07-30-2026, 06:53 PM
(07-30-2026, 06:14 PM)RoyTarpleysGhost Wrote: WAT
Not sure if you're being obtuse on purpose. Kawhi getting millions of $$$ in assets from businesses with ties to the Clippers/Balmer is kind of the whole point of the impropriety. Being gifted a $28 endorsement contract and not doing any endorsements. Being gifted with equity in a soccer team. Being gifted with potential real estate assets.
I'm saying I'm not sure how any of this is different from the way big business generally works.
Having a celebrity name as part of an ownership group doesnt seem odd. Nor does bestowing them with a piece of the pie they are wanting to grow. Nor does a sports entity getting government help for building out or improving facilities. Nor does calling on a rich influential person you know to navigate or help your endeavor, or give you an avenue to talk to someone you want to talk to.
Those are benefits of celebrity, of being rich, or of having close ties to someone who is influential.
In fact, the NBA CBA describes things like that as NOT being a big deal. It is wanting players to be able to use their earnings to do things in business that other wealthy people can do. And use connections - including owners - to their benefit.
What did you hear in this new stuff that goes beyond that, and is proof of Ballmer secretly funneling money to Kawhi? I could have missed it from tuning out as it seemed to me they made mountains out of molehills, but I didn't hear anything worth the hype.