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About this Episode
Investigative reporter Pablo Torre of “Pablo Torre Finds Out” joins Dan to talk about the punishment handed down to the Clippers stemming from his detective work. Torre defends himself and his reporting and explains how the NBA found this evidence. NBA insider Brian Windhorst talks to Dan about the implications for the Clippers from this investigation, the corruption that went into the Clippers arena and the implications for Kawhi Leonard, Steve Ballmer and the rest of the NBA.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
This is an I Heart Podcast.
Guaranteed Human
I survived nine months in captivity
and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them.
I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the survivor files.
Every week I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable,
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These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive.
Listen to the survivor files with the Elizabeth Smart on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your podcasts.
On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman.
I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering the ride on his motorcycle.
I choose option B. I'm Julie Pinero and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first.
I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility.
Listen to Solita on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Each week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet and pop culture with your favorite writers, book talk creators and plenty of over thought opinions.
Yeah, I'm obsessed.
Listen to pro society on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, this is Hayes Davenport and Sean Clements.
We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook.
In a week, we talk to someone in show business and try to help them with their careers and see what they have to offer us.
Everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicists for letting them do our show.
We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman, Adam Scott, Danny McBride, Ben Stillert, and a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us.
Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Our hometown is not a test tube.
90 miles northeast of Nashville, a battle for the future of America plays out in one small town.
Developers with right wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land.
We need cities on a shining hill.
This is our town.
A podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment and fights back.
I guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you?
Listen to our town on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Final hour in this Thursday, Dan and the Danettes Dan Patrick show.
Pulitzer Prize winner Pablo Torre.
He will join us coming up after the NBA, drop the hammer on the clippers yesterday.
And is there more to come?
Brian Winhorse to the mother ship will stop by in the final hour of the program.
Fritzi is here.
We found out he has four stitches.
He didn't realize he had four stitches, but the bandage is off and Todd is here full
strength.
Ish.
I don't like to look at that stuff.
Even though I've been through far worse than a little finger surgery is just kind of grossing
those black stitches.
Dylan is here.
Marvin and.
He does.
He does this big day Ray.
I just you're right now.
I was going to just ramble on endlessly about my stitch and no one needs to hear that.
That's not where they're tuning into the Dan Patrick show.
Big day.
Big day Ray is here.
This Paul is prepping for his show.
The not so fast with Paps and Perloth.
That'll be after this show at noon Eastern on P.Cott.
Yes, Marvin.
Yet this hour might be tough for you.
There's no Paulie and four guest Fritzi.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Married.
He talked to Mike Tomlin, Big 10 commissioner Tony Petiti.
You got Brian Winhorse.
You got Pablo Torre and Todd is four guest Fritzi.
Stad of the day brought to you by Penini America, the official trading cards of the Dan Patrick
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The premier league has whole city against Aston Villa.
They kick it off at 1230 Eastern on NBC and P.Cott, which is where you can find this program.
Or if you're listening on our over 400 radio stations around America, we say good morning.
About Paul question for the final hour of the program is going to be what, Dylan?
Well, what what should Kauai Leonard's punishment have been?
We've obviously debated that.
We have some options, Dan.
Okay.
Okay.
Find the approximate total amount he made off the books.
Okay.
Have to stay with the glippers.
Or I like this one, Marvin and I were in agreement.
Actually go plant the trees that he said he was planting, which actually they should just
plant the tree instead of a statue for him outside the stadium.
Yeah.
I don't think he gets statue worthy.
He'll get one in Toronto.
Yeah.
Is the raptors over under did it change Ray after they made this, I guess official now
the punishment's over and Kauai can go to Toronto?
I think the sportsbooks have been expecting this, but they're over under this year is 45
and a half.
Okay.
What was it last year?
I'm checking right now.
Okay.
Yeah.
I don't know how much this changed.
Todd is a Pablo there.
He sure is.
Alrighty.
Ray journalist podcaster host of Pablo Torrey finds out with metal arc media, right?
You did find out, but I'm curious through all of this.
Any doubts along the way of your reporting after your ESPN comes out with an article recently
hearing from the clippers, hearing from other people.
Any doubts, any conversations with the wife at night of, uh oh.
The doubts were, um, hey, we're still going to be married at the end of this, right?
Like because you're on the phone talking to sources all of the time that you say are
very important and we're at the beach with our daughter on your quote unquote vacation.
That was the doubt.
Um, but in truth, like those sources were right the whole time.
Dan, the thing that was interesting yesterday and many think we're doing this thing yesterday
was just what the NBA would do about it.
And that's what we found out is what does the internal politics of league governance
look like when you have a scope that leads to a rabbit hole that has four separate companies
in it, manufactured paper trails, fake jobs, not just for co-while entered, but for the
companies like fake consulting jobs for the companies that filed money to co-while entered
through the clippers as well as those companies.
And you have now as of yesterday an SEC securities and exchange commission, not south Houston
conference, SEC investigation into the scoreboard company that according to the NBA got the
deal to build the halo board and into it, um, because they were willing to funnel money
to co-while entered.
That's what the NBA could not deny.
What did you make of the punishments?
I thought that it could have been more.
And I think that it is two things.
The biggest punishment for an owner that we've ever seen in American sports, I think,
when you account for the fact that it is Steve Balmer banned from the building for a year,
his head of business banned from the building for a year is had a basketball banned from
the building for six months because Lawrence Frank, that basketball ops president, participated
and provided contemporaneous notes to the NBA, by the way, a whole other rabbit bowl of
like why was Lawrence Frank taking notes during the cap circumvention meetings in which
he is quoting, thanks to the NBA's investigators, Steve Balmer talking about how he's gonna
service Dennis Roberts in a co-while entered to circumvent the cap.
Like why was that there?
Interesting.
Um, 30 million dollars is, you know, changed a guy with 145 billion, depending on Microsoft
stock.
But the thing about the scope and the vastness of it, the five first rounders, I mean, I
just, I think it was unprecedented in that regard, but also because it was narrow in scope.
There are names in this report that we have been talking about for a year that did not
show up.
There is a line that walked out lifting the law firm put in.
Their investigation is ongoing.
They are still receiving tips as recently as just weeks ago.
They are still investigating.
It's only the beginning somehow, which is kind of the through line of the whole thing.
Okay.
Can you give me best guess of what you think could be next involving the clippers?
Well, let's just take Steve Balmer at his work.
He has written a letter via his very expensive attorneys to Adam Silver blaming this podcaster
for getting the NBA to do a prejudice investigation.
At first, after the ruling came out, he threatened arbitration.
But this is something that is very interesting that I don't know if people appreciate about
what the NBA did.
But the NBA tried to settle with Steve Balmer and they said, hey, we have a narrow scope,
we have undeniable evidence, we want to just make sure that you have the opportunity to
take your punishment, admit wrongdoing, and let us all move on.
Steve Balmer, according to everything that we've seen now play out in public after that
East End story two weeks ago, decided to fight, decided to mount his own campaign.
When the NBA said, well, in that case, we're going to do something that perhaps cost
Steve Balmer by surprise.
They found a way to settle with Kawaii Leonard and the players union.
Why is that important?
When Kawaii gets a slap on the wrist, that's where the slap on the wrist was then, by the
way.
$700,000 for Kawaii Leonard.
Again, historically, that's quite a bit.
But in terms of the role he had in the whole story, that's a slap on the wrist.
You can now go on to Toronto and the betting line can adjust based on that.
If Toronto wants to go through with this, not knowing what else is in the box, I digress.
They got Kawaii to settle.
And in the NBA, what Adam Silver knows better than Steve Balmer and his lawyers know apparently,
is that arbitration can only be activated by the union.
And so arbitration, because of that settlement, is off the table.
Can't go to arbitration.
What can Steve Balmer do?
He can literally sue the NBA.
He can sue Adam Silver.
He can sue me.
He can sue Walter Liptin.
He can sue you.
He can sue everybody.
And that opens the door to spoiler alert, more discovery of documents.
Could he have mitigated, like how much damage could he have mitigated by just saying to
the commissioner, I'm so sorry.
I follow on my sword.
Something that was really interesting in this Wachtel report was how much the NBA leaned
on.
The interview he did with the SPN and Ramona Shelburn, the day after part one of my story came
out.
When Steve Balmer went on air, and it is so interesting, if you guys have some free time,
if you want to, you know, authorize your own marriages, go rewatch that game film sometime,
take time out of your day to rewatch what Steve Balmer did after knowing what he actually
did.
And you will see that he is lying repeatedly.
And once he does that, and he's on the record, lying in public about what happened here,
the NBA now has the ability to fact check as I did, as I have been doing this whole time.
And because he decided to fight from day one, as opposed to what you suggest, which is
say, I am horrified by what I tried to do.
I love basketball too much.
I wanted the thing that I know I can't have even though I'm the richest owner in sports.
And I am so humiliated by this.
And I want to put this behind me and move on.
I don't think we're here.
I don't have a 15 part series.
I may not have a Pulitzer prize.
The NBA might not have a 35 page legal report.
Steve Balmer may not pay $50 million, as he has now said, for the legal investigation
into him, which is what has happened.
It's crazy.
That was the fork in the road.
And he chose, I would say, to not tell the truth.
We're talking to Pablo Torrey, the journalist, podcaster host of public Torrey finds out with
metal-locked media.
This isn't the first time that this has happened with an owner.
It won't be the last.
But I'm just surprised it hasn't come up before.
Now I know that Balmer tried to do this with Deandre Jordan, which doesn't help his case
in this situation.
But do you think that this is prevalent?
Do you think this has been?
Is there anything that you're interested in that might be going on akin to this of
circumventing the salary cap?
You got me to do it one time.
And I said, what about a certain player who plays in a city where I may be living right
now?
And I said that and I've been trying to manage the expectations ever since then.
I see what you're doing, your clever interviewer.
But are you looking into the Nixon-Jalen Brunson?
I am not focusing on the...
What do they say when you're an ESPN employee and you're trying to break graphics without
breaking graphics?
You say, I am not currently targeting.
I am not currently looking into.
I'm not currently circling.
Have you?
Jalen Brunson in the next.
I've had all sorts of calls about so many teams.
I've talked to people on the next about all of this.
And they're just not the focus because we have other things that are, by the way, coming
very soon, that are in the vein of what are billionaires who run sports trying to get
away with using your money.
And I will leave it there just for now because I think we've got to button some stuff up.
But that's...
Let me say this.
Soon on the show, we will start a new series.
And that new series will speak to a lot of the themes and even more, I think, even
greater complications for what the everyday person in America should be worried about.
And so what did Balmer do here?
What makes this one special?
He had the ambition of creating a scheme that is beyond what other owners have attested.
That much, I am very comfortable saying, this is the furthest point in the spectrum of
attempted salary cap circumvention.
People do it by degree.
No one did it by this order of magnitude.
And that's why the NBA, which wanted to make everybody stop talking about this, is why
they had to do the thing we saw yesterday.
How does ESPN go with the story with their finest investigative reporters that basically
exonerated the clippers in Steve Balmer?
I mean, I, for 15 parts a year, did, of course, the other thing.
I found sources whistleblowers, documents who were willing to tell the truth.
What was left open, if you think of all this as sports, right?
What's left available as territory for us to claim?
What ESPN apparently saw was the clipper side of the story.
And the NBA immediately within an hour refutes it.
Most effortlessly with Mike Bass's name attached and you know how rare that is.
For there to be a byline on a statement that says significant and numerous inaccuracies.
And what ESPN had done, according to my reporting, is they were fed a story by the clippers
that the clippers may have known was not true.
And why do you do that?
Well, perhaps it's because that's the available territory that you have, having been beaten
on the other part of this landscape.
Perhaps you really believed it because the clippers look you in the eye.
And for months, for a year, I said to you, we're telling the truth that annoying clout chasing
podcast or is lying to you.
And at a certain point, it's a test.
You choose to believe the evidence, the sources, the journalism, or you try to get a win
even when the game's already over.
Do you care?
Have you received an apology from ESPN?
You know, what's interesting, I submitted.
I was told after the story published, hey, if you want to have a comment here because
this is effectively refuting your whole deal here, will include a statement from you.
And so I submitted a statement and I'll just paraphrase it.
It was, we stand by our reporting and we look forward to the MBA's ruling.
Our investigation continues.
For whatever reason, ESPN did not include it.
And so I don't expect an apology, I don't expect anything.
Nor do I think I even need or deserve one, right?
Like, I'm a big boy, as they say.
I just wonder why it happened like this because in this story, a story of no alternate rational
explanations, it sure seems to me based on my reporting that they got fed a story by
the people who were lying to everybody this whole time.
And I got implicated as a result of that.
How much money did Kauai Leonard make off the books in your opinion?
So I'll tell you factually what I know and what I don't.
So aspiration is a total value of $48 million.
Now let's bring in the other companies, right?
Boingo wireless.
Of course.
Which is just funny because of course, the wireless provider of the Intuitone is given
Kauai Leonard payments off the books.
Of course, the electronics, the squabrat operator is of course, locked in insurance.
The insurance company on the construction of the dome is doing the same thing, Dan.
Those three companies according to the NBA's investigation, through 2021, guaranteed $18
million to Kauai Leonard.
So doing the math at $66 million, only through, let's call it 2022.
She resides with the Clippers.
As I said before, on my show, in January of 24 for a discount, a discount less than the
max, why and what happened there?
And so you're at $66 million plus.
I've told the story at the beginning of it around the Rhode Island football club, starting
in LLC, in which she got secret undisclosed equity the week before he signed the extension.
And I ask, as always, what else was there?
And I have a feeling, as always, that there is more.
Congrats.
There's been a long process there.
And at least to get a trophy.
You get something the Clippers don't have.
You get a trophy.
You know, I wasn't going to make the joke, but I'm glad you just said.
Thank you, Pablo.
Pablo Turing, he won a Pulitzer Prize.
I think it's a trophy.
I don't know.
I haven't even seen a Pulitzer.
Is it a statue?
Is it a plaque?
Maybe some of my best people could get on that right now.
A ribbon?
Wait, Pablo.
Okay.
What I hope, I don't, I don't, admittedly, I've become known now for my investigations.
I don't know what this looks like either with all Crabson Barrison, but my hope is that
it's a karate trophy.
I want a big karate trophy with a karate man on the top, because I only was a white belt,
and I've been chasing that higher roots.
So that'd be nice.
You might need that white belt.
You're going to need a black belt.
You know, the more questions you ask about Jalen Brunson, the more martial arts you're
going to need in New York City, Dan.
You brought up Jalen Brunson again.
You pesky journalists with your questions.
Yeah.
I'm not winning a Pulitzer.
All right.
That's Pablo Torrey.
Did a great job.
All right.
Let me take a break.
Brian Winnhorst.
We'll talk the basketball angle of this coming up with Wendy after this.
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When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and health captive for 9 months.
I survived and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have
destroyed them.
I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the survivor files.
You just remember this low taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything.
Every week I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable.
I knew if he woke up without a doubt he was going to hurt me.
I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed and I just started screaming.
They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.
But these aren't stories about what's taken from them.
Their story is about what it takes to make it out alive.
Listen to the survivor files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, this is Hayes Davenport.
Sean Clements.
We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook on the Big Money Players Network.
Our show is extremely accessible to first-time listeners.
Each week we talk to someone in show business, aka The Biz, and try to help them with their
careers and see what they have to offer us.
Everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicists for letting them do
our show.
We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman, not that great.
I actually, can you help me shape this?
How about we flip it on his head?
How about we flip this around?
How?
What is the surprise one, man?
Actually, you think it's the straight man.
It's actually the one who's acting weird.
Adam Scott, this entire time you've been expecting Adam Sandler to come to visit the show.
I would never let go of that.
I would never set expectations for something like that.
It seems like if the universe allows for something like that to happen.
I am open to it.
I'm always going to accept.
Danny McBride, fine.
Saw this fragile masculinity exuding.
I could smell it walking on the hallway to be honest with you.
I was like, is that what you need?
Nope.
It's fragile masculinity.
Ben stiller, no.
I think there's a lot of times out of context people don't get it, or even know what a circle
is.
You know what I mean?
I go work to save it.
Everyone's so dumb.
Ben, fake.
Right, fake and also not interested.
Or just like, oh, I've got my life.
I don't care about your life.
And a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us.
Oh, and by the way, Will Ferrell told us personally he loves the show and he wants to be
a guest on every episode.
But he's just so busy.
Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcast or wherever you get
your podcasts.
On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman.
I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his
motorcycle.
I choose option B.
I'm Julie Beniero and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without
asking anyone else first.
I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility.
Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us,
not a lot of people smile around here.
It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies
you're sold about it.
It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version
of yourself.
So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip,
I hope you listen to Solita on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
If you're bookshelf and you're for you page are equally important to your personality,
welcome home.
This is Pro's Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought
daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks pride and prejudice and love
island deserve the same level of discourse.
I'm Eli Rallo and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the
conversations everyone can't stop having.
I'm going to have to look up this story.
I'm obsessed.
I'm obsessed.
The best-selling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture
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So like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters, and that is
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Listen to Pro's Society on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
between the pages.
Our town is small taters by most standards, right?
But to the people who grew up here, it's everything.
What happens when a quiet Tennessee town becomes the front line in a battle over the future of America?
Developers with right wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land in the area.
The first thing you see when it pops up is high nears and apple etch.
But they weren't just planning houses.
We need cities on a shining hill that exemplify and embody the Christian way of life.
Stop right there. Is that normal?
A podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment.
God need that to rule! Great!
And decides to fight back.
Do not use my hard work to sell your bulls**t.
They're not just opposing what's being planned for here.
Our hometown is not a test tube.
They feel like they're standing in opposition to an entire administration.
I guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you?
Listen to our town on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
More phone calls coming up.
Stat of the day brought to you by Penini America, the official trading cart of the Dan Patrick's show.
ESPN Senior NBA writer Brian Wynnehorst joining us.
Wendy, great to talk to you.
Is there any way the clippers can mitigate any of this damage moving forward?
Absolutely.
Number one, they can drop their chance of, you know, threats of legal action because I don't think it's going to be successful.
And, you know, they really need this co-I Leonard trade to go through that they negotiated with the Raptors as constituted because they're going to get two first round picks for them.
And, you know, in the case of the Minnesota Timberwolves situation, and I think it's really reasonable to point that out because obviously it's the one comparable incidents in this in history.
They were docked five first round draft picks just like the clippers.
And when the Timberwolves kept their noses clean and stayed on the straight and narrow, David Stern ended up giving them back to the two of the picks.
And that happened over a five year span.
They were hit with the picks immediately over the following five years.
In this case, the picks are starting in the penalty start in 29.
They go out to 34.
Who's to say that by 2031 or 2032 if the clippers keep their nose clean, they won't be able to get some of that, you know, one or two of them back.
That's something that you can talk about off the record right now.
And so, in the case of the Timberwolves, Joe Smith's contract was vacated. It was voided. He was a free agent.
In this case, the clippers are permitted to keep the player with no significant penalty.
They can trade him and get assets back for him.
Not only that, but the length of the investigation the clippers used in their favor, they were able to make moves that landed them the number five pick in this year's draft.
And the ability to negotiate this co-I trade without a suspension hanging over his head.
So, they are in a lot better position to absorb this than they would have been if this was handled differently.
And while I understand that hellhath no fury like a angry billionaire with $100 billion, he probably should listen to a little bit of reason because the league said, or at least the report said that this
this investigation isn't over. They left open the possibility there could be more.
So, yeah, I think obviously there's a shock in the announcement and there's a shock when you read all the details.
When you get past it, I think the clippers can mitigate this in a way that can I see people referencing a death penalty.
It's not a death penalty, Dan. They didn't give a playoff ban. They're still going to have cap space this summer. They're still going to have, Dan, they have a first round pick in the 2027 draft. They didn't take it.
It's a swapped pick. They're going to swap it. I think with Denver Oklahoma City, it's probably not going to be a good pick. They have a draft pick in 2027.
So, this is, it's bad. It's a blow. You know, you're losing a limb, but this is not a death penalty.
Billionaires usually don't get told what to do. So, I'm sure that Steve Balmer is surrounded by people who telling what he wants to hear. But at some point, you have to, I mean, they Lawrence Frank was taking notes in the meeting about circumventing the salary cap.
I get what point do you say, hey, I'm an impenetrable or the commissioner needs me or I'm so like, I don't know if there's arrogance involved in this, that letting down this path.
Well, I don't have, you know, I'm an omnipotent understanding of everybody's feelings on this. But what it looks to me like based on this array of statements yesterday and the clippers put out a public statement and then released a two page angry letter to add them.
So, there's a lot of copy generated yesterday. It looks to me like what they are focusing on is a legal ease situation about how the arrangements were made. Like, no, no, we didn't facilitate the deals.
We just acted as middleman and that seems to be their like legal argument and where they're ready to go to battle on. But then here's the thing.
He didn't do any work for these companies. He didn't do the endorsements. He didn't do it ads. He didn't do any of it. It's, you don't have to have like next level understanding of all this stuff to understand that it reeks of quid pro quo.
And what we didn't understand until yesterday was that this was four companies, four of them. And then I don't know one of the companies, two of the companies openly cooperated aspiration and dactronics.
Now, aspiration and even the report says that the guy who's in the federal penitentiary is not credible. And I agree, I don't find him credible.
So they're kind of even, I mean, they put it in there, but they're kind of been ignoring him. But they had dactronics.
The dactronics cop to it. They openly said what happened. And I get why they're saying it because their CEO yesterday had an earnings call and said that the SEC is on their backside.
Like, this is not to be messed around with. Plus they want to do, you know, they sell scoreboards. Do you want to be in business with it with the NBA if you sell scoreboards?
I think you do. So they cooperated. But here's the thing, Dan. This investigators had the data and the money for all four companies.
How they get it if two of the companies didn't cooperate. They had internal whistleblowers participating. They had the dollars, Dan. They knew exactly how much was paid.
So these companies didn't do any ads with Kauai. He didn't act as an endorser. So this is a thing like Steve Balmer or another owner could look at you square in the face with their hand on the Bible and say,
we have the agents for our superstar players on our backside all the time about getting them deals, getting them endorsements.
Absolutely that happens. And absolutely there's teams out there that have acted as middlemen. In fact, there may have been teams out there that have acted as more than middlemen.
But those players to our knowledge, at least, are doing the endorsement contracts. Like when you see it, you know, the star player doing a deal with the team sponsor. He's at least out there with his face on it.
The reason this is so repugnant is that it just is very cleanly obvious that it was a kickback because in this case, they weren't in 2019. They didn't just sign Kauai Leonard.
They were also building the arena. And so that meant there was a whole bunch of vendors and companies that they were doing hundreds of millions of dollars in business with that they don't normally do you don't build the arena every year.
You don't buy a hundred million dollar scoreboard every year. But this year they were building the hundred million dollar scoreboard in Pablo Torre and hundred book media when and dug into the Dak Trionics was struggling at the top.
I don't need to go into all the details. This report, if you were on a jury and you didn't know anything about basketball, you didn't know whether the clippers played in Los Angeles or London.
If you got this report and you read it, you would vote to convict. I don't think it's even really close.
How did Kauai kind of skirt? I know it's $700,000. But I thought he was going to get suspended or they avoid his contract. What about you?
Well, I think there was two reasons. Well, there's I would say this. There's probably some unknown reasons that we don't know.
I'll just leave it at that. The second thing is when you have a disciplinary action with a player.
There's an arbitration process spelled out in the collective bargaining agreement. The arbiters are already picked. The process is set out.
And you're going to have to present evidence and potentially do interviews and stuff like that. You have to go to court. And I'm not sure that the investigators had the documentation where they could win an arbitration against Kauai Leonard.
I do think they felt like they had the documentation to go against Jillian Zucker and Steve Balmer.
And so basically the burden of proof of Kauai was much higher. But I'm not going to say more than that.
You know more than that. I don't know. I speculate. I'm not going to get into that.
I always find this tricky. That you know whenever I have a source you always have to wonder what if the source has an agenda.
And I don't know how you navigate this. Now first 10 years at ESPN, you know it's pretty powerful place even then.
And then I never question as much as I should have. What is somebody's agenda here? And I don't know how do you navigate if somebody gives you the information of the information that you have to have.
Of okay, do I trust them? Can I go with this? You know like Pablo Torre. He's one guy going against very powerful person here and didn't back down.
But you also have to wonder about that source or sources. What's their agenda?
Yeah, it's a absolute. The complex web that we operate in the modern era. This is absolutely a factor. And you try to do your best is either you try to do your best. You don't.
That's that's that's the basic way you can say it. I mean even I a moment ago I I praised Hunter Brook Media. Hunter Brook Media has done a bunch of investigations.
I don't know if you're familiar with them. No. There are new media company and Pablo has partnered with them. Hunter Brook Media is a hedge fund backed media source.
They do investigations and then oftentimes short the companies that they do the investigation against which they disclose.
Okay, and I'm just telling you that they had done did great work here.
But they have an inherent conflict of interest. So yeah, it's a hard thing to figure out, which is why a lot of people end up stepping in quagmires and caution doesn't always win the day.
Sometimes people who are cautious get get rolled over this particular situation is extremely thorny and this is an imperfect response. The NBA is not going to be able to get up because it's so nuanced.
That's why I think the Clippers are so mad because I think the Clippers feel like they were dancing within the rules here and they feel like they can more to the point.
They feel like they can prove that they we can dance within the rules and the league is basically saying we don't think you can I think the last one of the public statements that the Clippers made was so telling during this process they they said we didn't we are not guilty of what we are accused of.
It's a loaded sentence so you get into situations like that and it's it's look I have spent a lot of hours in the last couple of weeks reading legal documents, Dan while covering the NBA with the whole bus family and now the Clippers.
This is the error that we're in is that I've got to read all these legal documents to cover the NBA.
Talking to Brian when horse to the mother ship what happens with the Lakers with the bus family.
Well the gigantic difference between a year ago when the when the Lakers sold and then this time and I mean this is elementary but it needs to be pointed out is that a year ago the buses had majority control and now they do not.
And when you are a minority shareholder you are exactly that you don't get to have say now GD bus standing is a little bit different as she is the governor but she as the governor you serve at the you know the pleasure of the controlling owner and so the Lakers controlling ownership is going to change hands whether the bus family can get their act together or not.
And whether genie has a title of governor or not the controlling owner which is going to be Josh Kushner assuming that he completes it and I think Bob Iger is going to be the managing partner they're going to have control over the Lakers because they don't need the 17% the bus family drama is amazing there has been two television shows in the last five years about the bus family one directly the HBO show the second one.
Running point the Netflix show which genie made was really about her it wasn't it was based on her life and neither of those shows will be anywhere near as good as the true story of what's happening within that family drama it is incredible.
Palace entry but they no longer have control over the Lakers and so what will remain palace entry it won't affect the decisions with the basketball team 12 and a half billion dollars what do you make of that price tag.
I make the genie bus sold low so that you get a sweetheart deal for herself because I think 10 billion was low.
And I'll tell you this I can't predict the future I wouldn't sit here and try to guess the socio the macro economic future of the country but my guess is that the 12 billion dollar purchase will not end up being a bad one and here's something else.
Bob Iger and Josh Kushner were trying to buy the team in Vegas and the thought process was that that was going to cost.
Maybe eight or nine billion dollars okay and maybe more maybe one to be more I don't know the answer but that was about what they people thought was going to cost they were trying to raise eight or nine billion this is what you have to understand when you hear that the Lakers sell for 12 billion.
They're not actually selling for 12 billion there's here they're buying about 73% of it at the 12 billion valuation which means.
That they're going to be paying about eight or nine billion okay so yeah they only have 73% but they're controlling it so what would you rather have Dan would you rather spend the same amount of money to own the Vegas.
This name goes here or the Los Angeles Lakers is a LeBron still in the hunt for the expansion team is he allowed to be have his name involved in this.
So he has openly said that he is no longer pursuing that okay two things happened I think number one the only you know LeBron was never going to be able to be the controlling owner of a team he has done fabulously well his net worth is north of a billion dollars but a billion dollars even if he sold everything doesn't get it done you know and even two or three years ago when he was really looking at this it was still going to take in the so you needed a partnership where you would partner with somebody who had a lot of money.
Somebody who had a giant piece of money that would be your partner his partners with you know Jerry Cardinal and the Fenway sports group those were the groups he was he was in business with they have backed away from NBA ownership in fact Fenway is divesting they just sold a big portion of Liverpool they're selling Jerry Cardinal has gone on the record a number of occasions saying he thinks prices for NBA teams are too high.
So that so his preferred partners were not looking like they were going to bid on Vegas so that was one of the things that happened and he could have found other partners but that's one thing that happened the second thing is he's still playing a great basketball player and he's still able to continue to play and he's not retired at age 41 so he's going to keep playing the expansion teams are probably going to get named and he's going to miss that window but I'll tell you this you think LeBron's done trying to be an owner or trying to have heavy involvement the NBA he's not his life has many deck key
and he's left in his influence is going to be on it's just not going to be with this particular expansion deal always great I know you're busy thank you windy thanks dad have a good day that's Brian win horse to the mothership take break last call for phone calls what we learn what's in store tomorrow after this Fox sports radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation catch all of our shows at Fox sports radio dot com and within the I heart radio at search F S R to listen live when I was 14 years old I
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to your personality welcome home this is pro society the weekly podcast that's part book club part group chat for thought daughters pop culture obsessives and anyone who thinks pride and prejudice and love island deserve the same level of discourse I'm Eli Rallo and every week we're connecting the dots between books the internet and the conversations everyone can't stop having I'm going to have to look up this story I'm obsessed from best selling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest
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on the new podcast solita we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle I choose option B I'm Julie
Pignero and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita trading the pity for possibility
every time I tried to be alone I kept meeting people and they were like you smile good that's not a lot of people smile around here
it's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it
it can be a time where you push your limits change your mind or wake up to a new version of yourself
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Hey, this is a's Davenport and Sean Clements we host the podcast Hollywood handbook on the big money players network our show is
extremely accessible to first time listeners each week we talk to someone in show business aka the biz and try to help them with their careers
and see what they have to offer us everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicist for letting them do our show
we've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman not that great
I actually can you help me can can can you help me shape this yeah how about we flip it on his head
no how about we flip this around okay how much the surprise one man who actually you think is the
straight man is actually the one who's acting weird Adam Scott this entire time you've been expecting
Adam Sandler to come to visit the show I would never let go of that I have I would never set expectations for something like
that sounds like if the universe allows for something like that to happen I am open to I'm always going to accept
you know Danny McBride fine yeah saw this fragile masculinity
exuding I could smell it walking on the hallway to be honest with me as I was like that I was like
is that what he's not fragile masculinity yeah Ben still or no because a lot of times in out of
context people don't get it or even know what a circle is you know what I mean like girl I go
to so stupid uh everyone's so dumb and fake right fake and and also not interested or just like oh
I've got my life I don't care about your life and a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us
oh and by the way will Ferrell told us personally he loves the show and he wants to be a guest on
every episode but he's just so busy listen to Hollywood Handbook on the iHeartRadio app Apple
podcast or wherever you get your podcasts our town is small taters by most standards right but
to the people who grew up here it's everything what happens when a quiet Tennessee town becomes
the front line in a battle over the future of America developers with right wing ties have
purchased hundreds of acres of land in the area the first thing you see when it pops up is
high nears and apple etchum but they weren't just planning houses we need cities on a shining hill
that exemplifying in body the Christian way of life stop right there is that normal a podcast about
what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment god need me to rule great
and decides to fight back do not use my hard work to sell your bull they're not just opposing
what's being planned for here our hometown is not a test to they feel like they're standing in
opposition to an entire administration guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbilly's
now did you listen to our town on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts
last call for phone calls what we learned what's in store tomorrow
perhaps in perl of if you're watching on peacock that'll be coming up top of the hour
dan or loftski gonna join us tomorrow or loftski came out and i think he said that
Matthew Stafford if he wins another super bowl could be a top five quarterback of all time
i know he loves Matthew Stafford from his time in Detroit but okay i don't know that's why we'll
have him on yes time i think our friend nick right among others had a big problem with that take
Ross Tucker will join us on the program tomorrow as well we're gonna be talking football
yeah football yeah Dylan i will say to the Matthew Stafford point he survived a long time in
Detroit which i think he should actually get bonus points for on top of the later success that
he's had like that what he did there was actually impressive Kirk in la hi Kirk what do you have for me
hey Dan uh as a long time suffering clipper fan if i know when the just said that this is not a
debt flow but it certainly feels like one um but my my question is and i know you touched on it
is this ESPN article you know so much was made about it last week and uh remote is in the
byline all kinds of heavyweight people yet you know he's just like oh well they got the you know
information fed to them by by the clippers and i just feel that uh you know it's gonna get swept
under the rug but you know they're the worldwide leader and uh clearly they got it wrong
well i think with this is what i don't understand let's say steve bomber hand delivers you all
this information you get access he's saying i didn't do it and you believe him you at least have
to run it by somebody on the other side you at least have to run this by uh the NBA look you got
decorated reporters you know these these investigative reporters and if you're only gonna sit on one
side and you did not do your due diligence but when it came out it's like basically bomber and the
clippers are totally exonerated and i'm thinking there is there's no way the commissioner is going
to come out of this with nothing because then it'll really look bad that you sided with the richest
one of the richest men in the world that there had to be something there and having spoken to
i knew there were things there i didn't know the agenda of his sources but so what their times when
somebody is gonna give you information about somebody else you know then you have to kind of play
referee and you go okay and my is this real is this person going out of their way because they don't
like this coach or this player this school and i'm i'm very it took me a long time to get people who
in my opinion don't have agendas to be hurting people as much as enlightening me on what is going on
that's all i've ever asked i don't need to break stories you know it's a pain in the butt when you
break a story and then you got to answer to everybody and i'm like i don't need to i mean go back
to when i said the big ten was gonna be shutting down football during covid all the college football
insiders came after me you know stick to your job Bobby and i'm going okay uh playoff expansion
when i brought that up so that's information not to hurt anybody that's information to enlighten you
but you know i've been used before a couple of times when it comes to somebody telling me something
about somebody and uh you know i learned uh brine and texas hey brie what do you have for me today
hey dp hey i just want to tell you real quick you know we talk about how athletes they're transitional
you know superstars i just want to say you are a transitional superstar in what you do
oh thank you from yesterday that was that was very cool thank you right i had a i had a
shirt idea for Todd feel marred okay yes all right Todd i got toddy toddy toddy
that's it toddy toddy fritz blitz okay how about that Todd that's pretty good okay i don't know
what fritz blitz is that like because of the football season i i yes ray it's funny back here i can
kind of hear tod and the guy comes on to us like this isn't gonna be good automatically expecting i thought
it whispered that to tell you this is gonna be negative madden charland hi mad would you have for me today
runner left side got it um hey a little show idea off of uh what we found out earlier in the week with
the knock good drop by Brady hoax yeah um and i think you guys got some stern fans on your on your
staff there so i think you know like they do that behind the drop thing sometimes you know
Fred drops all through the show now granted stern got decades and a lot of them but you yourself
the show they got a lot of them in a little little segment before you retire that gives us a little
bit you know behind the scenes um uh of these drops even the height and weight for instance i've
been listening to you for for 20 years i i don't particularly remember why that was it did
rob dibble when i work with him at ESPN dibs would always give you like he was always working out
it was in great shape need always tell you you know i'm six four two thirty seven and then i i
i wanted to have a height and weight belt or kind of remind him that he says it a lot i don't know
if dibs ever picked up on it but um we just ended up doing height and weight and that was it you
know and then people started giving their height and weight and then we'd ring the bell tod you learn
anything today i sure did since he's not still coaching right now mic tommon has never seen comor
or happier these days great job by tod got mic tommon toney batiti commissioner the big ten hoblot tori
windy dan or loftski and ross tucker on the program tomorrow thanks for joining us have a great day
if your bookshelf and your four u page are equally important to your personality welcome home
pro society is a weekly podcast that's part book club part group chat for anyone who thinks pride and
prejudice and love island deserve the same level of discourse each week we're connecting the dots
between books the internet and pop culture with your favorite writers book talk creators and plenty
of over thought opinions yeah i'm obsessed so obsessed listen to pro society on the i heart radio
app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts i survived nine months in captivity and i've
spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them i'm a lizbeth smart
and these are the survivor files every week i'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable
abducted stalked controlled and nearly silenced these are stories about what it takes to make it out
alive listen to the survivor files with the lizbeth smart on the i heart radio app apple podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts on the new podcast solita we share the messy reality of traveling alone
as a woman i can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering the right on his
motorcycle i choose option b i'm julie viniero and i travel by myself because it's a rare space where
i can say yes without asking anyone else first i'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita
trading the pity for possibility listen to solita on the i heart radio app apple podcasts
or wherever you get your podcasts
hey this is aesdavenport and shon clements we host the podcast hollywood handbook each week we
talk to someone in show business and try to help them with their careers and see what they have
to offer us everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicists for letting them do
we've had a lot of great guests like sarah sherman adam scott the aemig bride been stiller at a
lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us listen to hollywood handbook on the
i heart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts our hometown is not a test tube
90 miles northeast of nashville a battle for the future of america plays out in one small town
developers with right wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land we need cities on a shining
hill this is our town a podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social
experiment and fights back guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbilly's now did you
listen to our town on the i heart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts
this is an i heart podcast guaranteed human
