Today is media day for the majority of the NBA teams, including the LA Clippers. They are set to be under the spotlight for today’s festivities. Of course, this is because of the franchise’s superstar, Kawhi Leonard‘s alleged involvement in a salary cap scandal. So, it’s only obvious that the reporters will be looking for a lot of answers regarding the matter from him. While there already are plenty of allegations and concerns surrounding the 34-year-old forward, it seems like Pablo Torre has posted another question for him ahead of media day.

The journalist who is responsible for bringing light to this alleged deal in the first place hasn’t stopped his investigation. On the contrary, Torre has continued to reveal more layers to this “no-show job” that was offered to Leonard from the now bankrupt firm, Aspiration. However, none had been as huge as the one he revealed recently on his show, Pablo Torre Finds Out’s ongoing five-part series on the Kawhi Leonard-Clippers salary cap circumvention saga.

While chatting with his co-host, Amin Elhassan, Torre put forth what he claimed to be an old conversation between two former Aspiration employees. In the text chat, the two employees are seen discussing the Klaw’s deal as they made a demand for Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry. “Rojeh and I are trying to talk Joe and Andrei out of a $48mm deal with Clippers player Kawhi Leonard. It’s regional, male, niche, redundant to the Clippers, had no ASIS impact. And is a huge expense with no clear ROI,” one employee wrote.

To which the other replied, “F–k. That’s a horrible idea.” The same employee further revealed that their team just wants to sign any celebrity. It was then, the other one took a not-so-subtle jab at Leonard’s personality, saying that the Clippers star is “dull.” However, that wasn’t it; he/she took things further up a notch, suggesting Steph Curry’s name. “Steph Curry is at least charismatic. If u want an NBA star.” Those are pretty strong words from the former Aspiration employees.

Moreover, it also indicates that even people who were somewhat involved in this deal did feel something wasn’t right. After all, only that could explain why they wanted their firm to contact Stephen Curry for a deal instead of Leonard. Well, you cannot blame them. That’s because at that time Kawhi Leonard had just returned from a massive injury and seemed nowhere near the player he was at Toronto. So, spending around $28 million on him plus another $20 million in stocks doesn’t seem like a fair deal.

That’s because it’s hard to justify such a huge expense when the company does not even know what outcome they will be receiving from this investment. On the other hand, Curry has a much larger appeal and was at the top of his game. So, if you’re spending millions on a celebrity deal, there’s no doubt that the Warriors’ point guard comes up as the more appealing option. Nonetheless, this wasn’t the only new revelation that Pablo Torre made, ahead of the Clippers’ massive media day.

Pablo Torre debunks Steve Ballmer’s claim of being “defrauded”

Not too long ago, LA Clippers owner and the other name who’s allegedly part of this salary cap scandal, Steve Ballmer, claimed that the accusations made against him and Kawhi Leonard were false and that he was “defrauded” by the company. However, Pablo Torre, in his recent podcast, provided significant evidence suggesting that Ballmer continued to send funds to Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg long after the company was being looked into by the federal government.

To fully put this into perspective, you need to understand that Sanberg was the co-founder of the same company that offered Kawhi Leonard the $28 million “no-show job.” While over the course of the deal, the Clippers’ owners Ballmer and Dennis Wong made several payments to Aspiration, including times when the firm was in dire need of money, the one that caught Torre’s eye was the payment Ballmer made to Golden State Opportunity Foundation, a different entity run by Sanberg in December 2024.

It was a $1.875 million grant to the former Aspiration’s top executives, long after the government had started investigating them. So, this raises a huge question: If Steve Ballmer was kept in the dark as he claims, why did he continue to send money to Joe Sanberg? As of now, there’s no telling. However, it won’t be a secret forever, with this entire saga being set to be brought up during the team’s media day later today, but will Steve Ballmer be present there? Well, no. But Kawhi Leonard will certainly have to face the heat.