The Sixers Just Got UNEXPECTED News That Could CHANGE Their Future…

The Sixers Just Got UNEXPECTED News That Could CHANGE Their Future…

A wild story broke in the NBA world today and not only could it result in serious punishment, but it could change the way the NBA looks at things and it may even directly impact the Sixers future. Today we’ll talk about the wild circus of Kawhi Leonard, Steve Balmer, and the LA Clippers. All that and more coming up here on Philly Take with RB. But welcome into the show, man. Hit that thumbs up if you have been waiting for some juicy content like this because let me tell you something, man. Pablo Tore finds out. He messed around and found out. I don’t know if this is his podcast where he investigates things or or what’s going on. He’s had some ups and downs over the years in the sports media world, but Pablo Tore comes out today with a bang. He says, “Exclusive, Kawawaii Leonard signed a $28 million endorsement deal for a quote unquote no-show job with a fraudulent tree planting company funded by $50 million from Clippers owner Steve Balmer, according to documents obtained by Pablo Tori.” Quote, “It was to circumvent the salary cap per an inside source.” So, I mean, if you thought this was going to be some normal weekday, nah, man. Pablo Tori said, “I’m coming out and I’m going to make a statement.” So, it’s not just like one individual here. It’s Kawawaii involved. Steve Balmer, the whole Clippers franchise. So, this is interesting. Little more to follow up here from ESPN. The Clippers are accused of circumventing the salary cap by paying 28 million to Kawhi Leonard. Pablo Tore reported that the Clippers paid him through a now bankrupt company called Aspirations. and we’ll get into them in just a little bit. But to follow up on his initial report, Pablo Toré says, “Steve Balmer and the Clippers, when we asked them for comment, they said that this was probably false. They did not know at the time we had over 3,000 pages of documents and seven sources.” So, I guess the more I think about this, is Pablo Tori becoming an investigator? Is he going to work for the FBI? Maybe his sports media career is going downhill. He’s like, “Hey, I’m just going to go try to like pin somebody against the wall and uh break a big story.” I don’t know. But what I do know is that this is crazy. This is wild. For reference, here’s the last time that a team circumvented the salary cap and got in trouble. Essentially tried to go around the rules that are in place to sign a player. And keep in mind, they signed Kawhai. What has it been like 3, four years now at this point? But anyway, the Minnesota Timberwolves circumvented the salary cap when they signed Joe Smith. And here is what they were penalized with. Five first round picks forfeited. Two were returned later. A $3.5 million fine. Joe Smith’s most recent contract was voided. His bird rights were stripped away. Wolves owner Glenn Taylor was suspended and the GM Kevin McCale was forced to take a leave of absence. This happened almost 25 years ago. In recent years, tampering findings have resulted in the loss of second round picks. And guess who knows about that? Well, you know, the Sixers tamper with uh I don’t know, PJ Tucker, Daniel House, they get hit with a second round or two seconds. Knicks tamper with Jaylen Brunson, they get a slap on the wrist. But anyway, Sixers know about this well, but the Clippers could be in some deep doodoo here. And how can this directly impact the 76ers? The Sixers currently own the Clippers 2028 first round pick, right? That was acquired in the James Harden trade. And they also acquired a 2029 firstround pick swap, right? Which means it’s top three protected. And if it falls in the top three, the Clippers pick, the Sixers would have the right to swap first round picks with the Clippers. How does this impact the Sixers? Well, let’s just say the NBA goes and does a little bit of digging here and finds out that this is true and I don’t know, voids Kawhi Leonard’s contract. I mean, the guy doesn’t play many games anymore anyway, but he’s still a damn good player. And I don’t know, maybe they go dig some more and they find they did some weird stuff with James Harden, right? And it’s funny when you think about the irony of it, like James Harden left here because Daryl my kind of promised him, you know, some different type of contract agreement. And I’m sure there’s a lot of things that go on like this behind the scenes that never come to light. But Pablo Tori is going out here with a swing. And I’ll tell you what, if Pablo Tori is false here, I mean, there’s no better way to destroy your career if you’re trying to become an investigator. But anyway, this could have impact because let’s say Kawi Leonard gets voided or they do something else to the Clippers and you know, even though I’ve told you many times they’re not a championship team, they will not be even the roster they kind of strung together for this season to me is not that good and is not going to survive healthwise. But if they, you know, do something with Kawawaii, the Clippers might end up having to just finally hit the reset button and blow it up. And that means they might not be good in a couple years, which could increase the value on this pick and on this pick swap. So, this could have some direct implications with the Sixers. I guess Sixers fans should be hoping for the Clippers to get in trouble here. But Stephen A. Smith chimed in on the situation. Stephen A goes off on Kawhi Leonard. quote, “If there’s a way for this brother to get money guaranteed without working, I haven’t seen too many people as gifted in taking time off as Kawhi Leonard. He’s been on him for a couple years now.” And look, man, I mean, Kawhai had that incredible run with the Toronto Raptors for the season and won the chip and all that, but they told him, you know, even going back to San Antonio, like, you have knee issues and these are going to persist. And once he got to LA, they told him as well like, “Look, you’re going to have to deal with this for the rest of your career, unfortunately. I mean, he’s a heck of a player, maybe one of the, I don’t know, top 20, top 30 talents, but healthwise, he’s been hindered and probably not living up to that contract just cuz he doesn’t play enough games. And like I said, Sixer fans can feel that 100%.” But anyway, what is actually going on here? Like, why did Kawawaii take money? Well, according to this article here on Fox Sports, which explains it a little bit better, Kawhi Leonard and a Californiabased sustainability service company allowed the LA Clippers to circumvent league salary cap rules. The probe will focus on ties between Kawaii, the Clippers, and a company called Aspiration Fund Advisor LLC, which filed for bankruptcy this year. It listed several creditors at the time, among them the Clippers, who were owed about $30 million, and a company called KL2 Aspire that was owed $7 million. Leonard is listed as the manager of the company in California filings. KL is his initials and two is his jersey number. Emails sent to his list of representatives seeking comment Wednesday were not returned. But the NBA is investigating and essentially this company was sponsoring the LA Clippers. I think it actually has some info here. Oh, here it is. Clippers owner Steve Balmer made a $50 million investment in Aspiration and the company and the team announced a $300 million partnership in September 2021. That was about one month after Leonard had signed a 4-year $176 million extension with the Clippers. So essentially what they’re saying here is, you know, Steve Balmer invested in the company which helped boost them, right? Gave them credibility. They went and then inked a partnership with the Clippers to be their official sponsor. So they’re giving them money back. And at the same time, because Steve Balmer invested in them, you know, and they were able to partner and be like that official name partner of the Clippers, they helped secretly pay Kawhi Leonard $28 million and um, you know, essentially made him more money. And this is just uh, crazy business. You know, if true, I mean, I feel like there should be major penalties for this, and I’m sure the NBA will look into it more. But why is everybody all up in arms after this? Well, as things work on the internet nowadays, people go back and uh they search things up. So, I’ve seen about 10 of these tweets today, like the Clippers shouting somebody out or, you know, happy birthday post. And this was back in 2021. So, this Twitter account, Aspiration, it says, “For every comment, Aspiration will plant one tree for Eric Bledso’s birthday.” But when we click on Aspiration, it comes to a blank Twitter page. Why? because this company, like it said, is bankrupt. And not only that, it says Aspirations co-founder Joseph Sandberg agreed to plead guilty last month after facing federal charges of wire fraud. Prosecutors say he defraed investors and lenders out of 248 million aspirations financial statements were inaccurate and reflected much higher revenue than the company in fact received. So, I mean, that company went downhill. these guys are probably going to jail like the uh the co-founder, the founder. But um Mark Cuban has a different opinion. Here’s what he says. I’m on team Steve Balmer. As much as I wish they circumvented the salary cap, Steve is not that dumb. If he did try to feed Kawhi Leonard money, knowing what was at stake for him personally and his team, do you think he would let the company go bankrupt? That’s a good point. you know, if he’s investing in this company, he’s putting his name and his stamp of approval on it, and they’re also using them to filter money to Kawaii. Why would he let them go bankrupt? So, I think that’s a great point there, knowing all creditors would be visible to the world. They got scammed by Aspiration along with many others, which is true. Scammers do scammy things. They did a $300 million sponsorship deal with the Clippers. That’s a huge deal. The better the team does, the more value the sponsorship has. It makes perfect sense that if they stole money from investors and want the Clippers to succeed, why not give the stolen money to keep their best player? So, I think Mark’s kind of saying both things can be true here. Like, yeah, you know, they did the deal with the Clippers and they gave the money to Kawawaii, but at the same time, you know, they did it because it increased the value of their sponsorship, which again is still illegal in terms of the NBA side of it. So, it almost is like Mark Cuban is saying like Steve Balmer did not have direct input here, but the company did it or at least knew something about it to help him out, but Steve Balmer would not let them go bankrupt because then the whole thing would come crashing down how it is right now and then a guy like Pablo Tory would come out do a story on it and they would all come crumbling down. At the end of the day, this is absolutely wild and uh it’s just interesting. Goes along with this Clippers timeline. Like imagine if we just start getting dominoes about them, you know, doing these weird deals and fraudulent, you know, negotiations and things. And who knows, maybe James Harden got some, you know, backdoor payment or something. I don’t know. But, uh, it just goes right along with the Clippers timeline. And if true, they could be cooked and that would help the Sixers draft capital in the future. That’s pretty much it, man. Give me your thoughts down below. Do you think this is true? Do you think it’s not true? What do you think will happen next? How should they be penalized? Give me your thoughts down below. Appreciate everybody for tapping in. Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe. And as always, I’ll catch you on the next one. Peace.

Earlier today, reports surfaced that the Clippers and Owner Steve Ballmer could be in some trouble for circumventing the salary cap during the process of signing Kawhi Leonard. Pablo Torre dropped some specific details on this matter, and now the NBA is formally investigating. In terms of the Sixers, this could drastically impact their future as the team owns a 2028 1st round pick and a 2029 1st round pick swap from the Clippers. What do you think the proper punishment is here? Today, we discuss it all!

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