The Zach Lowe Show — Sept 11, 2025

"Latest Details on the Kawhi-Clippers Saga With Howard Beck, Picking Team USA With Bill Simmons, Mopey Mets Corner, and Much More"

Overview

In this jam-packed episode, Zach Lowe, host of The Ringer's flagship NBA podcast, goes deep on several fronts:

• The escalating Kawhi-Clippers investigation following new revelations from Pablo Torre;
• Breaking down Adam Silver and the NBA's possible responses to the saga with veteran insider Howard Beck;
• Building a speculative 2028 Team USA Olympic basketball roster in a lively segment with Bill Simmons;
• Mets Corner: Wallowing in the pain and the (occasional) joy of being a Mets fan, featuring Big Wos.

As always, the show moves fluidly between NBA intricacies, smart banter, and just enough suffering about the New York Mets to keep things real.

Kawhi-Clippers Cap Circumvention Scandal: The Latest Revelations

Key Timeline

• [03:45] – [36:37] | Zach Lowe and Howard Beck dissect the Pablo Torre podcast bombshell and its ripple effect across the NBA.

What Happened?

• Pablo Torre dropped fresh reporting implicating Clippers vice chair/minority owner Dennis Wong and an investment vehicle he controls in a suspicious $2 million payment to Aspiration—a Clippers sponsor, which then routed $1.75 million to Kawhi Leonard's LLC as part of a now-infamous "no-show" endorsement contract.
• Aspiration, a "sham tree-planting company," had deep financial entanglements with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and the team itself. The deal gave Kawhi more than double the market rate for any other normal NBA endorsement.

Why Is This a Big Deal?

• Circumstantial evidence—per the NBA CBA—can be enough for the league to interpret as cap circumvention, with major penalties possible.
• The scandal brings up league integrity, the CBA’s language on unauthorized agreements, and what level of proof the League truly needs to drop the hammer.

Notable Quotes & Reactions

• Zach Lowe [07:58]:

  "I just can't think, I just can't think of a – I'm running. The plausible deniability defense that the Clippers are building is crumbling brick by brick."

• Howard Beck [10:59]:

  "...the involvement of the 1% owner, Alternate Governor Dennis Wong... I'm sorry, it's way too clear of a link now for anybody to downplay or dismiss."

• Zach Lowe [14:43]:

  "I think that verbiage of circumstantial evidence in the CBA can be interpreted as broadly as the commissioner wants it to be interpreted."

• Zach Lowe [19:04]:

  "This thing just stinks. It stinks. And there's just too much of a, of a... I don't know if you call this a paper trail, but this payment, these bank statements that Pablo has... it just stinks, man. It stinks."

• Howard Beck [21:05]:

  "...his very last sentence in this answer was, ‘the answer is we're not a court of law at the end of the day either, and that we have broad authority to look at all information and to weigh it accordingly.’"

What Might Happen Next?

• Adam Silver (NBA Commissioner) affirmed that the league has both the burden of proof and broad authority but prefers airtight cases.
• Potential penalties discussed include loss of a first-round pick, heavy fines, or even more serious draft compensation—depending on whether "smoking gun" evidence emerges.

Systemic Implications

• Beck raises (at [28:01]) the potential necessity for the NBA to vet all outside player endorsement contracts, especially if they involve team sponsors, to avoid future circumvention schemes.
• The challenge: Team and player unions would resist such oversight, but this episode might force change.

(NBA) News Roundup

[36:37] – [45:55]

Key Items

• End-of-Quarter Heaves: NBA will no longer count “heaves” as individual misses; they count as team attempts.
• In-Season Tournament Update: Starting 2026-27, semifinal games will be on home courts for higher-seeded teams; finals remain in Vegas.
• Josh Giddey’s New Contract: Bulls re-sign Giddey for 4 years, $100M—receiving a ton of local skepticism, which Zach argues is mostly overblown.

Notable Quote

• Zach Lowe [39:31]

  "He's a fraud... he doesn't play defense, blah, blah, blah. [...] I don't hate this deal like everyone else seems to."

Team USA 2028 Draft: Building the Next Olympic Roster

[45:55] – [73:46]

Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons engage in a spirited "pick your Olympic team" exercise for 2028—no Curry, LeBron, or Durant allowed. The focus: young, versatile players equipped for international play.

Key Rules

• No one over 30 (Bill's preference)
• Must cover FIBA-style hoops—switchability, shooting, defense, speed
• No repeat of “Super Veteran” teams

Building the Team

Likely Core (as picked by both):

• Tyrese Haliburton
• Anthony Edwards
• Jalen Williams ("J-Dub")
• Paolo Banchero
• Cooper Flagg
• Chet Holmgren
• Evan Mobley
• Amen Thompson

Wildcards & Deep Cut Candidates:

• Trey Murphy III ("potential 'throw firepower off the bench' guy" — [56:47])
• Kayson Wallace (“Doberman, the Doberman thing” — [57:27])
• Con Kanipple ("just checks so many boxes for the international thing." — Simmons, [60:58])
• Darren Peterson (top HS recruit, as the 12th man, projecting an Anthony Edwards-type leap)
• Cade Cunningham, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Maxey as honorary snubs/close calls

Key Quotes

• Bill Simmons [46:11]:

  "I don't think anyone over 30 should be on the team."

• Zach Lowe [54:18]:

  "Amen Thompson is going to the Olympics in 2028."

• Simmons [60:08]:

  "I'm guaranteeing [Con Kanipple] will be one of the 12 guys in 2028."

Fun What-Ifs & NBA Trivia

• Who will be Team USA’s “glue guy” (like Derrick White)?
• Is Ja Morant or Zion Williamson more likely to make it (Zion)?
• Deep long shots like Tar Eason and Peyton Pritchard tossed out for the “happy to be there” bench spots.

NBA Odds & Ends: Celtics, Trades, Miscellaneous

[73:46]

• Celtics fanbase torn between “tank for a better pick” and expectations management.
• General sense that the next few weeks (preseason) will clarify a lot in the Association.

Mopey Mets Corner: Pain and Perseverance

[74:42] – [96:53] (End)

Zach and "Big Woz" channel generations of Mets heartbreak, hope, and gallows humor in a segment that’s equal parts nostalgia and shared agony.

Major Themes

• A recounting of legendary Mets collapses (’06, ’07, ’08, and the World Series against Kansas City): “...the one that pisses me off the worst is the World Series loss, of course, to Kansas City, where, like, we were legitimately a better team than them.” — Woz, [76:58]
• This year’s wild rollercoaster: From best record in baseball to possibly missing the playoffs.
• The existential nature of being a Mets fan ("the pain, the anger, the agony... that's all part of it" — Zach, [79:55]).
• Frustrations over management, pride in franchise grit, and “shared love and belief of the team.”
• Ben Simmons’ ‘unofficial’ retirement: Brief aside on Simmons’ vanished NBA career. “He was done the moment he passed the ball against the Hawks. I mean, that was the end.” — Zach, [91:12]

Notable Moments

• Old Timers Day at Citi Field nostalgia
• Subway rivalry jokes and Yankee shade
• Hopes and dread for a playoff push: “Just get to the playoffs because I can't live — I can't live with the offseason. Please.” — Zach, [96:38]

Summary Table of Timestamps

| Topic | Time | |----------------------------------------------------|--------------| | Kawhi-Clippers/Aspiration scandal (w/ Beck) | 03:45–36:37 | | News/NBA items (heaves, in-season tourney, Giddey) | 36:37–45:55 | | Team USA 2028 Draft (w/ Simmons) | 45:55–73:46 | | Miscellaneous Celtics/Other NBA | 73:46–74:42 | | Mets Corner / Ben Simmons / Fan misery | 74:42–96:53 |

Takeaways

• The Clippers saga escalated significantly with Pablo Torre’s reporting, deeply implicating ownership and exposing major systemic loopholes in league monitoring of player payments.
• Adam Silver walks a tightrope between legal caution and the “court of public opinion.”
• Team USA is facing a generational turnover; Lowe and Simmons suggest a young, versatile, two-way roster is the way forward—even if some major names get left behind.
• Mets fans can never truly let themselves be happy for long, but that doesn’t stop them from hoping.

“There is a lot of smoke, but we only have one side of the story so far... But the league has to take these allegations seriously because there is very little that is more important to the integrity of the game than the sanctity of the spending restrictions in the CBA.”
— Gabe Feldman, as quoted by Zach Lowe [15:58]

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