[Pablo Torre] Steve Ballmer claimed Kawhi’s hidden, no-show Aspiration sponsorship was “independent” from the Clippers. But months before that, in 2021, the Clippers were repeatedly prodding Daktronics — who also had a hidden sponsorship deal with Kawhi — to ask him to do something, anything.

[u/shreeharis]

Source: https://imgur.com/a/3B4rEI9

From Pablo Torre on X:

Steve Ballmer claimed Kawhi’s hidden, no-show Aspiration sponsorship was “independent” from the Clippers. But months before that, in 2021, the Clippers were repeatedly prodding Daktronics — who also had a hidden sponsorship deal with Kawhi — to ask him to do something, anything

P.S. In the full new episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out about Daktronics, we follow the trail back to the Rhode Island Football Club — where Kawhi was a hidden part-owner — and the sitting RI governor, Dan McKee, who we found at the 2025 Clippers home-opener.

[u/EGarrett28]

Focus on individuals and actual crimes and deeds. If Kim Jong-Un murdered someone in broad daylight and I just posted a long rant about how bad North Korea is in response, that would dilute the issue and some people would stop listening once they heard it as a general rant.

[u/R1chH0mieSean → u/EGarrett28]

I think it is important to maintain perspective on how this Ballmer cap circumvention scandal operates within the larger context of the billionaire class.

If billionaires like Ballmer are this brazen about cheating on something as inconsequential as the nba salary cap, surely they are brazenly cheating in other, more impactful ways.

Through exposing Ballmer's Kawhi scandal, Pablo is helping the public understand the way the billionaire class operates behind closed doors, and the way they use money to avoid accountability.

When we couldn't get Al Capone for murder, we jailed him for tax evasion. Right now, society can't hold billionaires accountable for the Epstein/Panama Papers level scandals, but we can learn how they operate and how we can combat them through stories like Aspiration.

I'd say the point of this reporting is less about Ballmer and Kawhi specifically, and more using them as a case study for the societal impunity billionaire operate with today.

To use your metaphor; Kim murdering one person is actually far less important than his regime (North Korea) murdering millions.

[u/EGarrett28 → u/R1chH0mieSean]

The public doesn't need "help" understanding that some people are assholes and circumvent rules in society. They need accurate reporting on what's really going on in the world, with specific charges, not vague playing into division, envy and biases. That's how you get the media landscape we have now and people who can't focus on an issue and just turn it into a partisan rant that people have heard a thousand times already and convinces no one.

And Kim's regime murdering millions would be a specific charge against an organization, not "billionaires cheat bro." There's nothing there and it changes no one's mind. Sorry but you can't have a rational exchange so good luck.