AROUND the NBA:

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Mark Cuban: Congrats, Pablo.

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LOL

[Chicagojk]

I am glad the NBA took a hard stand.   IMO it was a big direction of the league thing.    As we move forward, we are seeing the really rich guys are getting even more rich.   They are purchasing teams.   Saudi money is entering the league.  Private equity is here.    There is a gray line in what is legal and what is not legal.   The league needed to come down hard or things can get out of hand.   Moving forward it is going to be harder and harder to prove.   I really don't blame the player as much.   They are looking for every revenue stream they can get while in their playing careers.  I am not saying they are blameless, but I hold the teams to higher standards.

KD made millions a few weeks ago investing in a company that was acquired.    Is that on the up and up if a team contact connected him to this?   What happens if a player gets an early seat on a hot IPO?  Maybe they are putting their own money down, so maybe different?   What happens if a player pockets 10 million to head over to an Arab State for a few days to meet and greet?  Is that Legal?   With the rich getting more rich and controlling more things there is going to be a lot of grey areas.  Good for the NBA to come down hard in case someone else crosses that line.   There should be fear of crossing that line imo.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

The report released by the NBA law firm has plenty of receipts of the improper behavior. I dont see the Clippers having much recourse other than throwing a tantrum like a toddler.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

Kyrie is simply not worth more. Dirk is the obvious one: 8, 8, 25, 5, 5, but hard to prove that they pre-planned it, unless Cuban runs his mouth and brags about it. We all know that is very unlikely. Nevermind. Dirk, it´s time to move to Germany or Sweden with the wife and kids. 

Call me naive AF but I chose to believe Dirk took those discount because he really is that guy.

[KillerLeft]

Here’s Pablo Torre explaining how the NBA settled with Kawhi in order to box Balmer out of the arbitration process. Pretty slick, and it explains why Kawhi’s punishment was so light. He sold Balmer and the Clippers out, basically. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/CyZKaSdeKgE?i...EWJIihRfbw

[Mavs2021]

Here’s Pablo Torre explaining how the NBA settled with Kawhi in order to box Balmer out of the arbitration process. Pretty slick, and it explains why Kawhi’s punishment was so light. He sold Balmer and the Clippers out, basically. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/CyZKaSdeKgE?i...EWJIihRfbw

Also explains why they traded Kawhi. No way they could have continued that relationship.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Zach Lowe: "The Clippers are somewhere beyond fucked... As recently as yesterday, a front office exec from another team said, 'Hey, the Clippers are quietly positioning themselves in case Jokic wants to leave Denver with lots of cap space and LA and all that.' Forget that. This team is dead."

reddit

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Pablo Torre: "This is the story of a smart man at Steve Ballmer who thought he was smarter than he was. And I say that because he partnered with a company in Aspiration that went bankrupt. It collapsed due to fraud. He, I am sure, lost millions of dollars that he was shocked to discover went into the pocket of a guy who is now in federal prison for 14 years, the co-founder of Aspiration, who, by the way, shows up in the NBA report and in our reporting because something that he attested to was able to be corroborated by three other patterns in separate companies. So, Steve Ballmer scammed but also was trying to deceive the NBA." Pablo Torre: If you’ve been following our (ongoing) investigation into the Clippers and Steve Ballmer and Kawhi Leonard, you know we’ve been waiting for this day for a year. We published Part I on September 3rd, 2025. This, Part 15, we streamed live last night — on September 2nd, 2026 — roughly 90 minutes after the NBA announced its punishment and the league’s outside counsel, Wachtell Lipton, dropped a detailed 35-page report. Accountability for the wealthiest people on Earth is hard to come by. Thank you for believing in the power of independent reporting to accomplish it. (And, yes, more to come.)

Pablo Torre Finds Out

[DanSchwartzgan]

Call me naive AF but I chose to believe Dirk took those discount because he really is that guy.

Agreed.  Unless Cuban was stupid enough to Joe Smith the arrangement, everyone in the world kind of knew what the plan was at the time and Dirk was allowed to agree to whatever deal he wanted as long as there was no written quid pro quo.  There simply isn’t any comparison to what Balmer tried to pull here.  Paper cut versus losing an arm.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Shams on the Raptors extending Kawhi Leonard: "The expectation is there will be an extension here to come with Kawhi Leonard"

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This is akin to Kawhi surviving a fatal car crash without so much as a scratch on him.

[michaeltex]

Agreed.  Unless Cuban was stupid enough to Joe Smith the arrangement, everyone in the world kind of knew what the plan was at the time and Dirk was allowed to agree to whatever deal he wanted as long as there was no written quid pro quo.  There simply isn’t any comparison to what Balmer tried to pull here.  Paper cut versus losing an arm.

As an example, Dirk signed 3yrs for $25M (leaving $15M on the table), which allowed DAL to get rFA Chandler Parsons for 3yrs @ $46M. When asked about the financial sacrifice, Nowitzki famously quipped: “I told him every dinner on the road this year is on him, because it's my money anyway.” Parsons embraced the joke and happily obliged, acknowledging Nowitzki's unselfish gesture to bring him to the franchise.

[Chicagojk]

As an example, Dirk signed 3yrs for $25M (leaving $15M on the table), which allowed DAL to get rFA Chandler Parsons for 3yrs @ $46M. When asked about the financial sacrifice, Nowitzki famously quipped: “I told him every dinner on the road this year is on him, because it's my money anyway.” Parsons embraced the joke and happily obliged, acknowledging Nowitzki's unselfish gesture to bring him to the franchise.

Wasn't the joke that Cuban's production company picked up that Dirk Documentary and that it might have been the highest paid Doc ever? LOL

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Shams Charania: WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has decided to retire at the end of the season, sources tell ESPN.

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I don't blame her. The WNBA is off the rails.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Pablo Torre Finds Out: INVESTIGATION: Before Mark Walter sold the Lakers, he bought the Dodgers. Then came $350M via Magic Johnson — and hidden deals with each other. "Magic Johnson helped him out with the Dodgers deal," an insider reveals. "They're trying to...put him on the map as a billionaire."

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[windjc]

Kawhi is TOXIC. I would not want that guy anywhere near my team. Good luck Toronto.