2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

I hate the Hyena, I rarely use his given name, and it's always f*** the Flippers from my perch. That being said, the commissioner is not a fan, or a member of the media, and his job is to weigh everything, and not jump to conclusions without proof. Fans and media can do whatever they like. The only people charged with a crime here are from Aspiration. Nobody has posted anything to date, that can't be viewed in different ways. Nothing. You are free however to form whatever opinion you like, but again Silver has to have a higher standard of "proof" than you. Once again, he's already publicly said that too. This s*** could affect us one day, I want it clarified and spelled out to a T, by our commissioner what's what here, so we can take advantage of whatever that determination may be, moving forward.

 

I didn't say I believed anything. I posted at the end about seeing what endorsement deals Dirk had. And yes..I still think Dirk was an idiot, to leave multiple millions on the table in Dallas. That doesn't mean anything illegal happened tho. So I'm not following your point here. I did however poke fun at Abeer, because he followed the Mavs, and likes to use Dirk as an example of what James should or shouldn't do contract wise. Guilty as charged on that one.Is that more clarifying for you ma'am?

 

Rui is my dude. I would be a bit down about moving him. That being said, Ayton changed the dynamics with this roster. He is a legit, full-time starter at 5. Lebron is still the superior option at 4. This makes Rui’s role and usage more complicated. Wiggins does bring more versatility to the lineup, I won't argue that, so I hope it doesn't happen from a sentimental aspect, but I could get behind it, basketball wise.

 

it’s like going forward and then being pulled back.

 

Rui to me is a great third scorer on a Luka team at the PF. And LeBron’s on his way out of the lakers or retirement, either this year or the one after. Rui just feels like a good piece to keep moving forward alongside Reaves.

Wiggins is the better player when they’re playing at their peak, but Rui is a few years younger and a better shooter.

 

Dude now I gotta go Kendrick Lamar Euphoria on you. Before you read my post. Make sure you listen to the song and know it’s directed at you.

I always come with receipts. In the words of Tyler the creator stop playing with me.

Your points are baseless and have no merit.

I was stating facts. No owners don’t think ohhhhhhhhh I gotta have this guy. They think money. He’s in L.A. he’s partners with the owners and the NBA who gifted him gave him the all star game. More money for him.

No way he would mess that up for Kawaii for a player?????? No owner is that dumb.

I always said I thought the foul play would be in 2019 look at my posts. I said if there was a promise for the next extension something like that. You’re making stuff up.

NBA business circles we don’t think video game. Kawaii added to getting the arena. And being a future partner that’s it. As LeBron is to the Lakers. Don’t ever question my alliagiance to the Lakers as would not question yours.

 

I'm not sure the FO views Rui as the Lebron replacement. They may want a more defensive minded, switchable player at the position. It’s not about who is a better player per se, it's who is the better fit with the roster. Wiggins can still guard 2-4, that's even more valuable in the playoffs.

 

I'm not licking anybody's boots, and I said what I said. I explained my position if you don't agree with it, so what? That doesn't make your opinion any more valid than mine. We shall see what the commissioner thinks shortly, then we can revisit this conversation. Imo, you haven't refuted a single thing I've said. You just keep repeating your opinions.

And based off of Silver's statement, you already know what's going to come from the investigation. Nothing..just like I said in my first post on this situation.

Adam Silver said he’s “bringing out the big guns” to investigate the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard for potential salary cap circumvention, but added the burden lies with the league to find hard proof before he doles out punishment.

Silver cautioned that it would be unfair to assume, and the league needs more than circumstantial evidence.

I would be reluctant to act if there was a mere appearance of impropriety. I think the goal of a full investigation is to find if there really was impropriety,” Silver said. “Because also in a public-facing sport, the public at times reaches conclusions that later turn out to be completely false. I would want anybody else who is in the situation Mr. Ballmer is in right now, or Kawhi Leonard, to be treated the same way I would want to be treated if people are making allegations against me.”

Maybe you can send him your hotdog stand analogy, so that he can better understand the situation then. Perhaps it would help enhance his critical thinking skills. I don't need it.. FOH

 

Agreed.

 

other owners basically threatening to hot dog stand if ballmer gets nothing is sort of doing it for me. so i'll stay here in the land of critical thinking.

and again, i'll love it because walter is rich and our brand is stronger than the clippers'/ballmer's. but we'd still all be cheating and the salary cap would no longer exist.

this is my point the whole time: if what's happened--from evidence we've already seen and nobody disputes--is a-ok, then we don't have a salary cap.

 

Right. Pablo clearly did his homework and has documents to back up what he’s saying. They keep responding with “Nah. Trust me bro. We totally didn’t cheat” and getting whacked. Time to just be quiet and let this play out.

Awful lot of squirming and explaining for a group that supposedly did nothing wrong.

 

ballmer came out strong early because he knows there's no signed document from him telling the company to work with kawhi how they did. but i think he underestimated just how much really damning circumstantial stuff was out there.

he should have just issued a quiet denial and said he'd let the league investigate instead of using terms like "provably false" (what?) and getting one of the reporters on his payroll to interview him about it.

the "no way in hell this happened" vibe to "it happened; i just didn't know about it" is a bad look.

 

The fact that we've heard nothing about a Rui extension (while it's been made clear that Austin will be extended) makes me think Rui probably isn't in the long-term plans. That's a shame because he's turned himself into a rock-solid role player, but defensively he's just not a great long-term partner next to Luka at the 4. Irwin (I know) was saying he thinks they may be backing off the cap flexibility stuff because teams are hearing Jokic and Giannis aren't going anywhere, hence why we might be more willing to do a deal with Miami that would result in them clearing a lot of money of their books for next summer.

We'll see. Even if the FO is now more willing to take on longer-term money, I doubt Wiggins is at the top of their list. I still hope we make a play for Barrett.

 

Yeah it's unfortunate, but it does make sense. When Lebron retires, Luka, even skinny Luka could slide to the 4 defensively, which is his best defensive position. We still have Reaves, so need to be careful not to have minus defenders at the other spots as much as possible.

 

If we are helping Miami with their payroll they have to move on their end IMO

Like not include Rui

 

only solace here could be wiggins isn't a homegrown miami player. odom was good here, for example. you have to watch out for their overachieving role players, just like the old days with the popovich spurs. great coaches can turn fringe guys into useful pieces, particularly if they have a lot of control over the system and the signings like pop and spo.

but i'm still with others in that miami is asking a lot for a guy that they're definitely not interested in keeping. they want that space instead of him...why shouldn't we?

 

The Kawhi Leonard-Aspiration scandal just took another hit. In a new joint statement obtained by Pablo Torre, three former senior executives at Aspiration (the company behind Leonard’s $28 million endorsement) blasted the deal as unjustifiable, claiming it ignored their objections, bypassed company review, and was never in the firm’s best interest.

"The Leonard Deal was presented to the company as a completed arrangement and executed by Mr. Cherny despite significant objections from members of this senior management team," the execs revealed in a joint statement. "It did not reflect any strategy previously communicated to us, nor was it reviewed through Aspiration’s Investment Committee process."

The statement was signed off by former Aspiration executives, including the Chief Legal Officer, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Financial Officer, who reported directly to Andrei Cherny at the time. They claim that Cherny orchestrated the contract, despite massive pushback.

 

Meh..Did they pushback on the other 200M in fraud, that company committed? I wonder how much of that, they admitted to signing off on. I'm guessing zero? I have a problem with taking the word of people that commit fraud myself. The guy that plead guilty did everything, all on his own, yep..we had nothing to do with any of it!! Including this Clippers situation!!! Lol..Yeah right, that sounds perfectly logical to me.

 

Where are these other owners statements about doing anything? I would like to see those comments. Silver was pretty direct and upfront, about what he was looking for from this investigation. Hard proof, not innuendo and circumstantial evidence.
As I said in another post, I want this situation spelled out to a T, about what is OK and what is not by the commissioner. Then if we can take advantage of that determination, we absolutely should, by all means. I just want things to be clearly defined, as to what is to be considered as evidence of circumventing the salary cap.