Whether it causes issues is really a separate issue all together. I don’t think anyone would disagree that it’s an issue. What people are saying is that, just because it’s an issue doesn’t mean the league will act in a particular way.
Clippers be cheating
- Thread starter Hearsky
- Start date
The Jazz Wonderbra
Well-Known Member
No billionaire just pays out $50 million without knowing it. That is ludicrous. People that are wealthy are very conscious of their wealth.
Claiming ignorance very likely spits in the face of his weekly meeting with his financial team that updates him on everything. $50 million dollar payouts surely require a capital call under normal circumstances. If they met about how to fandangle this one on a yacht then no notes were taken... however if the clippers or any other biz he owns authorized a $50 million dollar purchase without his authority normally it would be comical. No business runs that way without approvals by an authorized figure. If aspiration does and the rest of Ballmers businesses dont it is inconsistent and shows an intent to shield activity.
In short... EAT ALL THE BILLIONAIRES!
Claiming ignorance very likely spits in the face of his weekly meeting with his financial team that updates him on everything. $50 million dollar payouts surely require a capital call under normal circumstances. If they met about how to fandangle this one on a yacht then no notes were taken... however if the clippers or any other biz he owns authorized a $50 million dollar purchase without his authority normally it would be comical. No business runs that way without approvals by an authorized figure. If aspiration does and the rest of Ballmers businesses dont it is inconsistent and shows an intent to shield activity.
In short... EAT ALL THE BILLIONAIRES!
The Jazz Wonderbra
Well-Known Member
I had a legal fight with a billionaire over a housing project.
The shenanigans that went on were disgusting throughout the entire course of events.
He threatened to take my house along eith 14 grandmas who signed a petition for a referendum. The city threatened me with millions in damages. They had 50 top lawyers on their side and we had a pretty rag tag group of grassroots funded peeps.
If I hadn't have won that battle at the court level then we would have been on the street to the pleasure of a guy wanting to cram 100 people per acre while living with his wife and himself in a mansion on 6 acres.
500 million dollar project with GOBS of profits to be made make people force things to get their way. Money corrupts.
Billionaires blow.
The shenanigans that went on were disgusting throughout the entire course of events.
He threatened to take my house along eith 14 grandmas who signed a petition for a referendum. The city threatened me with millions in damages. They had 50 top lawyers on their side and we had a pretty rag tag group of grassroots funded peeps.
If I hadn't have won that battle at the court level then we would have been on the street to the pleasure of a guy wanting to cram 100 people per acre while living with his wife and himself in a mansion on 6 acres.
500 million dollar project with GOBS of profits to be made make people force things to get their way. Money corrupts.
Billionaires blow.
The Jazz Wonderbra
Well-Known Member
But that billionaire was VERY aware of the money he was spending to fight us and it wasnt even close to $50 million.
Hearsky
Well-Known Member
https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2025/09/nba-hires-law-firm-to-investigate-clippers-leonard.html
"The NBA previously used Wachtell Lipton in a pair of high-profile investigations of ownership misconduct, per The Athletic’s trio, and both resulted in the owners selling the teams. The first case was back in 2014 with former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, and the second occurred in 2022 with ex-Suns owner Robert Sarver."
I think the NBA means business on this one. Wachtel Lipton did the NBA dirty work on Sterling and Sarver.
"The NBA previously used Wachtell Lipton in a pair of high-profile investigations of ownership misconduct, per The Athletic’s trio, and both resulted in the owners selling the teams. The first case was back in 2014 with former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, and the second occurred in 2022 with ex-Suns owner Robert Sarver."
I think the NBA means business on this one. Wachtel Lipton did the NBA dirty work on Sterling and Sarver.
I knew the defense story would be BS, but I didn't think it was this weak. Really the only thing that Ballmer is saying is "they scammed me, they are scammers". It's really just a deflection technique, because the legitimacy of the company doesn't really matter. For example, Delta is a legitimate company and sponsors the Jazz. It doesn't matter that Delta is not a scam company because the charge is circumventing the cap. If Ryan Smith paid $50M to Delta and then Delta paid $48M to a player to sign a contract that he must play for the Jazz that is cap circumvention.
Realistically, what the Clippers will argue with the investigators is more similar to their initial "non-denial". There's no piece of paper that's going to directly say "this money goes to Kawhi Leonard", and therefore they will claim ignorance that they had no idea where the money was going. I don't know if that's enough defense from a legal perspective and the NBA only needs circumstantial evidence. If the league doesn't drop the hammer, it's complete BS IMO. But I'm expecting complete BS.
Realistically, what the Clippers will argue with the investigators is more similar to their initial "non-denial". There's no piece of paper that's going to directly say "this money goes to Kawhi Leonard", and therefore they will claim ignorance that they had no idea where the money was going. I don't know if that's enough defense from a legal perspective and the NBA only needs circumstantial evidence. If the league doesn't drop the hammer, it's complete BS IMO. But I'm expecting complete BS.
Also, as fishy as this looks from the outside, this story came from the inside. The reason scam tree company got outed is because there were innocent employees (that actually wanted to plant trees) who became whistleblowers and exposed the company. Why would the whistleblowers take down the scam company and then lie about the involvement of the Clippers? There is legitimate investigative reporting on this. I know we live in a world where we just say "fake news" to everything, but there are 7 former employees and thousands of pages of documents that Torre used to form this story. It's legitimate journalism.
You can see the disdain Cuban has for whistleblowers in the interview lol. Billionaires despise the working class.
You can see the disdain Cuban has for whistleblowers in the interview lol. Billionaires despise the working class.