Pablo Torre Breaks Down The NBA Investigation's Findings | Local Hour

0:00It's one of my favorite times. There's that point in every summer where I start convincing myself, I'm going to be normal about football this year. Not as emotional. Not lose myself completely in it. And then the game start. The sprinklers. The smell of grass. The roar of the crowd. The toasting of Miller Light. Ah, that right there my friends. That's my favorite part about all of this because make it football time is great. Make it football time a Miller time. That's special. Some of my favorite weekends are built around football. Getting everybody together, putting the college games on on Saturday come back for the NFL on Sunday, order way too much food, and crack open Miller lights for me and my friends. That's a perfect weekend for me. And Miller light is a beer I reach for every time because it's crisp, refreshing, and easy to drink. Especially when football starts. When it's still somehow down here. 90 degrees in Miami. It's a true American pilsner that cools the body down the original light beer since 1975 and just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs. Legendary game days start with a Miller light.

1:00Make game day legendary. Go to MillerLight.com slash stand by delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Game time is Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. It's time to put on a suit and roll out the carpet. Break up the tube and gather near. It's the best time of the year. So keep your dial right here. It's me and you. It's the best time of the year.

2:07So keep your dial right here. It's me and you. And you get the soies. And every day you're gonna go to a website. You can find the best time of the year. So keep your dial right here. It's me and you. It's me and you. It's me and you and me again. And the soies. Best got a thing.

3:07Ladies and gentlemen, Dan Levitard. Come on. Come on. Come on. The forest's up on St. Gilla. Get up Tony. Get up on your thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Get up Pablo. Get up. Get up Pablo. Get up. Come on. Come on. Come on. Woo. Come on. Oh, send sent down. Woo.

4:11Forward for you. Hi. Love this company. That gas station of yesterday was amazing. You guys were so good out there. I appreciate it. We had a shot of one side somebody throwing a football. Another side a tie here. Two different shots. Two different shots at the same time. If you want to bring that up, there's obviously clear controversy on what happened. Oh my god. We're still doing this. It's obvious. You made two. That's where you should be focused. You're not the one that you made one. You don't think should count. You made one. You can't talk. I'm not talking. You're absolutely talking. You made 40% accuracy. You want to try out for a football team?

5:11You made 20. You made 20. You made 20. You can't talk. I'm going to talk to the person. Well, he's not here. Koga. But he only had two and then one got caught halfway. Controversy for a lifetime. Catch that bread then. What's the water? You're going to talk a little bit more about the tire. I'm scared you got it. I mean, if two and a half, two and a half should be... It can't be a half. It's got to go through the tire. When we were playing as kids, oh, we got caught halfway to the tire. Is that a reception? No. All right, first of all, let's start with the big winner here. That's Zazelow because this controversy has provided the distraction he needs from everybody focusing in on his throwing motion. It was very poor, Zaz. That's the first thing. On the middle. Nah. He shrugs it off. It has zero effect on my life. Tone. Okay, fine. Listen. He loves to puff his chest out about how he was a borderline college quarterback. And you made two out of five. And now you want to blame the effect on...

6:12That's too much zip on the ball, Dave Damish. I don't know if you saw that. I got a high arm angle. And the thing wasn't as high. That's the issue. So my release point is higher than Kokes who was throwing like a softball. I don't know what he was doing. That's why are you looking at him that way? I mean, what is he talking about? So your release angle is high. Who cares? Is the receiver you're throwing to? Is his chest is at your release point? What are you talking about? No, but I had to throw it down because it was so short. That would have been a touchdown if the defender hadn't intercepted it. I mean, that's the sort of line. You were too tall for the swinging tires. That was your say. I'm not too tall. My arm angle is too high. So you can't play with receivers who are shorter than you as what you're saying? No, it's not about that. That's a quarterback people are going to want. This grace. This is why you tried out without a football. You lost a ham and aegert. And this is the danger of shooting your mouth off. Write in checks that your butt can't cash. You understand? Did you see the way he threw? I saw that you made two out of five. You're supposed to be a college quarter. I hit the tie every single time.

7:13So when Damagex says writing checks your ass can't cash, Publatory has been doing something that is dangerous. And the truth has to be on your side. Because, and I'm not making this up, this has caused a great much, a lot of sleeplessness over the last year. A mistake, the wrong one, gets us bankrupted. And Pablo has to be on the facts. And he was on the facts in a way that the NBA has nuked the LA Clippers for cheating and salary cap circumvention. According to the reports, y'all. So with it. Involving Kawai Leonard. It's one of the most massive penalties in the history of sports and is the most massive one in the history of basketball. Five first round picks at some of KL Bridges or a Rudy Gobert. $30 million in fine. That's almost an Emmanuel quickly next year. Almost a Jordan pool. Almost a Walker Kessler. $30 million. Doesn't pay for Tyler Herald, but almost. And the big one I thought. The one that's gonna hurt Balmer the most. He can't go to the games in his own arena for you.

8:14Can't do anything around the team. Loves that arena. I can't go. Not allowed around anything. Loves it so much. And they're two highest ranking officials. Both presidents get hit. Lawrence Frank Lesso because he sang the song. Like he took notes on everything. And he got six months less than the president of business operations. So let's get into the facts of this with Pablo Torrey. Pablo. I urge you guys to check out. Pablo Torrey finds out live from last night. David Samson and Mina Hassan. They won the Pulitzer Prize for their reporting. And what they did last night is worth reviewing since last night Pablo. What are the facts that you have gotten in reading everything that has allowed you to have new thoughts today that are different because you've actually had time to absorb the material? Yeah, my first thought is can we get Dan a CPAP machine? Because I'm worried that we're gonna talk about journalism and he's not gonna make it to the end of it. I have also thought that we may never get to the end of this investigation. What I realized though as I was rereading and rewatching.

9:17A lot of what we've done as well as what the NBA and Wattel Lipton, which released a 36 page report that we talked about in 90 minutes yesterday. I said this was bigger than we were able to say even as we circled the vastness of it. The thing, Dan, that I don't know if people realize is that this was not merely a story of fake jobs for Kauai Leonard. This was a story of fake consulting jobs for the four companies that Wattel Lipton detailed in documentation. Everybody got fake jobs and the contracts to build out the into a dome with the wireless sponsor, the insurance provider, the scoreboard maker, the carbon credit environmental company that all went to the $2 billion building that Steve Almers now banned from for a year. All of those deals according to our reporting and now the NBA's investigation were contingent on paying Kauai Leonard in ways they weren't allowed to do. This is astonishing in ways that I was surprised by and I'm hardening that the NBA went to places we were not able to because we are merely reporters, not the NBA with the power to compel people to talk.

10:26All right. So what surprised you yesterday? What in there did you not know because there were two more side deals allegedly and also something that I don't think is small Pablo. He apparently just had an expense account where he could just not repay an assortment of things where the company or the NBA was the clippers rather were just apparently just letting him run around with an expense account. We've been hearing lots of stuff that we haven't gotten public with that mercifully made it into this report. The thing that I'm most interested in and surprised by though was who ended up giving the NBA some of the evidence that we were unable to obtain Lawrence Frank, the GM of the clippers, the President of Assemble Operations Dan was taking contemporaneous notes during meetings that were about the things they were not allowed to do. And those notes were quoted by Waptele Lipton and they praised Lawrence Frank who got a four year extension from the clippers in December of last year by the way, mid investigation, right? We're all saying what is happening here? Lawrence Frank had notes quoting Steve Balmer about how Balmer pledged to Uncle Dennis Roberts and in Coilandard.

11:32We are going to act as collective workers to your financial benefit. That was quoted from Lawrence Frank's notes. There is stuff happening behind the scenes in terms of people realizing I need to cooperate and tell them what really happened here that we were not able to access in part because we're not the NBA. But God bless this report for spelling out that Lawrence Frank's notes were key to Balmer actually being identified as clearly as we've been saying this entire time. You only get to pick one thing. What was most interesting about yesterday? This is a story about hundreds of millions of dollars. It's more. It's a story about every contract that the clipper assigned with the Intuitum that now needs to be looked at anew. It's the story about how everything that Coilandard wanted was given to him according to this investigation and our reporting, it seems, by granting contracts to companies and some of them public companies that the SEC is now looking into.

12:32It is beyond capsic prevention now. That is what is interesting to me. This is about allegations of not disclosing to the federal government what they were legally obligated to. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. You know what's interesting? We spend a lot of time reading reviews before, well, you know, buy a new TV, pick a restaurant, but when it comes to taking care of ourselves, we don't always do the same thing. That's one of the reasons why people like what BetterHelp is doing. Instead of just telling you people like it, they're showing you. You can visit BetterHelp.com slash reviews and see real custom feedback that's updated every day. BetterHelp has an average live therapy session rating of 4.9 out of 5 based on more than 1.7 million client session reviews. More than 6 million people have used BetterHelp globally. And if you decide to get started, they match you with a therapist based on your needs. If it isn't the right fit, you can switch therapists at any time. See the reviews, see what stands out, and see if BetterHelp is right for you.

13:38Visit BetterHelp.com slash DLB. That's better H-E-L-P.com slash DLB. Down Lebatar. I used to say when I turn 80, all bets are off, that's when the heroin starts. But then I moved it up to 75 a few years ago. Dave, then a check. I'm thinking now 65 years of age. Jenna, dancassolo. I have a pact with a friend that if we both live until 90, we're gonna do heroin. This is the Down Lebatar show. I have 8,000 questions. So let me do this as quickly as possible given some subject matter that is difficult, but he is the authority on this subject. This is a sports journalism story that I don't think I've ever seen in my career as a journalist and it's one of the biggest sports scandals about cheating that we've ever seen. The Clippers now have two owners who are at the center of two of the most giant ownership scandals there have been somehow. And Balmer got the team because they took it from the other one.

14:46So what do you do with the wording around Balmer that doesn't seem to make a direct link to him being the source of the wrongdoing while suspending him for a year? I think the links there. I think anybody who says, oh, there wasn't direct one on the link of money. It should just read the report. And listen to our episodes. It's very clear that Steve Balmer was a participant and the overseer of a GM and a head of business that were operating in a scheme. This was a scheme. It was a scheme with four separate companies and beyond according to my reporting, by the way. There are some names in here that didn't make it in that we will get to eventually, but this is Balmer's quotes his authorization, his investments, his oversight. And anybody who knows, as we've said from the beginning, Dan, that the dude was measuring the distance between toilets in his building. And he knows that the details matter. He was a recidivist and the MBA says what we've been saying for a year, 2015 punished for Capsicure Convention with the Andre Jordan. That attempt, right? 2019 investigated. Same thing we're talking about still in 2026. And in 2026, of course, we now know what happened or at the very least, what's apparent above the surface of the water still.

15:56So in that way, Steve Balmer was directly funneling money through sponsors. It's just that he did it in a way that the MBA called quote unquote novel at the Clippers thought would be their excuse. We're going to do it through partners that we will pay as a team for the $100 million video board for locked in insurance, the insurance company on the construction for a Blingo wireless. I didn't have this on my Blingo card, Dan. The wireless company would be a key player in this. That was pretty good. I was working that. I was working that. He'd be doing it. Put it away. The Clippers vehemently reject this and vigorously challenge. How? What does that look like? I would love to find out. We've been waiting this whole time. What's the altered explanation? Now that task becomes twice as hard if not more so because the MBA has provided what we could not get. And so if you're telling me here is the evidence here is the paper trail a manufactured paper trail by the way that could have been the most interesting part of this.

16:56Gillian Zooker, the president of business operations for the Clippers Steve Balmer's right hand person they would meet in the office all of the time at what I was told for a year. And they would discuss everything with the into it though. privately she created according to the MBA a manufactured paper trail to hide what they were doing so that when investigators or journalists came looking they could say we had an introductory email and they were off to the races. Which is what Steve Balmer said to Ramona Shelburn when he came on to ESPN air. A day after we dropped part one as his exculpatory proof. And so the question is you have emails before the email that was supposed to be a sculptor you have emails after you have the financial flows you have the documentation you have the testimony of Lawrence Frank you're quite Leonard saying by the way my bad. Should have trusted the people in my inner circle admitting to it and now bombers says still at the end we're going to a arbitrate and be possibly sue part a for people who haven't been keeping track is now impossible according to the CBA why co-I Leonard settled. The union settled everything we've heard is the end especially was the union will never settle they'll never sell the number settle co-I Leonard got a slap on the wrist he settled.

18:03What does that mean the clippers can't take this to arbitration they now need to sue in court the NBA and walked out leptin and maybe us if they want. But they need to figure out how they're going to explain this to a jury and what discovery is going to show because I keep keep on saying there's more quickest answer you can give the part. The punishment is to stiff to light or fair. Wow. Based on what the report shows. There based on what it does it in totality to light so when they say at least five first round picks and at least 30 million dollars if you're the clippers don't you run to them right now and say look we'll cop to everything we won't fight but no for you to punishment no more like stops at this it ends now well keep in mind what walk tells says in their report which is that their investigation is ongoing too. There was something that they are referring to in the report that says that it came in late in the last couple weeks as we ourselves have been reporting as dectronics I can't stress this enough Dan dectronics the video board company right the Halo board they are now as as their CFO said on their earnings call yesterday the SEC is now probing them the federal government wants documents.

19:14We have so much access the NBA has perhaps even more access to some of the more relevant characters the federal government has yet more access there is more and so if the clippers want to settle. I think it seems like they've decided not to but now they have to be worried what else is there give me some range here just a quick answer that you think the estimate on the amount of extra money that coi got through all of these things just give me a range from where that extra money can be. I mean the total value in terms of what he was promised it was close to nine figures. Okay so given that what do you think of the penalty did you just answer the question 700,000 dollars if you got a tens of millions of dollars what kind of penalty is that is that just the play bargain. That is a very savvy legal move that the NBA's lawyers which understand the CBA better it seems than a very high price law firm that has been representing Steve bomber made to box in Steve bomber that is my read based on the report.

20:20According to reports you'll according to reports y'all why are picks not taken until 29 30 31 32 33. That is a great question and I continue my reporting on that. Gillian Zucker they don't have any Dan that's why they don't have picks trade all those. No but they're getting a couple for coi well they technically don't have it yet. But that's the part where my reporting continues is we're waiting for the trade to go through and by the way the raptors now are thinking to themselves is it done. And I keep saying to everybody it's not done with they are thinking to themselves maybe it's done and that's how the clippers get those picks back so we wait to see Gillian Zucker explain to me this is the first time I'm hearing that name yeah she's the right hand person of Steve bomber what Lawrence Frank is the best of operations she is to business. She is the character that we introduced in our series that was across the electronic stuff she was on emails with Joe Sanber the co founder of aspiration she's the person who was there to execute what bomber wanted and if you ask anybody who worked at the clippers does Gillian Zucker I've been told that is not her name if Gillian Zucker does something does she do it without bombers permission.

21:32Do ask that to people who work with them both know them who've been in rooms with them and they will laugh in your face and so when I say Steve bomber knew the question is do his lieutenants operate without his knowledge and what everybody says to me is he is a micro manager in ways that you still continue to underestimate Chris what were you yelling at me about. I mean, there's debate back here on the pronunciation of her name the first and the last there's never been a gillian there has been a zooker as Gillian Gillian Gillian Gillian get your facts right it's our investigation also continues on how to pronounce Gillian Zooker's name admittedly a blind spot for me. So you tell me what I'm to do with an assortment of different things here Pablo because there's a lot here that ESPN report from 10 days ago where you got a three time Pulitzer winner Don Van Nata Ramona Shelber and their best reporters are basically just being puppets for clipper leaks that are in no way true like what walk me through what the hell happened from like how is it that ESPN got used as a puppet here going back to this interview with bomber where he is.

22:40He's squeaking his way through I didn't do anything I don't know what you guys are talking about play that from Ramona Shelber and initial report. The court documents and in Pablo's podcast they report it was 20 million Pablo's podcast I don't know anything about the court documents on this I don't I haven't seen them and I don't know I'm not trying to be who I don't know I really don't know but the speculation is what it is any speculation would be crazy these were guys who committed fraud how would I be able look they can do it. They can't me. You're one of the richest. They can't me I made an investment in these guys thinking it was on the up and up and they can't me at this stage I have no ability to predict why they might have done anything they did Pablo. I think that every year the clippers through their personal relationships with media with prices PR people with compliant outlets have tried to sell a story in which I and we have been lying about this the whole time.

23:45What those media sources should have known a lot earlier than yesterday was that it was the opposite. They are being fed a story that could not be rationally explained and for a year we asked for the explanation and it never came and so two weeks ago when you can go with that story all I can think was it felt like people who are trying to compete on a story that they got beat on without doing the work. It's embarrassing I can't speak to their personal motivations I submitted to ESPN a comment saying that we stand by our reporting and look forward to the NBA's ruling after the story came out I was not given an opportunity to comment before it came out by the way which is interesting and even more interesting is that they didn't include my comment even though I was told by that team that they would so they should have known better is all left thinking about and. I don't know if I could have made it any clear over the course of a year the CBA doesn't allow for player suspension for cap circumvention it's plain and simple Kauai I got double the fine that is the maximum allowable fine we should say all of that but everyone's going to think he got off light here correct like he's in the middle of this and everyone else takes the shrapnel and he got barely anything for being somebody who's just wandering around taking handouts allegedly well the CBA is a fascinating collectively bargain document.

25:06That is bargain between owners and players and so the players in that document have a level of protection by the NBA's rules that is special and is turns out something that can be used to box in the richest owner and American sports if the commissioner and if the other owners deemed that richest owner and American sports the ballmer to be acting beyond what is acceptable to them. And that's also the story here then it's been painted at this entire time like not everyone does this everyone does perhaps some degree of this but not what we've reported and not what the NBA has found and that left the NBA with a move if we slap Kauai Leonard on the wrist relative to real world consequence but we simply abide by the CBA we can punish Steve Ballmer.

26:06Who is otherwise incredibly intimidating because there is this unbelievable over abundance of evidence and they chose to do it. Tony you know that moment at a party or a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks I know well it's usually when I show up everybody goes crazy. Yeah you usually take all the credit for it but it's because Tony usually walks in with queer walking like this. Yeah yeah yeah queer vote is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night it has that effect on people it does you usually take the credit for it but again it's the queer vote of fact it's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just start standing up holding in tolerance keep it queer vote. Keep it the quervo baby. Down lebertar. I like options I don't like Cheeto trying to corner the market by saying we're everything. They've been a chick. We're the puffy ones we're the I believe you're picking up what I'm laying down. This is the down lebertar show.

27:10Pablo I have a question which makes sound stupid I don't think it's stupid but ultimately you were able to find evidence. Of the cap sir convention because of a paper trail because of the clippers dealings with outside businesses to then funnel the money to Kauai. Why couldn't Steve bomber just show up at Kauai's house with a duffle bag full of 50 million dollars and say here don't tell anyone. I mean look we could do a whole I mean with Mark Cuban president maybe a whole shark tank episode about the best way to pitch the cap sir convention company ideas. So great show. So great show. And could you do it with a crypto wallet could you do it with a stock pick could you do it with yes the Duffle bag SMU style hash delivery absolutely you could say that would have been more effective than this. But what they tried to and this is where it gets to be beyond the pale the clipper and were warned repeatedly what they should not do and they thought they were smarter than everybody and they said all we got to do is make a fake paper trail.

28:15Never thinking that the real paper trail would be acknowledged they said all we got to do is stay within the letter of a law that we have misinterpreted and these journalists can't touch us all they got to do is say the story is a to all of the reporters that we look into the eyes and lie to and we can get away with it never thinking that story be the truth would ever be attested to by sources brave enough to say it. And that's what the story is man like this is about people and whistleblowers were brave enough to take on the richest owner in American sports who trusted an independent journalist with their story. It is about the people who are brave enough to say this is not what happened. And we rely on that the credit goes to people brave enough to share documents to tell a story that can be fact checked is true and that's why this it's why all of this wound up being a story of underestimation of the public

29:17interest. So I have an update on the name I heard both Zucker Zucker Gillian and Gillian from Fortune magazine from CBSLA and ultimately found Steve bomber introducing Gillian Zucker. Hmm Pablo get your face. Yeah, I was get your facts. I was so this would happen. It's David. I've been saying it's David's Zucker and then David it's like if I pronounced a Filipino name one way you're going to trust my pronunciation. But David does goes to Zooker and I'm like, I guess it must be Zooker. So all right get your facts. Get a second source do something responsible. That is a real correction that I apologize for. So Lawrence Frank in all of this explain to me and walk me through the idea of he gets an extension in December as you said I thought it was something that felt or looked like hush money and then he just goes and evidently is one of the main sources on this report as far as I can tell Dectronics and Lawrence Frank were the ones that were most helpful here. Do I have that wrong according to reports?

30:18I think that's right. Gillian Zucker was according to Wachtell, purposefully obvious Cateri purposefully unhelpful. They credit Lawrence Frank. Lawrence Frank is a really interesting character because he knew everything was across all the basketball stuff was clearly involved and an executive level participant. But at a certain point then and this is the calculation that everybody in media had to make that all the protagonist had to make. They had to figure out when is it time for me to pull the parachute cord? What is it time for me to acknowledge bad things are about to happen because we didn't tell the truth. So do I want to be somebody who helps the prosecutors or do I want to be someone who gets prosecuted? And Lawrence Frank is a habitual note taker. When I say he was taking notes and people have been rightfully quoting that line from the wire the whole time or you're really taking notes on a criminal conspiracy. Lawrence Frank was taking notes all of the time. And he's always done that. And that's just who he is it seems.

31:18And he used those notes to get it seems a yes and story. I'm going to get my extension from my employer and I'm also going to tell the NBA all the things my employer does not want them to know. It is a fascinating calculation that Lawrence Frank made. Does he keep his job like what's going to happen there if you had to take a best guess? If I'm taking a guess I don't think Gillian Zucker or Lawrence Frank keep their jobs. And that's even before you get to the particular hypothetical betrayal that Bulmer might feel on the part of either of them. I think one of those people in Lawrence Frank prepared for an exit. The other one Gillian Zucker in her non compliance with the NBA investigation perhaps knew that she didn't have a backup quite as good. And that was a calculation that we are only basically available reporting. Connecting the dot sign but that's what it feels like to me. I'd like to see Pablo do one of those animal house at the end of animal house.

32:20What happens to everybody kind of thing in a year or two from now and go through each of the characters. The surprising I think the mean 77 movie I mean polluted yesterday's podcast with movie references. I urge you to hear Pablo Tory finds out they did a great 90 minutes live that I mean wouldn't shut up about movies on animal house on 1977. You get the reference Pablo gets the reference. Here's the question though. My assumption was and I feel like Pablo maybe that you were leaning in this direction as well. Is that this was going to come down to billionaire's protecting a billionaire over a millionaire. Do I have it right that Adam Silver is people like to say about Roger good down with the NFL in any major league is he's working for the owners. So did his peers who are not his peers financially because he's richer than any of them are. I mean did they sign off on this they had to right Adam Silver didn't just decide I'm going to do this and not and not get sign off from some percentage of the other owners in the league right.

33:29Now he read the room and the room is the board of governors meeting the country club of owners that is meeting in days. We've been saying it for a year that other owners have been telling me that ballmer deserves punishment coaches other executives have been saying it and you could read it as health interest of course because we're the good guys there the bad guy and bring a salt with all of it. But that still means that the other owners were at the very least cool with what Adam Silver did and so look how is it that it's two things right how is it that this is. An independent investigation that's really the NBA deciding what to do and how is it that the NBA decided to drop a nuke on the most powerful richest owner in American sports and the answer is they set a scope that was more narrow than our reporting we're here to tell you the story. Dennis Wong Rhode Island football club and more they set a scope look at salary capsic convention through this lens and so right on football club not mentioned Dennis Wong even not mentioned but when they went down the rabbit hole that was sized for them measured by the NBA which is smaller than our reporting what they found was an endless endless bird.

34:56In which they found four companies and a paper trail and at that point you throw your hands up and say we can't do anything but take this extraordinarily seriously even with those parameters Pablo we've got about five minutes left so let's do this 30 seconds at a time because I've got a ton of questions let's put a clock on this so that we can do this as well as we can possibly do this in a limited amount of time OK Uncle Dennis go. Ban for five years a hilarious person who I'm going to miss on some level but he is. Orderly aware of his own leverage and use it against the guy who should have known better also have you heard any theories that are good on the no show job that make any sense whatsoever. All of these jobs effectively were fake jobs I mean walk tell tested to that these were jobs with minimal responsibilities in which he did virtually nothing outside of an autograph signing for boy and go wireless at an army base which we've been reported by the way in ways that we got scooped on unfortunately but that was the one thing these are all fake jobs we've been saying it why would you do any of this if they were fake jobs they were all fake jobs and even more fake jobs than we realized give me the American sports.

36:13President precedent American sports precedent for the owner gets gone and two of your presidents get hit with suspensions. The timber wolves is the only precedent but as we have been saying the timber wolves was a promise from an owner to an agent that was locked in a drawer that got lost by a dispute within the agency this was a vast scheme that involves federal agencies that is not over yet. So precedent is the T wolves the story is multiples more than what the T wolves actually did dissect for me coil entered statement please. One of the funniest quotes is that he regrets the laps is made by people in his inner circle piece out I'm going to Toronto. If you read that and you happen to be Steve Walmer you are punching a hole in your wall because that's the same guy you needed to go to war against the league with you and that guy did what he's done this entire story which is for your entire self self interest over the collective good of the team and you're left holding multiple bags.

37:25I thought that the reporting was that they were still talking about a settlement what happened to the plea bargain what happened to the settlement what happened to the clipper the clippers negotiating with the NBA on something quieter than what happened yesterday. Yeah, I mean that yes, the end story is a fascinating talent that regard it is it is true that this was a settlement that was proposed to the clippers but what the NBA wound up doing was an end around. And end around around the clippers needing to consent when the clipper is signaled that they were going to fight till the very end the NBA knew okay we're in wartime and we have an arsenal of evidence so how do we handle it and they figured out if the union participates and settles you don't need. So that is a very disturbing the buzzing haunting buzzer yeah I gathered as much you knew that was the buzzer yeah. This is like it's a Flintstone this is like the Flintstones where instead of the bird that's your car horn you have whatever that person is yeah I do know that that's the buzzer but I think it's just jarring to people David Samson is ready to go and I have a number of legal questions for him as well but Pablo what else is there here like when you say there's more and the NBA says there's more how can there be more.

38:49Because there's more like Rhode Island football club we talked about for a very deliberate reason right they focused on really it was. Why signs with the clippers why it took us into the pandemic the timeline continues he finds an extension in January of 2024 after all of this had happened why did he do it at a discount right Rhode Island football club enters the picture Dennis Wong is the one percent. Owner is 99. Supposer yeah you got to tighten it up bombers attorney saying it's a witch hunt and a gross injustice. How was your version of events they keep on saying that a podcaster made irresponsible allegations and all we've seen is documentation proving that this is the truth meanwhile they say nothing resembling a rational explanation for why they did what they did if it wasn't exactly what it smells like. I tell you two years ago that you can have one or the other but not both a Pulitzer prize or your podcast promoted in the first sentence of and a report from a law firm that is one of the biggest scandals in sports history for cheating which do you take.

40:04Much like Uncle Dennis Robertson my answer is why not both nope that's not what I asked you. Easy one Pablo I'm taking the Pulitzer prize because my parents have a hard time following what it is that I've done but that is a brand they recognize so thanks. Look at Samson piping in there Samson I have more questions for Pablo but you're you've been extraordinary on this story your expertise is something I literally have not seen from anyone else in sports journalism you and a mean have been at the top of your game helping Pablo and by the way I should say. Super proud of Pablo's entire team because while he wanders around with us Paris all getting all the credit there are a whole lot of people behind the scenes making him look a lot better than he actually is even though he's the best going right now the legal things that you found most interesting yesterday David. I found it interesting that the clippers had no understanding of what was happening and it's been going on for a year and the only explanation I have is that Steve bomber told the people who work for him I don't care about the truth I don't care about the consequences we are going to fight and fight and fight.

41:18And the problem with doing that is that you're dealing with a league that has the ability to match him dollar for dollar because Steve bombers pain for all of it so bombers pain for both sides of this fight and if he wants to keep going the NBA is more than happy to do it because they didn't want to but now as Pablo pointed out they have to they wanted to settle with the clippers they wanted Steve to go quietly into the night and acknowledge. They want to acknowledge this pay the fine and move on but he refused and the people below him kept line and they got caught Pablo why were you shaking your head there. They said bomber said in a letter to Adam silver that this has cost him personally $50 million in legal fees and I just think that that is both funny and also making you want to ask for a raise so you know. I don't know to let him go with that declining also that request actually 30 more seconds here Thai loss and saying via tweet so does Pablo Tori get any fine backlash sued or fired for trying to ruin people's reputations and lives a lot of people have hated you here they're apologizing to you today but you got an extraordinary amount of doubt here even though anyone who listen to the episodes knew it was all fact based anyone who was listening and I felt like everyone

42:44criticizing you didn't bother with any of your 14 episodes never mind all of them. It is rare to get the validation the accountability from the institution you are investigating right we see this in politics in real life all of the time I don't want this to be the president. When someone is reporting a story and showing you the receipts maybe do the work of listening because you may not always get a situation where a law firm gives you the 35 page details and that is scary if by the way we're going to always wait for the institution to tell you the reporter. Get out of here Pablo good seeing you you almost hit your mark there at the end let's tighten up the fat and get some more facts in there okay you can't be getting names wrong with this shit what's the matter with you the Zucker is you curting up the facts no let's not make the joke out of here get out of here Pablo Tori finds out if you want more information on this it should have been 60 minutes but it was 90 because they couldn't stop yammering.