The clippers stuff is such horse***** The 2 key benefactors and orchestrators of the scheme got the least punishment. This is the 2nd time Ballmer was caught for circumventing the cap (he did it before with Deandre Jordan). He should be forced to sell the team. And Kawhi netted at LEAST $50m from his aspiration deal and only has to pay $700k?! How is that even a punishment? Meanwhile, the fans of the clippers are actually the ones paying the price with these draft pick forfeitures. Silver is so ****ing incompetent.

i honestly think Kawhi and Ballmer should be blacklisted from the league. What they did was no better than sports betting. They circumvented player negotiated rules to gain a competitive advantage over the entire league. AND this wasn't Ballmer's first time 'oopsie.'

Guitarsoup said:

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satexas said:

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2 immediate thoughts -

1. Leonard getting just a 700k fine is BS. A contract void on "fruit of the poisoned tree" was expected.

2. Ballmer will fight for sure and if not pressured hard enough from league peers - likely win.

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I think Kawhi not getting punished more had more to do with

1. the NBPA negotiated the punishment
2. Kawhi probably had plausible deniability
3. Kawhi fired his agent/uncle and hired a new agent
4. A deal was already done for him to go to Toronto and the NBA doesn't want to penalize Toronto, who did nothing wrong

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I don't think he had #2 given the 2019 investigation involving the Raptors and Lakers turning them in and the league did an investigation.

And, I get #1 (and #4), but what Kawhi did was so against the CBA, and for that matter, the proverbial F.U. to the league after the 2019 investigation. If a reckless gun flash on Instagram live that lasted about 1 second is worth 25 games, what is a repeated, premeditated salary cap circumvention actions penalty? Well apparently it is just over 1% of the money he received from Aspiration + Daktronics + Lokton + Boingo. And no fine for missed games.


As has been stated repeatedly throughout the media, Kawhi is the worst partner/superstar for any NBA team there is.

CharleyKerfeld said:

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What's funny is Ballmer is still only the 2nd worst owner in Clippers history.

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I would like to mention Irv Levin, who in my opinion, did one of the worst trades in NBA history.

In 1978, Boston Braves owners John Brown and Harry Mangurian traded their franchise (the future LA Clippers!) for Irv Levin's franchise, the Boston Celtics. Mangurian bought out Brown, and they landed McHale, Parrish, and some guy out of Indiana State, won an NBA title, and then he sold the team in 1983 for $17 million (not sure on exact number).

So Irv Levin traded the Celtics to become the owner of the Boston Braves/San Diego Clippers. 3 or so years later, he sold the Clippers to Donald Sterling for $12.5 million.

Pablo talked about the Kawhi punishment, and why it was so light. He basically said something along the lines that Ballmer threatened arbitration, but arbitration can only be enacted by a player and the union, so balmer is basically locked out of arbitration since Kawhi and the union accepted the punishment and that limits Ballmer's options

The New Orleans Pelicans are trading Jordan Hawkins, Micah Peavy, a future second-round pick and a future second-round pick swap to the Memphis Grizzlies for AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/JLvDjv9clc

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 8, 2026

Everyone's talking about Kawhi leaving and the picks being lost.

But don't sleep on Bradley Beal.

Some say he's past his prime.
Some say he's no longer THAT GUY.
Keep that same energy when Beal drops an easy 25 on your favorite defender.

He's still a bucket.

Keep sleeping. pic.twitter.com/edlfS0FXVP

— Clippers Nation (@ClipperNationCP) September 8, 2026

The level of cope is amazing

DOJ investigating the Clippers now

NEW and BREAKING: Justice Department prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into revelations the Clippers helped arrange secret sponsorship contracts for the star player Kawhi Leonard that circumvented the salary cap. https://t.co/0CLwBwTfdk
w/@WRashbaum @SantulN

— Michael S. Schmidt (@nytmike) September 10, 2026

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has wondered what type of shady and/or illegal maneuvers did Ballmer do while at Microsoft.

Iowaggie said:

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I'm sure I'm not the only person who has wondered what type of shady and/or illegal maneuvers did Ballmer do while at Microsoft.

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He was CEO from 2000-2014, so his reign was marked more by

* Missing out on social media (they bought Linkedin after he retired for 26B)
* Missing out on being the dominant search engine (LOL BING)
* Missing out on the cloud systems (i.e. Amazon Web Services)
* Missing out on the phone/tablet revolution (iPhone, iPad? - he bought Nokia for 7B and did ****all with it.)
* Not developing a good communications platform (eventually he bought Skype and then they later closed Skype)

He somehow missed pretty much all of the major tech revolutions and still became one of the richest men in the world. Impressive.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/05/12/oops-5-ceos-that-should-have-already-been-fired-cisco-ge-walmart-sears-microsoft/

Quote:

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#1 - Steve Ballmer, Microsoft. Without a doubt, Mr. Ballmer is the worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company today. Not only has he singlehandedly steered Microsoft out of some of the fastest growing and most lucrative tech markets (mobile music, handsets and tablets) but in the process he has sacrificed the growth and profits of not only his company but "ecosystem" companies such as Dell, Hewlett Packard and even Nokia. The reach of his bad leadership has extended far beyond Microsoft when it comes to destroying shareholder value - and jobs.

Microsoft peaked at $60/share in 2000, just as Mr. Ballmer took the reins. By 2002 it had fallen into the $20s, and has only rarely made it back to its current low $30s value. And no wonder, since execution of new rollouts were constantly delayed, and ended up with products so lacking in any enhanced value that they left customers scrambling to find ways to avoid upgrades. By Mr. Ballmer's own admission Vista had over 200 man-years too much cost, and its launch, years late, met users avoiding upgrades. Windows 7 and Office 2010 did nothing to excite tech users, in corporations or at home, as Apple took the leadership position in personal technology.

So today Microsoft, after dumping Zune, dumping its tablet, dumping Windows CE and other mobile products, is still the same company Mr. Ballmer took control over a decade ago. Microsoft is PC company, nothing more, as demand for PCs shifts to mobile. Years late to market, he has bet the company on Windows 8 - as well as the future of Dell, HP, Nokia and others. An insane bet for any CEO - and one that would have been avoided entirely had the Microsoft Board replaced Mr. Ballmer years ago with a CEO that understands the fast pace of technology shifts and would have kept Microsoft current with market trends.

Although he's #19 on Forbes list of billionaires, Mr. Ballmer should not be allowed to take such incredible risks with investor money and employee jobs. Best he be retired to enjoy his fortune rather than deprive investors and employees of building theirs.

There were a lot of notable CEO departures in 2012. Research in Motion, Best Buy and American Airlines are just three examples. But the 5 CEOs in this column are well on the way to leading their companies into the kind of problems those 3 have already discovered. Hopefully the Boards will start to pay closer attention, and take action before things worsen.

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Pablo explains why. Noting the problem with the 1% owner who is taking over for the suspended Clippers owner.
He also states that there is more to be released.

Silver may not need to remove Ballmer right now, but if he is in major trouble from the feds, it may be time for a potential new Clippers owner to start negotiating with the NBA to reduce the penalties.

A federal criminal investigation into the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard is reportedly underway.@PabloTorre reacts: "There is a lot more." pic.twitter.com/uKi9gFBC2S

— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 11, 2026

Jalen Duren is seeking a “Dennis Schröder” type of deal from the Pistons after turning down $190 million.

(Via @SharmsCharania) pic.twitter.com/0miiHQ0lJG

— NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) September 11, 2026

ETA the Ballsack Sports post.

“Bronny James” was called a bad pick at 55 in the same draft… still on the Lakers roster and just outplayed Reed Sheppard in a playoff series 👀

Better playoffs than Risacher too pic.twitter.com/kE07TXYo6G

— Ballsack Sports (@BallsackSports) September 28, 2026

The Charlotte Hornets are waiving former No. 8 pick Rob Dillingham, sources tell ESPN.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 28, 2026