Free Steve Ballmer

First off, let me say that I'm not an expert on the Aspiration scandal, nor would I probably ever be, as I now have limited interest outside of hoping that Ballmer and co. are able to get their punishment - "the harshest penalties in league history" - minimized.  This isn't something I really care to do deep research on, someone else's dirty laundry.

When I was kid, my moms used to be like 'keep your nose out of other people's business', and that's kinda how I feel in this case.  I know none of this stuff is really private, like looking in someone's window.  But still, there are some fundamental, let's say preliminary questions that I'm still having a hard time, in my own limited wisdom, processing.

WHY PUT YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE OVER SOMETHING LIKE THIS?

This question is aimed specifically at Pablo Torre, the journalist who broke the story.

Now, let's be frank.  If the Clippers really do end up having to pay $30mil(!), besides Ballmer and a couple of high-ranking executives being suspended (without pay), besides the team losing five 1st round picks(!), you have to presume that some rich, powerful people are going to be pissed off, maybe.  I've already speculated that if Kawhi was getting money under the table, Ballmer must've been receiving some too.  So maybe he'll just take it like 'okay, I jacked the money, so let me pay it back, no love loss', even though the penalty exceeds what's reportedly been paid to Kawhi.

But if not, I would believe that Torre, if he's wise, will be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life.  And I mean okay, he's a journalist and an investigative one, obviously.   I remember once reading something like, out of every profession where a person doesn't put his life in direct danger (like a cop, fireman, etc.), journalism is the most dangerous.  So there are inherent risks, which of course Pablo is cognizant of.  But that brings me to my second question.

Why, as a journalist, out of all the things to potentially put your life on the line for, would it be a professional athlete receiving money under the table?  Like, aren't there more pertinent conspiracies going on?  What about forced vaccinations and AI and datacenters and shit like that?

What I'm imagining is that maybe dude is a superfan.  You know what I mean?  Like the implication here, from what I can gather, i.e. the rationale behind not allowing players to receive money in roundabout ways is because then richer teams can enlist someone, say they're paying them one thing but actually giving him more.  And that would adversely affect the organizations with less money, obviously.  So if that kinda shit becomes pervasive, there goes the parity.

If Torre feels like that, okay.  If he's, say, a Raptors' fan and is like 'hell no, we could've kept Kawhi if not for that Aspiration sh*t', then okay, I understand.  But if not, I mean yeah, I'm kinda wondering why he was compelled to blow up the spot.

You would have to presume he did it in the name of professional advancement.  But that said, Tim Donaghy was a more ethical whistleblower, if you will.  He exposed something that affects everybody, not just some single, already rich dude receiving extra dough - but how players and fans alike were being gypped.

BALLMER ALREADY F*CKED UP ANYWAY

So okay, Uncle Dennis and all considered, what's being implied here is that LAC wanted Kawhi, but he wanted more money than they could legally offer, so they tacked on the Aspiration deal.  If that's the case, it can be said that Steve Ballmer has already been punished because, oh shit, despite that extra $20mil+, the team still sucked.

In fact, the Kawhi + PG13 + plus eventually Beard experiment has promptly gone down in history as one of the worst superteams ever.  And, double-oh shit, Leonard missed almost half the games during his tenure with the Clippers.

They didn't like super suck but were mediocre as all damn.  Meanwhile, Kawhi didn't contribute to winning in any type of noteworthy way, nor was he present consistently enough for fans to feel confident they would see him if they bought tickets.

Please Mr. Silver, Ballmer has already been punished enough.  Why would you pay an extra $20mil+ just to make the play-ins?  LOL.  But maybe, the NBA knows something I don't.

KAWHI LEONARD - YOU HAVE TO LOVE TO HATE HIM

Since we're on the subject of Kawhi, let me get this off my chest.  The first year I've begun watching the NBA was in 1991, the postseason to be exact.  I remember because that was when the Bulls won their first championship.  They beat the Lakers and then, a week later, Magic was like 'I have HIV'.  Talk about excuses.

So now, 35 years later, let me say there's only once I ever got emotional upon a player leaving a team, and that was when Kawhi forced himself out of San Antonio in 2018.  Now let me say, I'm definitely a fan, but I don't necessarily favor Leonard or the Spurs, not like that, that I particularly care about their transactions more than anyone else's.  But the reason this bothered me, even more than Kawhi playing diva (which was the rage circa 2020), is that he singlehandedly destroyed the greatest dynasty in NBA history.

Up until that point, the Spurs were the only organization, again in NBA history, to be considered contenders for 20 years straight.  And that's besides their reputation of finding diamonds outside of the lottery and developing them into superstars, like Kawhi.

So let's imagine, even if Leonard had stuck around, San Antonio still got Wemby.  After all, they did get Duncan with Robinson already on the roster.  This would have now been the fourth decade straight they were contenders.  It was Kawhi leaving that broke that streak, even though dudes were still kinda competitive after he bounced.

And I mean, in hindsight I definitely get it.  He wanted the full Lebron/KD treatment.  I didn't fully appreciate his disgruntlement at the time, but more recently, I came to empathize.

Kawhi won Finals MVP, at age 22, after only three years in the league, over a prime Lebron and D-Wade.  Let me repeat that - over a prime Lebron and D-Wade, and dude wasn't even an allstar that season.  Btw, Wade also has the distinction of winning Finals MVP in just his third season.  But it ain't like the team he was up against, the 2005-06 Mavericks, were super.

Kawhi remained with the Spurs a few more years - eventually reaching undisputed alpha status - but never won another championship with them.  However, he put doubters to rest when he replicated the feat, i.e. leading a team to the mountaintop, with the Raptors.

Leonard's stock was higher than ever, and if I remember correctly, the Raptors were in a position to pay him more than anyone else.  So all of that considered, I understand how Ballmer may have thought he was worth an extra $20mil+.  

So presumably, the reason we don't see Kawhi consistently mentioned in the same conversation as Steph, LBJ and other undeniable greats of the day is most likely due to injuries.  All of these injuries he's suffered since going to Los Angeles, if they're really real, I would have to imagine is some kinda karma, because after Toronto, he was truly on his way to being considered an all-time great.  And what is fate punishing him for?  Sh*tting on the Spurs, of course.

Or as a wise woman once told me, 'it's not what you ask for but how you ask for it'.  If you felt the organization was undervaluing you, okay.  But deserting your teammates and shit like that, especially when you're the best player on the team, isn't a good look.  It ain't like dude was a free agent, like, say, Lebron when he left Miami.  Kawhi was just like 'fukit, I quit'.

So yeah, I do believe sometimes that the powers-that-be aren't too fond of dude and perhaps don't want him to become more influential.  But I don't believe those feelings have anything to do with the Aspiration probe per se.  But if you have to stick to anyone for doing something grimy, why not Kawhi?  This is yet another strike against his legacy.

CONCLUSION

Dear Commissioner Silver, yeah, we get it.  Lebron, the most-popular player in the NBA, just signed a deal for only $4mil/year, and by gosh, that's all he's gonna get.  We can't have organizations going around, circumventing and shit.  The struggle for parity is real, and there will be casualties.

But that said, in this case, who really gives AF?  By the looks of things, the Clippers already shot themselves in the foot, paying an extra $20mil+ for a player who, as far as I know, hasn't won jackshit for the franchise.  If that is solely the case, then this has to rank amongst the dumbest braintrust moves in NBA history, which is punishment enough.  We don't want to see dudes (continue to) suck for the next five years.  What are you trying to do, turn them back into the Clippers of old?

SMH @ Toronto Raptors

There's this article recently posted on MTO News titled "James Harden Paid Gang Member to Extort Adrian Broner".  MediaTakeOut is this gossipy, psuedo-journalism site, replete with intentionally-misleading headlines, that seems to get most of its information from social media.  They often write in a way which gives the impression that they're afraid of potentially facing a lawsuit.  For instance, their articles regularly feature misspelled words, poor editing or are sometimes downright confusing.

So as far as I can gather, the above post doesn't contain any actual reports or allegations pointing to Harden having extorted Broner (besides the headline).  Rather, it focuses on this idea that all celebrities who venture into a certain part of Los Angeles are extorted by gangbangers who demand "protection" money.

And on that note, let me chime something that I find pretty interesting.  Law enforcement is ubiquitous in the United States, besides citizens being under ever-increasing levels of surveillance, and that's especially true in big cities like Los Angeles.  Yet somehow, street gangs are able to perpetuate and proliferate.  But I guess that's a discussion for another blog.

SLICING THE NBA PIE

The reason I'm bringing that whole story up is because, reading that article had me once again thinking that there's there's no way these NBA players are making as much money as their contracts stipulate.  In other words, besides gangsters, there a whole bunch of other unsavory characters, if you will, that making millions of dollars attract.  And I would further speculate that the cut of some of those characters, i.e. the more formalized payments, are actually written into the contracts.

A quick Google search reveals that NBA players, on average, actually take home about 50% of their salary.  This is after taxes of course, besides paying "NBA escrow fees", agents and a "jock tax", whatever TF that is.

As far as those escrow fees go, if I'm reading correctly, it's a 10% cut that the league takes to ensure that the owners also profit or whatever, and players may get some of it back (tho refunds aren't common).  But that said, considering that, according to Google, a superstar's contract usually averages about 50 pages(!), then yeah, I think other parties may be written in there someway somehow, even if under those aforementioned categories.

"GENERATIONAL WEALTH"

These days, you hear the media talking alot about "generational wealth" in relation to NBA players, and they imply that, in order to pass down earnings to future generations, you have to make something like $100mil.  That's bullshit.

To most people in the world, even a million dollars - or perhaps even as low as 100k - may be considered "generational wealth", because ultimately, when you find yourself with surplus, it's not about how much extra you have but how you use it.  If you look at some of the greatest tycoons in American history, i.e. those who have built up "generational wealth", many, if not most of them, started from nothing.  They began as lackeys of the same companies or industries that they later went on to dominate.

And that's why some dudes can even make $100mil+ over their career and still end up broke.  Dudes on vet min. contracts are making "generational wealth", so long as they don't blow it on frivolous shit which, all things considered, they probably will.

KAWHI & BALLMER'S "ASPIRATIONS"

Or another way of looking at it is that virtually all money in the NBA is big money.  And all of this yappng is ultimately bringing us to Kawhi Leonard.

If I'm reading these allegations correctly, besides the gazillion dollars he's already making through his standard contract, the Clippers paid him roughly $30mil extra(!) through an endorsement deal with a third party (Aspiration) even though, according to said deal, Kawhi doesn't actually have to endorse anything.  If true, that's a pretty clever way to get extra funds to a player.  And again, Steve Ballmer is one of the greatest businessmen of 21st century America.  So you have to believe he's getting a cut of that $30mil also, besides perhaps other parties.

And then, in comes the Raptors.  If Phoenix was the surprise team of the West, then Toronto was that of the East.  This franchise is like a dumping ground for players the Knicks no longer want, and like they never, ever ever ever score an A-list free agent signing.  Yet and still, they were able to take the Cavs to seven games and, imo, even tho they lost were the better or at least more promising team.

This organization, despite its territorial shortcomings, is known to overachieve from time to time.  And that's why I said, at the conclusion of last season, they were just a player away from being contenders.  I was thinking more along the lines of a formidable big, but if you need a quality C yet can't score one, Kawhi is definitely the next option.  And that's not the mention the established history he already has with the Raptors.

But the reason I'm shaking my head is because, how long has this Aspiration shit been going on now?  But you see that as soon as the offseason transaction period began, the Clippers and Raptors tried to strike that deal quick quick quick.

What they didn't realize, or perhaps what they were trying to circumvent is that Silver and co. are really clamping down, the way I see it, on players' earnings.  That's what all this "tax apron" shit is leading to, in clearly visible terms, not contenders having trim down as much as players being paid less.  And in terms of all of this Aspiration stuff, i.e. organizations finding ways to pay players formally yet off-the-books at the same time, there's probably going to be a lot more of that going on now that dudes are systematically being paid less than their worth.  Previously, I was one of those people who viewed NBA players as being overpaid.  But now, knowing they only take home half of their salaries, I understand better.

So more specifically, the reason all of this funny - in a dark humor kinda way - is because the Raptors, all things considered, took sort of an unethical action.  It appears that they thought they could take Kawhi - shadiness and all - without having to face any of the consequences themselves.

Upon realizing that they would have to, they put the deal on hold, perhaps indefinitely, considering that the league is refusing to release a definitive timeline for the end of their investigation.  That's not necessarily the bad part because no, you shouldn't pay for any wrongdoing you weren't directly a part of(?).

But what does suck is that somehow, this whole drama has led to Toronto doing jackshit this entire offseason.  That isn't ideal, since they didn't even get past the First Round, while some of their competitors have upgraded.  So yeah, it does kinda look like they tried to beat the system but are slated to take a loss instead.

CONCLUSION

If things continue as is and if they league doesn't punish them too hard, this may actually good news for the Clippers, you know, keeping Leonard.  And that's another reason why they look guilty because, looking at their roster without Kawhi, like why would they trade away the only established star on the team, i.e. their clearly-best player?  Not only would this iteration of the Clippers likely suck (even more) without Kawhi but furthermore, it'd be really difficult for them to get national TV time (i.e. sell tickets) with this cast.  It looks sorta like a sell-fast-because-the-product-is-defective type of the scenario, with the buyer also trying to take advantage of that fact.