It was going all well for the Clippers as they assembled a deep squad to contend for a championship. But now the conversation is not about the squad building or Chris Paul returning to play in his final season. Thanks to Pablo Torre and his investigative work, all the chatter is around the secret $28 million endorsement deal with Aspiration that helped the team allegedly recruit Kawhi Leonard. In fact, Torre has even dragged the owner, Steve Ballmer, in his crosshairs. Some appreciate the investigative work, while some call it snitching. Take a look at where Matt Barnes stands on this.

First, the former NBA champion replied sarcastically to the entire ordeal. “The hustle is cold. They got a plant company paying him 28 million.” This conversation was on Jeff Teague’s podcast, and he had a problem with Torre. “Buddy (Pablo Torre) hating bro“. That’s when Matt Barnes raised the question of safety, since any investigative work pulls out dirt that sometimes people have spent years hiding.

“That’s what I asked my team the other day. They’re like, ‘man, that’s great journalism.’ I was like, is his life going to be safe? Like he really trying to blow the top off of s—,” Matt Barnes concluded. In fact, the renowned journalist is supposedly not stopping after his big reveal. Torre recently stated, “For us, we’ve been swimming in it. And I just simply want to impress upon people. I have not even seen the bottom of the rabbit hole.”

In his latest report, New York native Pablo Torre detailed how Steve Ballmer and the Clippers allegedly worked around the salary cap. According to Torre, Ballmer funneled $118 million into the now-bankrupt firm Aspiration between 2021 and 2023. That investment was directly tied to a $28 million “no-show job” agreement with Kawhi Leonard and an additional $20 million in stock compensation that was never delivered.

In short, Torre’s reporting alleges the Clippers effectively funneled nearly $48 million in off-the-books benefits to retain their superstar forward outside the NBA’s salary cap structure.

Throughout the league, this has caused a mixed bag of responses. Even a former NBA star, Channing Frye, called out Pablo Torre. “First of all, why you snitchin? Who cares?” Frye said on the Road Trippin’ podcast. Jeff Teague echoed the same sentiment on the 520 podcast episode with Matt Barnes. When asked by his co-host if this was snitching, the former Hawks star did not hesitate and said, “It is“. Amid this lack of support, the renowned journalist is not backing down from finding more evidence to put this case to rest.

Ignoring Matt Barnes’ advice, Pablo Torre wants further answers

The investigation has made it clear that nobody will be safe until the green light from the league. Leonard has maintained his silence during this saga, but the Clippers owner spoke his mind. “These were guys who committed fraud. Look, they conned me. I made an investment in these guys thinking it was on the up-and-up, and they conned me”. Steve Ballmer continues to maintain his innocence in the Aspiration contract. But Torre wants answers from Adam Silver, too.

On Pardon the Interruption, Torre went further than before, calling the scandal the defining challenge of Adam Silver’s run as NBA commissioner. “I believe this is the biggest test of Adam Silver’s tenure as commissioner. And I say that knowing that there are other candidates.” The journalist even compared the situation with the ban of Donald Sterling and called it an easy call, since the evidence was pointing towards the former owner. This one is different, as the league is yet to report on the evidence.

But there is no lack of effort from the Commissioner. Silver wasted no time hiring New York-based law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen, & Katz to investigate the matter thoroughly. However, there’s yet to be an update on how much information the firm has gathered. With every passing day and the season approaching soon, all eyes are on the NBA.