[Torre] The NBA is in a bit of a “panic” following the alleged claims surrounding Steve Ballmer and Kawhi Leonard: “From the NBA perspective, what I’ve been told this morning is that it’s a bit of panic over there.”
September 3, 2025
Could the NBA be panicking because they know that this behavior is already widespread in the league?
32 comments
It’s going to be interesting when everyone signed to a contract in the last 3 years on the Clippers ends up becoming a free agent.
I think there’s a few things at work here:
1. Owners collectively are pissed at Balmer for skirting the aprons, and want him to get fucked, but some owners are worried about their own back door deals also becoming public.
2. League would like this to go away quickly and quietly, but will be compelled to address/investigate this issue due to the national attention it’s gotten.
3. Every player that’s getting a max is gonna expect to get a similar “under the table” deal to add to their salary, which further complicates contract negotiations between teams and players.
Therefore, we have panic.
I think people are forgetting there are potential tax implications of this. The last thing the NBA and every one of its’ owners wants is an IRS audit. Things can get very bad very quickly.
This isn’t the first time Ballmer has been caught circumventing the cap. They have to lay the hammer on him. I’m also not naive and know he isn’t alone and likely this is happening across sports leagues.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
This off season drama is amazing.
I mean… all it takes is planting 1 single tree and boom! Done.
Ballmer has been a gigantic presence and they don’t know how to punish him
Notice Shams and them suddenly don’t have sources leaking info about higher up convos. All radio silent
All this could have been avoided if Uncle Dennis named his corp anything other than KL7 😂😂
Meanwhile, the Knicks and Jalen Brunson be like 🙈
Why even have a salary cap if teams are doing this?
Transfer ban and relegate to the g league Juventus style
Void Kawhi’s contract and remove Balmer. Let’s stop with the narrative that every team is working under the table like this or even has the resources to. Not every owner has 50 mil to throw to his politician money laundering buddy who in turn gets him on a roster of A+++ celebrities making 4x their salary at 28 million.
To act like all 30 teams are always operating on good faith would be untrue, but there’s thresholds objectively that are too far. This was purposefully hidden and Balmer clearly bent the knee to this weird Consigliere uncle character walking in and running shit like it’s nothing.
I’ve only known about this guy for 6 hours and he’s already my sports journalism GOAT
Pinoys be proud
4x all the other bigger name stars combined?!?
Baller would probably argue that he’s not the only one who does this. And he might be right
Probably because if this is true Ballmer is powerfully enough to expose where it’s happening elsewhere. The league may as well even know about it and could topple the integrity of the sport as well
Slap on the wrist incoming
Donald Sterling: Well well well, being a penny pinching, racist slumlord ain’t so bad now, is it?
They better drop the hammer on the Clips for this or this shit will become the new normal.
Sounds like what Vegas did to the Aces by giving players 100K “endorsement deals to “promote the city”.
THE SUMMER OF PABLO TORRE CONTINUES
Now do the epstein list Pablo
Pablo Torre absolutely doing what journalism is supposed to do while Bill Simmons has an Ozempic-stricken Charles Barkley on his pod today telling 40 year old Michael Jahden stories
Later, Bryan Curtis is coming on to discuss Bill’s script he’s shopping for Hoosiers 2 where a 70-year old Larry Bird returns to French Lick to re-pave his driveway, throws his back out again and winds up coaching the local high school team, finding love along the way and reconnecting with the daughter he abandoned in the 80s, presented by FanDuel.
This is a can of worms that can extend well beyond the NBA. Now every “team friendly deal” will be criticized. Look at Gianni’s brother, Brunsons dad, Mahomes 10 year team friendly contract, Brady for years took team friendly deals.
This is a can of worms that drama junkies wants to explode like Chernobyl
I’m supposed to believe Jalen Brunson took a 100 mill pay cut
I just wanna say that I appreciate there is still good journalism. of course not as life-and-death as some political and foreign journalism, but it’s nice to not just be hot takes and rankings. it’s nice to have a real journalist still dropping real stories
This ain’t lookin good
We going to find out the LA fires were on purpose and they promised Luka property rights to all of the Palisades
>no tweets, likes favorites, no appearances nothing
Crazy how all this could blow over if kawhi sent out one “Happy earth day” tweet
The kicker to me is, Kawhi ain’t been worth none of that over there in LA lmao
To take on the NBA and Ballmer and the Justice Department with this level of journalism is astonishing. You just don’t get this quality of reporting anymore. He literally dropped a nuclear bomb on a 150 billion industry. Am in awe.
![[Torre] The NBA is in a bit of a “panic” following the alleged claims surrounding Steve Ballmer and Kawhi Leonard: “From the NBA perspective, what I've been told this morning is that it's a bit of panic over there.”](https://www.rawchili.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/R-9LQcqF7uYFoZiNmIl2n5QSSFoOJliVh-7VClilbPs-1920x1024.jpeg)
32 comments
It’s going to be interesting when everyone signed to a contract in the last 3 years on the Clippers ends up becoming a free agent.
I think there’s a few things at work here:
1. Owners collectively are pissed at Balmer for skirting the aprons, and want him to get fucked, but some owners are worried about their own back door deals also becoming public.
2. League would like this to go away quickly and quietly, but will be compelled to address/investigate this issue due to the national attention it’s gotten.
3. Every player that’s getting a max is gonna expect to get a similar “under the table” deal to add to their salary, which further complicates contract negotiations between teams and players.
Therefore, we have panic.
I think people are forgetting there are potential tax implications of this. The last thing the NBA and every one of its’ owners wants is an IRS audit. Things can get very bad very quickly.
This isn’t the first time Ballmer has been caught circumventing the cap. They have to lay the hammer on him. I’m also not naive and know he isn’t alone and likely this is happening across sports leagues.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
This off season drama is amazing.
I mean… all it takes is planting 1 single tree and boom! Done.
Ballmer has been a gigantic presence and they don’t know how to punish him
Notice Shams and them suddenly don’t have sources leaking info about higher up convos. All radio silent
All this could have been avoided if Uncle Dennis named his corp anything other than KL7 😂😂
Meanwhile, the Knicks and Jalen Brunson be like 🙈
Why even have a salary cap if teams are doing this?
Transfer ban and relegate to the g league Juventus style
Void Kawhi’s contract and remove Balmer. Let’s stop with the narrative that every team is working under the table like this or even has the resources to. Not every owner has 50 mil to throw to his politician money laundering buddy who in turn gets him on a roster of A+++ celebrities making 4x their salary at 28 million.
To act like all 30 teams are always operating on good faith would be untrue, but there’s thresholds objectively that are too far. This was purposefully hidden and Balmer clearly bent the knee to this weird Consigliere uncle character walking in and running shit like it’s nothing.
I’ve only known about this guy for 6 hours and he’s already my sports journalism GOAT
Pinoys be proud
4x all the other bigger name stars combined?!?
Baller would probably argue that he’s not the only one who does this. And he might be right
Probably because if this is true Ballmer is powerfully enough to expose where it’s happening elsewhere. The league may as well even know about it and could topple the integrity of the sport as well
Slap on the wrist incoming
Donald Sterling: Well well well, being a penny pinching, racist slumlord ain’t so bad now, is it?
They better drop the hammer on the Clips for this or this shit will become the new normal.
Sounds like what Vegas did to the Aces by giving players 100K “endorsement deals to “promote the city”.
THE SUMMER OF PABLO TORRE CONTINUES
Now do the epstein list Pablo
Pablo Torre absolutely doing what journalism is supposed to do while Bill Simmons has an Ozempic-stricken Charles Barkley on his pod today telling 40 year old Michael Jahden stories
Later, Bryan Curtis is coming on to discuss Bill’s script he’s shopping for Hoosiers 2 where a 70-year old Larry Bird returns to French Lick to re-pave his driveway, throws his back out again and winds up coaching the local high school team, finding love along the way and reconnecting with the daughter he abandoned in the 80s, presented by FanDuel.
This is a can of worms that can extend well beyond the NBA. Now every “team friendly deal” will be criticized. Look at Gianni’s brother, Brunsons dad, Mahomes 10 year team friendly contract, Brady for years took team friendly deals.
This is a can of worms that drama junkies wants to explode like Chernobyl
I’m supposed to believe Jalen Brunson took a 100 mill pay cut
I just wanna say that I appreciate there is still good journalism. of course not as life-and-death as some political and foreign journalism, but it’s nice to not just be hot takes and rankings. it’s nice to have a real journalist still dropping real stories
This ain’t lookin good
We going to find out the LA fires were on purpose and they promised Luka property rights to all of the Palisades
>no tweets, likes favorites, no appearances nothing
Crazy how all this could blow over if kawhi sent out one “Happy earth day” tweet
The kicker to me is, Kawhi ain’t been worth none of that over there in LA lmao
To take on the NBA and Ballmer and the Justice Department with this level of journalism is astonishing. You just don’t get this quality of reporting anymore. He literally dropped a nuclear bomb on a 150 billion industry. Am in awe.