6713 | Hawks

4 | 4 hours ago

It won’t amount to anything this is all just dry drama, cap circumvention is as old as the league id be surprised if they get more than a fine that amounts to pennies in their wallet

Danibear285 | Clippers

7 | 7 hours ago

Reads like a trump tweet lmao

thedrizzle126

8 | 6 hours ago

I cannot believe people doubted Pablo at the start, like, he absolutely wouldn’t risk his career unless he had the sources and know-how to thoroughly vet and get this information

SMRTGuy297

2 | 4 hours ago

And when nothing happens then what?

Statalyzer

-2 | 7 hours ago

BREAKING: someone involved in this is trying to avoid getting punished for it.

FeeNegative9488

-5 | 6 hours ago

Shield himself from what exactly?

He wasn’t an nba employee or a Clipper employee. Why the heck would he care about nba cap rules.

docmartini

4 | 5 hours ago

There was other fraud, maybe they’re hedging their bets.

VegasWorldwide

-93 | 8 hours ago

at this point Torre has lost all credibility lol he just keeps adding stuff every other week to get clicks. it’s been like 7 months now and all he’s done is mention rumors

Mind1827

40 | 8 hours ago

Lost credibility? This story wouldn’t even exist without him. The NBA wants this story to disappear, and he’s making sure it won’t.

VegasWorldwide

-48 | 7 hours ago

lol make sure it won’t? by what? tweeting? lol explain to me exactly what Torre has gotten done other than clicks? I’ll wait

Mind1827

25 | 7 hours ago

Investigated this entire freaking story? Gathered facts and gained the trust of insiders? Is this Adam Silver’s burner? I heard the gambling companies need more money bro.

VegasWorldwide

-36 | 7 hours ago

gained trust of insiders? lmao boy it’s embarrassing how gullible y’all are.

silver going to come down hard too huh? lololololo

Mind1827

23 | 7 hours ago

Adam please, get back to work

k4kobe

5 | 5 hours ago

That’s not Adam, that was probably Frank

PanthalassaRo | Knicks

16 | 7 hours ago

The dude keeps posting evidence in a clear fashion, he’s doing the contrary of what you’re saying, he’s laying the framework where any kind of bad faith criticism can be thoroughly debunked with evidence and paper trail.

He’s doing this way because this is the only way Ballmer and Silver can’t sweep this under the rug immediately.

VegasWorldwide

-2 | 7 hours ago

lmao laying the framework? it’s going to be 2029 and he’s going to tweet this “new evidence” and you gullible kids are going to be like “wow he’s really laying the framework”

it’s been 7 months and he hasn’t put out one piece of evidence that shows anything to discipline.

The_Sign_of_Zeta | MIL

5 | 7 hours ago

He’s triangulating evidence. Unless the Clippers were idiotic, they won’t have a document that says “we’re circumventing the salary cap through Aspiration”. The buildup of evidence has made it seem impossible for any other logical reason for everything to have happened. That’s how most investigative reporting cases (and legal cases) are built.

VegasWorldwide

2 | 7 hours ago

Do billionaires get disciplined for “seem impossible”. Ask that to yourself out loud

E10DIN | Celtics

7 | 6 hours ago

As we all know OJ didn’t kill his wife. Not being disciplined for (or found guilty of) something isn’t the same thing as you not having done it.

VegasWorldwide

-1 | 6 hours ago

so if everyone assumes someone did something them they guarantees they did it? lol that’s your justice lmao

MegaChorken | Kings

13 | 8 hours ago

It’s pretty thoroughly reported. It’s coming out in drips because it takes time to discover and verify facts.

eternali17 | Clippers

13 | 8 hours ago

Huh? Why? What does lost credibility even mean here?

Rubberbabeh | Bulls

13 | 8 hours ago

They are a shill, bot or just lack any ability for critical thinking. Take your pick.

tangential_quip | Lakers

9 | 7 hours ago

Look at the post-history. It is just a Clippers troll account.

VegasWorldwide

-4 | 7 hours ago

because of the way he’s tried to milk the content. it’s been 7 months and there’s no smoking gun which the NBA needs to take action. he keeps offering rumors like it’s something new concrete but it’s only to make clicks for him.

eternali17 | Clippers

3 | 7 hours ago

His investigation isn’t the NBA’s investigation. He’s not supplying them with information and neither are they for him. He’s reporting on various facts at different times because sure, he’s got a show to do but also, it’s been timely to catch some of the bullshit when others have tried to refute it only to find his has more evidence to back things.

VegasWorldwide

-2 | 7 hours ago

he’s doing whatever he can for clicks. That’s what’s happening end of day and you’re falling for it lol

eternali17 | Clippers

7 | 7 hours ago

I mean, I didn’t click it. I haven’t heard the podcast. The news he’s broken is still valuable. I’m not complaining.

VegasWorldwide

-2 | 7 hours ago

Valuable to who? And what did it accomplish at the end of day except get him attention?

eternali17 | Clippers

7 | 7 hours ago

You can’t be serious. He broke news and made the public far more aware of what was going on than the NBA ever would. It’s inherently valuable and i feel sorry for you if you can’t see why. The pressure on the league alone. Yeah, I’m done with you.

Statalyzer

-1 | 7 hours ago

This one isn’t even a rumor of anything specific. “Hey, the guys involved are trying to see how they can avoid getting nailed for it”. Well … no shit?

Haunting_Rip6236

10 | 8 hours ago

Found Kawhi’s burner

Raven-19x | Spurs

8 | 8 hours ago

The only person losing cred is Adam Silver.

Adsex

9 | 7 hours ago

All the necessary evidence has been exposed since his first report. Now he’s just regularly updating about what’s happening / not happening (mostly not happening) in regards to the NBA investigation on this affair. That’s how you keep it in the spotlight when an organization try to put it under the rug.

Now, I’ll admit, he’s doing a lot of clickbait shit. But the evidence is there. It’s been there all along.

You can’t lecture anyone since you haven’t paid attention to the very piece of information that started all of this.

VegasWorldwide

0 | 7 hours ago

So with all his “evidence” from 7 months ago, what’s the outcome?

I’ll tell ya what. He got clicks

CapriciousManchild | Lakers

5 | 8 hours ago

lol okay balmer bot

Rubberbabeh | Bulls

5 | 8 hours ago

Ballmer’s Bots putting in work rn

JackFunk | Celtics

4 | 6 hours ago

Bro, at least add a clippers flair

Accomplished_Body441

1 | 7 hours ago

I’m not even going to clothe this comment in snark — I’m just gonna tell you to shut the fuck up because you don’t know what you’re talking about and we’re sick of stupid people EVERYWHERE running their fucking mouths when they should stay the fuck closed. I can’t fucking wait to come back and rub shit in your fucking face when this reaches its conclusion. Until then, shut the fuck up unless I address you. I’m not reading a reply so don’t bother.

and1spree | Knicks

-2 | 7 hours ago

Yeah this is the energy Im feeling

[Pablo Torre] Have heard that at least one former Aspiration exec who was fully complicit in the cap-circumvention KL2 deal — not a whistleblower — has been making calls, hoping to shield himself and spin a narrative. Very curious what may pop up!