NBA Kawitters Legacy taking another hit

[Ariel]

AI Summary:

Key Allegation/Finding	Evidence/Details	Timestamp(s)
Investigation Context	The episode is Part 5 of an investigation into what is suggested to be the "largest salary capture circumvention scheme in sports history" and is "so obvious" it should be "embarrassing for the league". Clippers personnel must field questions about it on NBA media day.	2:39–2:45; 4:38
NBA Rule Violated	The scheme allegedly violates NBA CBA Article 13 (Circumvention). A violation can be proven by evidence that a contract "cannot rationally be explained" or is "substantially in excess of the fair market value" for the services rendered by the player.	5:44; 5:57; 8:42
Kawhi's $48M Secret Deal	Aspiration co-founders Joe Sandberg and Andre Charney signed Kawhi Leonard to a secret $48 million deal that was never announced. The only contractual obligation for Leonard to secure the funds was that he "had to keep playing as a Los Angeles Clipper".	7:21–7:27; 7:57; 8:17
Aspiration Executive Protest	A text exchange between senior Aspiration executives (Dec 2021) shows protest over the $48M deal, calling it a "horrible idea" and stating it was "regional male niche redundant to the Clippers, had no ASUS impact, and is a huge expense with no clear ROI".	17:21–17:28; 18:06–18:20
$20M Equity Guarantee	The $20 million equity portion of the deal included a "put option". This legal right guaranteed Kawhi Leonard could sell the stock back for $20 million even if the stock declined, assuring him a "real" $20 million with "no downside risk".	21:57; 23:29; 24:06
Sandberg's Personal Subsidy	Aspiration co-founder Joe Sandberg personally granted the guaranteed $20 million via his own LLC, RJB Partners LLC. An email confirmed he was "transferring $20 million in all caps of stock to quai over four years" and that the benefit to Aspiration was "being subsidized by my contributing my equity".	25:29; 26:21; 26:42
Clippers Owner's Benefit	The benefit to Aspiration was what they got from Steve Balmer in exchange, including the giant founding sponsorship, arena signage, and Balmer personally "vouching for Joe and Andre" with other investors. This support was confirmed in an internal email from Sandberg.	28:46–28:53; 29:07
Link to NBA Rule Change	Kawhi's representative, Mr. Uncle Dennis Robertson, was the protagonist of the 2019 NBA cap circumvention investigation. Though no evidence was found then, the league instituted the "Mr. Uncle Dennis Robertson rule," requiring only certified agents to negotiate player compensation.	31:24–31:37; 31:44

 

[Ariel]

I'm only now starting the watch, but looks to be another banger from Pablo Torre and his crew.

Man, this one random dude has done more to inadvertently clear the Spurs' name and reputation, single-handedly changing the entire narrative surrounding Kawhi (the Clippers have always been a shitshow) and exposing his shady dealings, which before his podcast, had always been met by the general public as "salty Spurs / Raptors fans being butthurt" despite many rumors supporting our side of the story.

Sadly the Spurs org won't (can't?) ever officially recognize or thank him for his work, but we fans owe him tremendously. This is much more than I ever dreamed of in terms of "Nephew's Downfall", like if Groundhog Day happened to land on Christmas.

I have not watched the entirety of his shows, mostly excerpts, but I wonder if this is just "this one random dude", or he was tipped off / pointed to by an NBA team in the know, with an interest to expose this (Toronto, Spurs, any small market team likely to fall victim to losing a player to such a scheme).

 

[spurs10]

In medieval days they used to "hind and quarter" bad people which sounded pretty severe. Maybe they could bring this back, since we are talking about punishments for nephew and uncle? They have grifted so much money, from the Spurs included, that a financial fine would probably be all worth it to them. Suspend him and his uncle.

 

[spurs9]

I can't get enough of these episodes. The evidence is overwhelming, its crazy to me the NBA is dragging their feet on this. I bet tons of other teams are involved in similiar stuff that Silver is turning a blind eye to.

 

[The_Second_Coming_of_VY65]

People expecting an internal investigation like this to wrap up in two weeks are insane. If you want severe consequences for Ballmer/LAC/Kawhi, you want a lengthy and thorough investigation so the league can stand by doing its due diligence properly. That's why they hired Wachtel (who'll want to bill the hell out of this anyway). Wachtel will start with document requests, which will most likely be negotiated by the Clippers' attorneys. They'll review those and likely go back to the well, asking for more. Then will come witness interviews. Then a report. That is a process that will take months at least. Plus, there is no urgency in getting this done yesterday anyway.

Silver very well may do nothing. I have no idea about that. But just because he hasn't banned Kawhi in two weeks time does not mean nothing will happen.

Again, people wanting nukes dropped on the Clippers and Neff should want this investigation to last months. The more dilligence done, the better off the league will be in dropping the hammer. I suspect if Nephew gets banned or suspended or whatever, there'll be a challenge in actual court - so you want to be on as solid of footing as you can be.

 

[The_Second_Coming_of_VY65]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1972757150842884170

 

[Itzsoweezee]

Pablo presented his case this episode and it is about as airtight as you can get. To pretend that the clippers didn’t know what was going on with these shenanigans is beyond perposter

 

[blueguy]

I can't get enough of these episodes. The evidence is overwhelming, its crazy to me the NBA is dragging their feet on this. I bet tons of other teams are involved in similiar stuff that Silver is turning a blind eye to.

Small deals? Ofc, I think that's expected to some degree, but no, this is a big deal. The reluctance to speak out comes not only of a desire not to be wrong but more so out of fear of one of the richest dudes in the world. That's how much sway these sob's hold over the media, our government, etc., I think mainstream media heads are afraid to cover this, as it's safer for Palbo to cover the story and for them to cover the fallout.

 

[The_Second_Coming_of_VY65]

Props to the LA media for asking these questions - couldn't think of a media corps more different than the Baghdad Bob's in SA. That said, I can't believe the Clppers haven't tried kaiboshing these questions or getting a canned response from Nephew in place. You'd think it would be simple as saying "we haven't violated the CBA, but it's under investigation and that's all I can say." Saying "I'm still owed money" isn't the greatest of looks.

 

[blueguy]

Props to the LA media for asking these questions - couldn't think of a media corps more different than the Baghdad Bob's in SA. That said, I can't believe the Clppers haven't tried kaiboshing these questions or getting a canned response from Nephew in place. You'd think it would be simple as saying "we haven't violated the CBA, but it's under investigation and that's all I can say." Saying "I'm still owed money" isn't the greatest of looks.

Not to excuse the behavior, but being a one-team city, the Spurs have a LOT more leverage in SA than the Clips in LA.

 

[scott]

At some point you gotta wonder if the general silence on this from the league and other teams is a sign that a lot of other teams are doing the same thing and hope that this just all gets swept under the rug.

 

[inagra]

^ Knicks and Brunson are the top pairing that comes to mind (current situations)

All-time combo would be Dirk/Mavs

 

[Seventyniner]

At some point you gotta wonder if the general silence on this from the league and other teams is a sign that a lot of other teams are doing the same thing and hope that this just all gets swept under the rug.

Negative one billion percent chance nobody else has ever done it. A tad higher that it hasn't happened with another current player.

Cuban is shitting bricks, he would be the next logical one to investigate. He is putting a target on his back by defending Ballmer this hard.

 

[scott]

Except Cuban is basically out at this point, what does the league have to go after? He sold the team, he's not the governor despite thinking he would still hold that responsibility. At this point he's just a minority shareholder. Maybe the league forces him to divest of the rest, but I doubt they'll punish the franchise for something the previous owner did years ago. Especially a franchise the league recently awarded their next golden boy to.

 

[Seventyniner]

Except Cuban is basically out at this point, what does the league have to go after? He sold the team, he's not the governor despite thinking he would still hold that responsibility. At this point he's just a minority shareholder. Maybe the league forces him to divest of the rest, but I doubt they'll punish the franchise for something the previous owner did years ago. Especially a franchise the league recently awarded their next golden boy to.

The point would be to look tough after cracking down on Ballmer and scare the rest straight. Even though Cuban is only a minority owner, hurting the Mavs would hurt his soul. Maybe even worse than trading Luka.

Punishing the current Mavs for Cuban/Dirk salary cap circumvention is like putting bowl bans on college teams for stuff a prior coach did wrong. Might not be totally fair but it's the best they can do.

Vacating the 2011 title would be hilarious, but that's never going to happen.

 

[k....]

i think there is a big difference in the owners eyes, of rewarding a home grown player like dirk over a FA acquisition.

 

[Exstatic]

i think there is a big difference in the owners eyes, of rewarding a home grown player like dirk over a FA acquisition.

Doubtful. The CBA doesn’t differentiate. If they were all about homegrown,there would be an exception. The teams that cheat take money out of their pocket, especially if they are non-taxpayers.

 

[spurraider21]

i think there is a big difference in the owners eyes, of rewarding a home grown player like dirk over a FA acquisition.

and for that reason there are things like bird rights, and the ability for a team to re-sign their own player for more years/money than other teams are allowed to

 

[k....]

im just saying that owners always say they lose talent to CA and Miami and shit like this being swept under the rug is consistent with that motive in way it isn't for the Clippers or the Lakers. Lets not act like the Lakers dont implicitly market themselves as endorsement and hollywood accelerators. The clippers aren't LA but they aren't a small market team. I know endorsements are above board in the CBA but my point is that every owner has thought of this before and it took generational cheats Balmer and Uncle to bring in forward in a way that killed the option to sweep it under the rug.

 

[Exstatic]

im just saying that owners always say they lose talent to CA and Miami and shit like this being swept under the rug is consistent with that motive in way it isn't for the Clippers or the Lakers. Lets not act like the Lakers dont implicitly market themselves as endorsement and hollywood accelerators. The clippers aren't LA but they aren't a small market team. I know endorsements are above board in the CBA but my point is that every owner has thought of this before and it took generational cheats Balmer and Uncle to bring in forward in a way that killed the option to sweep it under the rug.

There’s some thought that the reason Cuban is white knighting Ballmer is that he did something like this with Dirk.

 

[Yorae]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1972717881705324771

 

[scott]

Real "OJ is going to find the real killer" vibes out of LA right now, tbh

 

[Ariel]

Uncle's "If I did it..." book incoming

 

[spurraider21]

Uncle's "If I did it..." book incoming

unlce is dumb enough to write an "i did it" book

 

[Dex]

Props to the LA media for asking these questions - couldn't think of a media corps more different than the Baghdad Bob's in SA. That said, I can't believe the Clppers haven't tried kaiboshing these questions or getting a canned response from Nephew in place. You'd think it would be simple as saying "we haven't violated the CBA, but it's under investigation and that's all I can say." Saying "I'm still owed money" isn't the greatest of looks.

When asked if they circumvented the cap, both Steve Ballmer and Lawrence Frank keep spouting the same excuse. "We're aware of the rules, Kawhi is aware of the rules, and the Clippers are aware of the rules".

Notice they never say that they didn't break these rules they are apparently aware of. They are answering a question that isn't being asked.