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emie's avatar

I think many of these takes are good, but Haberstroh's stands out to me as exceptional:

"... , I don’t want folks to lose sight of a revelation that Torre presented in the very first episode: that Aspiration never announced Kawhi Leonard’s groundbreaking endorsement deal ...

[possibly] the richest team-sponsor endorsement deal of its kind in the world of pro sports. And yet, Aspiration, a company in which Steve Ballmer, Clippers co-owner Dennis Wong and the LA Clippers reportedly invested $118 million, evidently didn’t want anyone to know about it. Why?"

That question "Why?" won't stop resonating.

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Steve's avatar

I agree Haberstroh’s take is great. That’s because it shows a real knowledge of the facts. By contrast, most of the other takes are pretty shallow.

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John Steppling's avatar

I remember when Kawhi left Toronto. I thought well, he had it all....he won a title, and he leaves. Why? When the Spurs cant get along with their star, it says something about the star. Leonard emerges as a terrible example of prima donna star power, and maybe now ownership and front offices will learn something. Probably not, but Id like to hope so.

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Eric Vallone's avatar

Regarding Keith Smith’s point about voiding Kawhi’s contract being a potential positive for the Clips, couldn’t the league void the contract but still have it appear on the books for cap purposes? So Ballmer saves the money, which he clearly doesn’t care about, but the team doesn’t get to spend it.

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Keith Smith's avatar

Hi Eric!

That's a complicated one. The NBA could rule that a cap hold stays on the books while the contract is voided, but I'd expect a fight from the NBPA on that one. If one union member is losing his contract, they'd want money freed up to go to others. It's unclear how the NBA would handle it, but it would have to be a negotiation with the NBPA.

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Colin Boggs's avatar

Windhorst , Shelburne and Shams have held the company line. Good

thing Tim McMahon is out there as the voice of reason

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