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NBA SQUAD: Breaking Down The Crazy Kawhi Leonard, Steve Ballmer Scandal
00:33:01
Pablo Torre broke a crazy potential scandal involving Kawhi Leonard, the Los Angeles Clippers, Steve Ballmer and some suspicious money. NBA Squad breaks down all that we know, what this could mean for the league and much more!
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- [00:00]
Nick Angstead
Foreign.
- [00:04]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Podcast Network your team every day.
- [00:11]
Rylan Styles
On Fox 1.
- [00:12]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Now you can stream your favorite live.
- [00:14]
Rylan Styles
Sports so you can be there live.
- [00:15]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
For the biggest moments.
- [00:17]
Rylan Styles
Touchdown and catch. History in the making.
- [00:22]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Fox One we live for live streaming now.
- [00:26]
Ad Reader (RXBar)
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- [00:55]
Nick Angstead
Foreign.
- [00:58]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Show where we take over the feet of your favorite lockdown show Today we're talking about this Kawhi Leonard story because I don't know what Steve Ballmer did. I don't know if it's all connected but if it is, big trouble for the Clippers and the NBA in general. Not everybody's buying it though. We'll talk about why today. Welcome into the Lockdown NBA Squad show. My name is Nick Angstead. This is where we take over the feet of your favorite lockdown show. It's an open invite for any host to join and talk about anything they want in the NBA. Literally anything they want. I got Rylan Styles from Locked On Thunder Thunder Philip Rossman Reich Locked On Magic, Ryan Blackburn Locked on Nuggets, myself from Locked On Mavs. We're going to talk about probably a whole bunch of things today, but gentlemen, let's start with this today. The Kawhi Leonard story is one of the most interesting like could be massive blow up in your face story that I've seen in a long time. Let's start with this first because I asked this unlocked NBA Daily Today of West and Hayes. But I'll ask you guys too. Who do you believe? Do you be do you believe the Clippers, that this is nothing and the the Clippers don't have anything to do with this aspiration company that is giving money to Kawhi Leonard and was maybe funneled by Steve Ballmer? Or do you believe that Pablo Tori is right and that Kawhi was getting payments under the table? That's basically the question we're answering right now.
- [02:14]
Philip Rossman-Reich
Pablo Torre is right more often than he's wrong at this point. He is a legitimate reporter and he has been doing a lot of great digging over the course of these Last few years, and especially over Pablo, Tori finds out like, that dude has been on one. And it's just really impressive to see something like this pop up and out of the woodwork and know that, yeah, stuff like this, especially when you have to consider like so many of these contracts help you raise some eyebrows, like, why did Kawhi, why was he so, so vociferous about going to the Clippers and really locked in there? What are some motivations that some of these guys have? Like that there's, there's motivation written on the wall right there. Four years, 28 million off the books.
- [02:59]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Because the time when he made the decision, wasn't he deciding between the Lakers and the Clippers? It was like this big thing. He's supposed to be part of the big three with LeBron and AD and then all of a sudden we're like, wait, it's the Clippers and he's going to go with Paul George? And you're like, well, what. What changed his mind on this, Ryland? Is this what changed his mind?
- [03:15]
Rylan Styles
I mean, they've always said Paul George changed his mind. I don't, I don't know if now it's Paul George or the trees, but you can also have a lot of trees in la, not just in the ground. I think that when you look at this situation, though I'm not discounting Pablo's reporting, I think that Pablo found out the right information. I don't know how much legal action the NBA is going to be able to take on circumventing the cap just because it feels like let he who lives in a glass house throw the first stone or whatever. These things probably do happen across the league that we just don't know about. And it's why you've seen Mark Cuban already jump out in front of the moving train to defend the Clippers. And like Kawhi of all people, has someone who we outwardly know he trusts with his, with his family and with his representation. If you were really trying to circumvent the cap as a, as an excellent businessman that Steve Ballmer is, why wouldn't you just give the money to his uncle and like, yeah, his uncle's a part of this Activision tree planting ordeal and it's never going to get tied back to Kawhi. But. But then, furthermore, if this was your whole shtick, why did you let this company go bankrupt? And then now you have to release all of the different names that are on those documents. You would likely shuffle money to them under the table in A more safe way where you don't have to worry about this stuff ever coming out because the company goes bankrupt and messes over the Clippers included. So it's just very weird. Again, I think the reporting is accurate. I don't know that the objective though is of this whole Tree situation was to circumvent the salary cap.
- [04:51]
Nick Angstead
Yeah, I think Brian's Rylan's point is really true here is that this happens a lot more around the league than people probably realize. Like there are stories, I think back in the 80s and even early 90s where the Lakers were trying to give Magic Johnson some like equity in the, in the Lakers and make him a part owner while he's a player or make a promise to make him a part owner before he retired. And the NBA put the kibosh on that. Like I remember growing up, the Magic give out like a, a prize to like their, their, their community enrichment Award. They give out like 25, 000 to whoever's, whoever's whoever wins that award. The NBA tried to ding them for doing that, saying that was a circumvention of the cap that they were giving extra money to, to players. So I, I, I, I feel like this happens a lot more around the league than we think. What I think stood out about this is the amount of, is just so excessive it feels like it's a second salary. And that's where I think something doesn't smell right. I don't, I don't know if there's a bad party here, you know. You know, there's been stories about Kawhi's family trying to push him to different places that pushed him out of San Antonio, probably pushed him back to la. You know, I'm not gonna sit here and say Kawhi doesn't drive the ship, but there's been thoughts in the past that Kawhi isn't always kind of making the lead decisions on, on his career. At times he just wants to go out and hoop maybe. But it does feel like there's something fishy here or something that isn't normal in this ecosystem of guys getting a little extra money for their charities or for whatever.
- [06:20]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
I'm assuming if you, you at home are listening to this show, an NBA, an NBA squad show in the middle of this deep offseason. You know this story. But just to be, just be fair to everybody, Pablo Tori uncovered this story. He says Kawhi Leonard signed a $28 million endorsement deal for a no show job with a fraudulent tree planting company called asp, which we'll, we'll reference several times, probably in jest, funded by $50 million from the Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, according to documents obtained by Pablo. And an inside source says it was to circumvent the salary cap. Then the Clippers made their statement and the Clippers said that they have nothing to, they have nothing to do with this. Neither Mr. Ballmer nor the Clippers circumvented the salary cap or engaged in any misconduct related to Aspiration. Any contrary assertion is provably false. So they say. Not, not next to, they didn't have anything to do with aspiration. So they could have done it in different ways, is what this, this statement is leaving the door open for right now.
- [07:15]
Philip Rossman-Reich
It's just kind of funny though that like, all right, so four years, 28 million. Like, okay, so why did Aspiration give him that money? Like, what, what is. So what is this actually then if. Not that I think is a fair question, because he didn't like. And this is what Pablo was talking about in his episode. He did not do anything promotional work for Aspiration or the, the tree planting that they're doing and trying to, trying to turn something in that was, that was supposed to be good. They went bankrupt. And I, I don't know the full story behind that and I know that there's a lot of other people that are still trying to catch up on this too, but the full story is.
- [07:51]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
He was a consultant. He was like an apple tree consultant. Because wasn't he, isn't he a big Apple guy? Wasn't that.
- [07:56]
Rylan Styles
Yeah. I mean, great.
- [07:57]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Yeah, that's a deep cut. You remember the Apple story?
- [08:02]
Rylan Styles
Apple time. Apple time and not the technology.
- [08:05]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Apple time.
- [08:05]
Nick Angstead
Poor man gets paid.
- [08:07]
Rylan Styles
I just think that there is ways for the Clippers to cover themselves. So like you, you can push this off as like, well, yeah, he didn't do any promotion, but they never asked him to. I mean, they, they should have activated his services with putting stuff out. You know, it's, it's no different than perhaps a guy getting signed to a low scale shoe deal. And he's not in the commercials. He's not having his own signature shoe.
- [08:27]
Nick Angstead
He's.
- [08:27]
Rylan Styles
But he is a shoe athlete for that.
- [08:29]
Ryan Blackburn
And he's not getting $28 million.
- [08:32]
Rylan Styles
That is true. I mean, listen, this is not, this is not clearly 100% above board. I just think that there's so many different avenues for the Clippers to face the bare minimum punishment, which seems to be maybe forfeiting a pick, which The Clippers, they just love giving them away. So what's the difference there?
- [08:48]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Do you think the Thunder get the pick if they have to give it away?
- [08:50]
Rylan Styles
I mean, I think that they should.
- [08:51]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
I think generally all the pipeline's already open. They must keep going.
- [08:55]
Ryan Blackburn
I think the punishment for Ballmer should be that. Because remember he bragged about how urinals were in that building. Dave should have to go down to league average. They should have to shut off all the extra ones. League average urinals in the Intuit Dome. That is the start of the punishment.
- [09:09]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Welcome in. Danny Cunningham locked on Cavs. Incredible.
- [09:11]
Ryan Blackburn
Thank you for having me.
- [09:12]
Philip Rossman-Reich
They could start on the All Star Game, by the way, that they're hosting in 2020.
- [09:16]
Nick Angstead
That ultimately makes the fans pay.
- [09:22]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
I think they should make them move to Vegas. Like the Clippers move to Vegas and then the new LA team is the expansion team. They get to take over the Intuit Dome. That should be. That should be the punishment.
- [09:31]
Rylan Styles
That's a punishment for Vegas too, though. Like Vegas inherits a couple teams that nobody cares about, like the A's. And the Clippers get to go over there and that's where they send the teams.
- [09:39]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
It doesn't matter who's there. Right? Like the fan base is not big enough.
- [09:45]
Philip Rossman-Reich
Boo.
- [09:46]
Rylan Styles
I mean, I do think though that the Clippers have done a lot of PR saying that the Paul George traders for Kawhi, therefore the Thunder are adjacently involved in getting Kawhi along with this scandal. Therefore their forfeited pick should go to Oklahoma City.
- [09:59]
Nick Angstead
How much help Thunder give to aspiration there, Rylan?
- [10:03]
Rylan Styles
Oh, we don't plan Oklahoma.
- [10:05]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
You also were real quick early to be like, other teams may have done this. Like, I don't know what inside info. You've been around the Thunder a lot recently. Like, do you have any insight? Is there an aspiration in okc to my ass?
- [10:16]
Rylan Styles
To my knowledge, we don't have any aspirations in okc. So it's gonna be a left coast thing that you guys have to worry about. You know, which.
- [10:26]
Nick Angstead
Which.
- [10:26]
Philip Rossman-Reich
Which team or player do you think is the most likely to also have done this? Because he was talking about Jalen Brunson as well.
- [10:32]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
I asked this in Lockdown Daily. I said, which one. Which NBA situation is raising your antenna the most right now where you're like, oh, wait, this is possible that a player made this decision not based solely off of like, oh, I want to do good for this franchise. But Brunson was the other one that the problems were actually even brought up.
- [10:48]
Rylan Styles
Like, you said, yeah, Dirk and Brunson, those are my two that I look at. Heavy, heavy, heavy.
- [10:53]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Because Brunson's how dare you.
- [10:56]
Rylan Styles
I'm a mad guy, but I mean.
- [10:57]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
How dare you bring up Dirk in this moment.
- [10:59]
Rylan Styles
Mark Cuban throwing himself done nothing wrong ever.
- [11:02]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
His aspirations were pure.
- [11:04]
Philip Rossman-Reich
True. Mark Cuban was throwing himself in.
- [11:06]
Rylan Styles
He was ready to go front of.
- [11:08]
Philip Rossman-Reich
Steve Ballmer as fast as possible.
- [11:10]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Here's the statement from Mark Cuban. By the way, I'm on team Ballmer. As much as I wish they circumvented the salary gap first, Steve isn't that dumb. If they did try to feed Kawhi Leonard money knowing what was at stake for him personally and his team, do you think they would have let the company go bankrupt knowing all creditors would be visible to the world? That's what Rylan just said. They got scammed by aspiration. Don't we all get scammed by our own aspirations? Along with many others. Crimes for which they pleaded guilty last week. Scammers do scammy things. They did 300 million dollar sponsorship deal with the Clippers in 2021. That's a huge deal. The better the team does, the more value the sponsorship has. It actually makes perfect sense. If they stole money from investors and want the Clippers to succeed, why not give the stolen money to keep their best player? It said that Pablo Tori didn't go find out. Blah, blah. The idea is that default is Ballmer is a bad guy. It's going to backfire on him. Now. I was in summer league and a couple of us were. We saw Mark Cuban and Steve Ballmer pretty buddy, buddy during one of those Maps games. And so I don't know, maybe, maybe.
- [12:07]
Rylan Styles
How to do it.
- [12:07]
Nick Angstead
He was teaching how does like, like, let's take Mark Cuban's word. How does that make the Clippers or Steve Ballmer look any better? How does that make Steve Ballmer look like he's a smart guy? You're not, you're not disproving that he's a. That he made a bad business decision or made a bad decision here. He's doing something untoward. It just, it, it reeks of. It reeks of. I'm a level above everybody and it's like, it's hubris. It's, you're flying too close to the sun. The sun's gonna melt those wax wings. You're gonna fall into the ocean. And this is the comeuppance for all.
- [12:41]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Today's episode of Lock on a Squad show is brought to you by fanduel the NFL season is here. Fanduel is making sure you're ready for kickoff with a can't miss offer right now. New customers can get $5 and if your first bet wins, you can get 300 in bonus bet if that bet wins. So go check it out and see how you can use that across all kinds of different platforms. They are talking about the NFL but they also have the NBA as well. The Clippers in the conference. Let's see, they're plus 1300 right now. Timberwolves plus 1200 Lakers plus 850 Rockets plus 600 Nuggets plus 550 Thunder. The favorites for sure. Plus 135 Clippers. I don't know if this is going to change anything, this whole Kawhi Leonard story, but that's definitely one to watch to see if it goes down or anything. If Vegas actually thinks that this story is all going to affect the Clippers in any way. But you're ready to play. Download Vandal app today by visiting FanDuel.com and get started. That's FanDuel.com to place your first five dollar bet at FanDuel. Go check out all the NFL stuff as well. Great stuff for every weekend when you're getting into college football as well. Check that out@fanduel.com please gamble responsibly.
- [13:39]
Geico Gecko / Ad Voice
I don't mean to interrupt your meal, but I saw you from across a cafe and you're the Geico Gecko, right?
- [13:44]
Nick Angstead
In the flesh.
- [13:45]
Geico Gecko / Ad Voice
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- [13:50]
Nick Angstead
Well, that's how Geico gets 97% customer satisfaction.
- [13:53]
Geico Gecko / Ad Voice
Anyway, that's all. Enjoy the rest of your food.
- [13:56]
Nick Angstead
No worries. So are you just going to watch me eat? Oh, sorry.
- [14:00]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Just a little starstruck.
- [14:02]
Geico Gecko / Ad Voice
I'll be on my way.
- [14:03]
Nick Angstead
If you're going to stick around, just pull up a chair. You're the best.
- [14:07]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Get more than just savings. Get more with Geico.
- [14:12]
Rylan Styles
I think it reeks of like Ballmer got like the bomber and Paul George in Kawhi. They're, they're the victims too here. It's not like he's trying to take it off of Ballmer being this bad guy because it is true. Like why would they let this happen if this was something that they could have controlled and funneled money to Kawhi in a cleaner way, so to say. I think that that's what what Mark is going for. But I do think that the answer to the next question it is. It Is Brunson in the current NBA? Because, like, that. That whole free agency just felt like a recruitment visit, more so than a free agency. Like, when they hired his family, they. They just rolled out the red carpet.
- [14:48]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
That's right. Keep going.
- [14:49]
Ryan Blackburn
It's not. It's not even the free agency. It's the extension he signed. Like, the contract that he signed at the time with New York was not. Like, no one batted an eye and said, oh, man, Jalen Brunson really took a discount to go to the Knicks. No one said that. Then it's the extension he just signed. It's. Oh, my goodness. Because if you look at all of these top 100 lists of players, Jalen Brunson is in all of them. Them in the top 10. Like, that's how he's revered. Yeah, that's how he's revered. I didn't know if that was out when this is being released, so I did not say that. But, yes, he's in top 10.
- [15:21]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
I leaked. I leaked it.
- [15:22]
Rylan Styles
Yes, in the. Locked on the top 100 now.
- [15:27]
Philip Rossman-Reich
First time.
- [15:28]
Ryan Blackburn
But if you go look at that list of top 10 players, how many of those guys are not on max contracts?
- [15:34]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Jalen, Brunson, and maybe Wemby.
- [15:37]
Ryan Blackburn
But I mean, he can't be.
- [15:40]
Nick Angstead
He's on his.
- [15:40]
Ryan Blackburn
The second he's allowed to be on a max, he will.
- [15:42]
Philip Rossman-Reich
Dude, Micah paid $2 billion. When it's all said, like, there's. There's plenty there. But no, I firmly agree. And this is one of those things where, yeah, it could be Brunson. It could be, like, other things, like, any time that a player signed. Because I think the. The wording for the Brunson extension that Woj used at the time was unprecedented amount of savings for a team. Unprecedented amount. Like, okay, so where. Where are you going to make that up? And the question is, maybe he's just happy. Maybe he doesn't want it. But I gotta tell you guys, I think I would choose to take a hundred million extra dollars if I had the opportunity to do so.
- [16:20]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
It's. What's funny about this 100 extra dollars. Danny's also gonna host Locked In Midnights. He's gonna. We're gonna give him an extra show.
- [16:31]
Ryan Blackburn
Let's keep those checks coming.
- [16:33]
Nick Angstead
Locked on NBA After Dark.
- [16:35]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
What's funny about this whole Kawhi story, though, as I saw somebody post this, Kawhi hasn't even lived up to his actual contract, let alone, like, the bonus contract that maybe this tree comp. This fake tree company has been giving Him.
- [16:47]
Philip Rossman-Reich
It's tough.
- [16:49]
Rylan Styles
Gotta play Kawhi.
- [16:50]
Nick Angstead
Kawhi has the best plan in life. Do enough to get a big contract, but don't do more than you have to.
- [16:58]
Rylan Styles
He's got the grease.
- [16:59]
Nick Angstead
He got his ring. He's happy.
- [17:01]
Ryan Blackburn
So one of my favorite parts of the. The podcast that Pablo put out that just really exposed all of this, why we're here, was the person who had their voice modulated and talking about it. That worked for Aspire. And you could just sense. You didn't know. You don't know who this person is, what they look like, or even what they sound like, but even through the voice modulation, you could tell this person is so jealous. KAWHI Leonard got $28 million for doing nothing.
- [17:28]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
I mean, aren't you?
- [17:30]
Ryan Blackburn
Yeah, incredibly jealous.
- [17:33]
Rylan Styles
Good gig if you can get it.
- [17:34]
Ryan Blackburn
Great.
- [17:35]
Rylan Styles
I'm gonna tell you, I'm open right now to any fake company that wants to funnel me a couple million. Go live.
- [17:40]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Let's go, David Locke. Let's. Let's create some fake LLCs over here.
- [17:43]
Ryan Blackburn
Honestly, No, I will. I will do ad reads on Locked On Cabs. I. I will do the work.
- [17:49]
Rylan Styles
This is going to be booming in.
- [17:50]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Oklahoma once we get some aspirations, by the way.
- [17:54]
Rylan Styles
Give me a million dollars.
- [17:55]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Here's our. Here's our thing. We help the Clippers by doing ad reads for aspiration to prove that it's a real company. We'll just. We'll do as many fake ad reads as you want on Locked on NBA. Just. Just bring us. Just bring us in.
- [18:09]
Philip Rossman-Reich
By the way, quick Clippers, Kawhi has 17 playoff wins and 28 million aspiration dollars in his bank account. So he is now, as a. That is a quite a return on investment over the course of these past seven years.
- [18:24]
Nick Angstead
Really?
- [18:25]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Eight of those, 17 are against the Mavericks.
- [18:27]
Rylan Styles
Yeah, it feels like Aspire hasn't gotten quite the ROI they intended on anything recently.
- [18:33]
Ryan Blackburn
Or they did.
- [18:34]
Nick Angstead
They're just putting roots in the ground, guys. They're really just waiting to sprout.
- [18:39]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Hey, leave. Leave them alone.
- [18:43]
Rylan Styles
Well, you know, they did give it to the Clippers. They stayed out of the, you know, spotlight and went to the streetlights for quite some time on this story.
- [18:51]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Okay, well, here's the other thing that just got brought up. Was it Phil that just brought this up beforehand? Did the NBA leak the new, like, All Star format to try and, like, push this. To try and push this to the side?
- [19:05]
Nick Angstead
Yeah. 100 PR 101.
- [19:07]
Philip Rossman-Reich
I have so many questions about the new All Star format. So, yes, they Absolutely did.
- [19:13]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
The new All Star format is likely to feature a round robin tournament consisting three consisting three eight player squads of two team usa, one world NBA and players union. Like presented format. So I can't even read it all the way straight. It doesn't really go back to east.
- [19:31]
Ryan Blackburn
First west.
- [19:33]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
The NBA and Shams push this out so quickly it doesn't even grammatically make any sense. NBA players, you need to present in format to the competition committee on Wednesday. And response was positive. The two Team USA squads and one World squad will each play each other in 12 minute per quarter Ryder cup style games. Governors, team executives and players discuss the format positively in the competition committee. Do we care about this at all? Anybody?
- [19:57]
Philip Rossman-Reich
Well that was my big question was like the quarter thing. Like so 12 minutes per quarter. Like are they playing 48 total minutes in three separate games? What's going on here?
- [20:07]
Nick Angstead
That's what it sounds. Yeah.
- [20:09]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Because a quarter is a fourth. Do we need to remind Shams in the NBA that a quarter is a fourth? So the fourth of the game is 12 minutes.
- [20:15]
Nick Angstead
It sounds like each team's gonna play the other one once and the top two teams one of them is going to get.
- [20:20]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
For how long is the question?
- [20:22]
Nick Angstead
12 minute quarter. 112 minute quarter so they can keep the quarter break the same. Because like the complaint last year was the timeouts were weird. So now they just play a quarter and it's a normal timeout. And. And like that part.
- [20:32]
Ryan Blackburn
Who could have thought the timeouts were weird? I mean didn't everyone love the.
- [20:39]
Nick Angstead
Yeah.
- [20:39]
Ryan Blackburn
And Mr. Beast. Who didn't love that People.
- [20:45]
Nick Angstead
That people are going to be even more confused because this game's happening in the afternoon because they got the Olympics at night after. After NBA coverage is done.
- [20:53]
Rylan Styles
Cheese.
- [20:54]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
That's why it's Ryder cup style. They just wanted to lean fully into the golf and the only people watching are to be Dad's falling asleep on the couch.
- [21:02]
Ryan Blackburn
Game night on Sunday.
- [21:03]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Correct. Correct. Danny and Swipa on game night.
- [21:11]
Ryan Blackburn
I'll be done early that day.
- [21:13]
Nick Angstead
Like this still feels like the NBA is trying to rescue a dead horse. Like the All Star Game's done. Like there's no need for it. Really the only need for it is to. I mean the NBA does its business and sells. Sells sponsor the playoff sponsorships during playoff during the All Star weekend. The NBA just needs to get to the point where All Star weekend is NBA cup final. Give us a real game like still name an All Star team, give the honor like that. That matters for history and all that Stuff. Give us the NBA cup final and All Star weekend. Let's make that a bigger event. Let's make it a big deal. You get the big national TV thing. I know Amazon a lot for it. Two months later, who cares? It's the NBA cup. Just.
- [21:52]
Rylan Styles
Or you could just start the NBA cup qualifications, you know, in December instead of November.
- [21:57]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Yeah, but the whole point is to get the like November and December games more interest before it's Christmas.
- [22:04]
Ryan Blackburn
Another thing that probably hasn't really worked.
- [22:06]
Rylan Styles
Yeah.
- [22:07]
Ryan Blackburn
Like we were talking about trying to fix two things because neither of them actually work. The All Star Game does not work anymore. The NBA cup in its very brief history has not worked.
- [22:15]
Rylan Styles
Yeah. And we've seen the NBA All Star form change. Timeless. Time, time and time again. And it's just like it doesn't matter. All the formats on paper sound fun until the game happens and the guys don't care and they don't play even remotely like they do in pickup in August. So it's like until the players, until the players do their part, it doesn't matter what the format is.
- [22:35]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
It was fun one time with the Elam ending.
- [22:37]
Nick Angstead
Yeah, yeah.
- [22:38]
Philip Rossman-Reich
But the one time that they cared about the elimination and that was honoring.
- [22:43]
Ryan Blackburn
You know, and that was because they were honoring Kobe Bryant. That's why. Because they appeared because they wanted to play in the spirit of Kobe Bryant. That's why it was fun. Not because it was the Elame ending or anything else. It was fun because of the very unfortunate circumstance that led to them wanting to honor Kobe Bryant.
- [23:04]
Philip Rossman-Reich
They should just do away with the entire game and do the one on one tournament that everybody was clamoring so much for.
- [23:10]
Ryan Blackburn
They won't do that either though, because guys don't want to get embarrassed.
- [23:13]
Philip Rossman-Reich
Yeah.
- [23:13]
Ryan Blackburn
100 guys want to do that. Guys don't want to lose.
- [23:16]
Philip Rossman-Reich
Yeah. It's. It's insane. They're like, okay, one person can win the dunk contest, guys. One person can win the three point contest. This shouldn't be this difficult to like be able to compete with any sort of semblance of grace and actual competitiveness. But. And yet that's what happens year in, year out.
- [23:35]
Nick Angstead
At the end of the day, these guys want the break. The break is more important than the, than being at the All Star Game. They don't need the marketing help anymore. Like, like, you know, in the K day of the All Star Game. The All Star game was really important for marketing. It told the whole world who the important players are. They don't need to do that. Luca's in a Nike ad right now. You know, pals in that Nike Dallas. Like all the, like all these guys have their own deals, they have their own charities that they don't show up for and do work for apparently and get paid for. They don't need this game anymore. And the, the novel, the novelty of seeing LeBron play Kevin Durant or LeBron play whoever on the east because there's nobody in the east anymore. The novelty of that is worn off because we all have league pass and now the gate. Now there's a national TV game every single day of the week. We don't need to see these guys in special events. We can see them every single night if we want. If we really wanted to. That was different in the aughts and the 90s. Now they're everywhere. Everybody's ever. It's not just Jordan, it's not just the Knicks, it's not just the Lakers. It's everyone is everywhere. And so the All Star game is just archaic and unnecessary except for the league trying to sell some business and have a little get together and convention.
- [24:46]
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- [25:46]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Rancho, Anybody still like the All Star Game?
- [25:50]
Rylan Styles
No, I aspire to like it. I would love to like it again.
- [25:57]
Ryan Blackburn
This last year's All Star Game was one of the worst made for television events I've ever watched.
- [26:01]
Rylan Styles
Yeah, and I say that running now.
- [26:04]
Ryan Blackburn
No, but like this one.
- [26:05]
Rylan Styles
Yeah, I know.
- [26:05]
Ryan Blackburn
No, this one was worse than anything they had done before. I mean they gave TNT a send off when they're not going five months before they were done and they're still not done. Those guys are still not Done. Like, it's just like, what are we doing.
- [26:22]
Philip Rossman-Reich
West?
- [26:23]
Ryan Blackburn
And if it doesn't work, just tell the 12 best guys in these conference that they're an All Star and it'll go on their basketball reference page. Because that's really the only All Star thing anyone cares about now is that they can say, I am an All Star. They don't want to go to insert city name here in February, even if it's the nice city. Yeah. Who wouldn't love to go to Los Angeles in February? You know where those guys would rather be? Cabo in February for three days. That's what they would rather do than go to Los Angeles or Miami or Atlanta or whatever city that the game is in.
- [26:56]
Rylan Styles
The All Star game.
- [26:58]
Philip Rossman-Reich
So, like, it's not. It's not for us, you know, us grown adults anymore. And. And that's unfortunate that it kind of has just transitioned into that, but I wonder if there's something that they could do, like just kind of tying it in with some NBA Cares events or. Like, they already do those things, but those guys are so busy that entire time that by the time the actual events and games come around, they. They don't have any energy left for it. They're just dead. They did. They just want to jog up and down the court. So I wonder if they either A, reduce the number of things that they have to do or B, make those things the primary focus rather than the actual game itself. I wonder if it might be a more valuable experience for everybody as opposed to, like, hey, let's jam. Pack as many things as possible into this stuff.
- [27:47]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Can we go back to the. The Ballmer Kawaii story? That was the reason why the NBA brought the All Star story into it, is to push this to the side. So can I push it back? Can I push it back to the middle?
- [27:57]
Rylan Styles
Was this what Chomps was talking about? This is the craziest offseason ever because the Clippers are gonna have to sell the team again.
- [28:04]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
We found it. We found it. This has not been the craziest offseason in the last.
- [28:08]
Nick Angstead
The Celtics and the Lakers both this offseason.
- [28:12]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
That's true.
- [28:14]
Rylan Styles
We're gonna force out his second Clippers on owner. Something to think about.
- [28:18]
Ryan Blackburn
If you're the kind of David Stern have done today.
- [28:20]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
I was gonna say, yeah, if you're Adam Silver, if you're Dave. If you're. If you were David Stern, what would you have done to the club?
- [28:25]
Nick Angstead
David Stern would have done the. Joe Smith to them. They would. He would have Stripped whatever draft picks he can strip from them. Yeah, like, eventually. Like.
- [28:35]
Rylan Styles
Yeah, he would have done it eventually. After the investigation ends.
- [28:38]
Nick Angstead
Yeah. David Stern. When David Stern would. You know, first off, the MO. David Stern would know about it before it hit the press and would have had.
- [28:49]
Ryan Blackburn
Well, I'm sure they were in his.
- [28:50]
Nick Angstead
Office and give him a talking to.
- [28:56]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
I don't think. I think Ryland's right that they're not gonna be able to prove anything. I think they're going to do this investigation. The NBA. Right. Then the NBA spokesman announced that they're in, like, performing an investigation. Okay, cool. Great. I don't know what your investigation is going to lead to, but it's not going to lead to. You know what, guys? We screwed this one up. Like, we. We've got this whole system, and it's all held up by money from outside sources all over the place and blah, blah, blah. And, hey, we'll. We'll fix it ourselves. I don't think they're going to.
- [29:20]
Nick Angstead
I think the investigation from the league is a CYA situation. It's going to turn up nothing, and that they're going to try and sweep it under the rug.
- [29:27]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Cya. Count your apples.
- [29:29]
Nick Angstead
Yes. Count your apples.
- [29:30]
Ryan Blackburn
Apple time.
- [29:31]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Apple time. Apple time.
- [29:33]
Nick Angstead
Do what it do.
- [29:37]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
If you're another team. Like, if you're the Cavs, the Thunder, the Magic, the Nuggets, the Mavs. Do you care about this story?
- [29:43]
Ryan Blackburn
Only if you are also partaking in.
- [29:45]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
This kind of stuff.
- [29:46]
Ryan Blackburn
Yeah, I mean, that's the only. I can't think, like, the cast somehow.
- [29:50]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Got Donovan Mitchell to stay in Cleveland and not go to New York.
- [29:55]
Ryan Blackburn
They gave him as much money as they possibly could, including under the table.
- [30:00]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
And then.
- [30:03]
Ryan Blackburn
Yeah, I'm sure the. This skims campaign that he's doing is much more fruitful for him in Cleveland than it would.
- [30:07]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Hey, listen, I got some skims.
- [30:09]
Ryan Blackburn
Yeah, it's the best underwear I've ever worn. I've had the conversation with him about how great it is.
- [30:14]
Rylan Styles
Maybe the locker room talk there with Danny Cunningham.
- [30:18]
Philip Rossman-Reich
Well, there's part of me that wonders if. If Jokic just owns half of Sambor Serbia right now, like, he just owns the city.
- [30:25]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
And that's just because his brothers have slowly but surely been taking it over secretly.
- [30:31]
Philip Rossman-Reich
There's. There's. There's a world where. Where that is actually true. But, I mean, this. We have to believe that this stuff happens around us. This is like. The fact that this is coming to light shouldn't really surprise anybody. It's just that it came to light at this particular point. It's that nobody else reported it. It's that Pablo was the one to get it. And holy cow. The, the vociferous denial from the Clippers and from everybody else involved was very interesting. But no, it'll be, it'll be fascinating to see if it actually breaks that. And like, if there's something else that they find. I don't think that they will though.
- [31:09]
Nick Angstead
I think, I think part of what sticks about the story is that it's Kawhi Leonard being paid to do nothing. And yeah, the perception is that he has paid to do nothing on his real job for the Clippers and I. So I think, like, that both makes the story funny and like, ironic, but also less impactful because it's not like the Clippers have won a championship. It's not like the Clippers did all these moves and it's worked out great for them. Like, yeah, they're competitive when they've historically been a non competitive franchise. But it's not like this has dramatically changed the league in any way or changed the results in league or compromise. Like, oh, the Clippers were able to do X, Y and Z and obviously like, they're still knock on effects, but the Clippers were able to do X, Y and Z because of this. And now they have two titles. They're like, there's no asterisk to anything. It's the Clippers. They're just still fumbling all over themselves, even if their talent level is a little bit better.
- [32:04]
Rylan Styles
But is this going to be if they do just get like a little slap on the wrist or George, just get nothing? Does this open up Pandora's box for the rest of the NBA because we're in this era of the second apron and like it's supposed to squeeze out talent from rosters, but if you look around and say, well, the Clippers, whether they meant to or not, they did this, like that is in some ways circumventing the salary cap. Why don't we just do it too and then act like we didn't know if it ever pops up, just like the Clippers did. And we'll retain our roster even whenever there's mechanisms to make it so it can't happen, we're just going to pay you under the table.
- [32:39]
Nick Angstead
I mean, I think, I think that's why the Jalen Brunson stuff feels more like, it feels smokier. There's more fire making the smoke with the Jalen Brunson stuff, because we know his dad was an assistant coach with the team before he got got there. We know that there's like all these things that just line up and again, we don't know if this is true or not, but like days feels like there's all these things that line up that are just. It doesn't smell right. And then he takes a contract, a guy who is a second round pick, a guy who really had to earn everything that he got and should, you know, maximize every bit of profit they can get because it was never guaranteed for him, for him to take that deal and set the Knicks up for their best team probably since certainly since Patrick Ewing, but perhaps since they won their two titles in the 70s. In this environment where you save as many pennies as you can, that's. That smells a little fishier. And you're right, like the precedent is dangerous here because you've got a lot of situations around the league where there's teams balking at giving their big players new contracts. Like, you know, Nick knows what happened in Dallas. You know, Atlanta's going through it with Trey Young.
- [33:50]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Right, with the Mavericks.
- [33:51]
Nick Angstead
Yeah.
- [33:51]
Ryan Blackburn
What happened with the Mavericks? Did something happen?
- [33:54]
Rylan Styles
Well, there's this one time, Luka Doncic. Now I have to get into that again.
- [33:58]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
It wasn't trees.
- [33:59]
Nick Angstead
It wasn't.
- [34:00]
Philip Rossman-Reich
It only took us 30, 30 minutes and 45 seconds.
- [34:03]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
If I'm part of it, it's going to get brough.
- [34:06]
Nick Angstead
But like, but like this is like the debate that every front office is having. It's, it's, you know, it's not just, you know, not just that the Luca thing, it's. Every front office is afraid to give their guys max contracts on their second or third contract because it's so hamstringing. And so there is now an incentive to do this stuff under the table. The Kawhi Leonard stuff happened before you actually needed to do all this stuff. Now there's definitely a reason, if you can get away with it, to do it because you're going to ask your stars to take less money and less money than they're worth. And whether the star is willing to do that or not is going to depend whether you can keep your title window open or whether you have to trade your superstar player.
- [34:49]
Rylan Styles
Yeah, I mean that's going to be the biggest thing to me is just like if the penalty is forfeiting one pick or less. In this mechanism of the cba, you already have to freeze a pick. If you, if you go over a certain threshold with the, the second aprons and the repeater tax and stuff like that. Okay, let's give away two picks instead and keep everybody and try to win a championship with a with a great team. I just. If we get caught, we get caught, we give away another pick. Who cares?
- [35:13]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Interesting. There's gonna be more on this unlocked on Clippers. You can go listen to that. Go listen to all these great shows. Locked on Thunder, locked on Cavs like on Magic, Locked on Nuggets like Done Mavs. Great stuff all the time on those shows. Link in the description to find all those guys. Thanks for hanging out with us on Locked on NBA Squad Joe when evaluating.
- [35:28]
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- [35:57]
Host (Nick Angstead or main moderator)
Ooh, Gecko.
- [35:58]
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- [36:02]
Nick Angstead
Sign what? The app.
- [36:03]
Philip Rossman-Reich
Yeah, sure.
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- [36:07]
Nick Angstead
Anything to help, I suppose.
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Rylan Styles
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Nick Angstead
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