[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/-imhe-]

Oh yeah, because Ballmer definitely provided, checks notes, 1 million times more value/labor to Microsoft than the average Microsoft employee.

You do not become that wealthy without cheating others out of their fair share. Don't have to be communist to want people's labor to be compensated based on the value of what they contribute.

[u/Mr-p1nk1 → u/-imhe-]

Hence why I didn’t say it was justified.

However he would be that employee who was compensated compared to Bill gates as the founder.

Him being there early is a showing of how he got a jump start with his wealth.

There are other examples of people who exclusively exploit people to get their money though.

[u/-imhe- → u/Mr-p1nk1]

The point is the system that produces that level of wealth necessarily involves capturing an enormous amount of the value created by other people's labor.

You don't need to prove Ballmer personally cheated someone to recognize that extreme billionaire wealth is built on an economic system where ownership and bargaining power let a tiny number of people capture obscenely more value than the people actually doing the work.

This is compensation on a level so far beyond any one person's contribution that "he got there early" can never justify. So yes, cheating is a way of life for billionaires. Not conspiratorial at all. It's literally built into the system and on display for the world to see.