I think literally anything is a possibility, sure. For me, at least, the fact that the bet he was theoretically being paid off to influence was one he absolutely obliterated makes the whole thing a little hard to pin on him tbh.
Not that anyone is paying attention to Fiba Americup. USA lost to Uruguay to forner Tennessee great Santiago Vescovi. Canada has gone 3-0 with a few pros Keyshawn George, Leonard Miller and Kabengele. Marcus Carr is also playing. Former Piston Langston Galloway is on team USA.
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4 posts were split to a new topic: 2025 FIBA EuroBasket Discussion
Theo Ratliff ( AKA: TedRat) has twin sons who are 6ā11" and both ranked in the top-60 for the class of 2026. Dusty hasnāt offered either, so this seemed like the best-fitting thread to mention it.
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A twin sons who are 6ā11" has hit the genetic lottery!
He was perfect for my Michigan nil plan, he was already doing it in the nba!
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Oh man, Ballmer is in trouble.
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just a nightmare for the league, ballmer is going go nuclear fighting this
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What would the punishment look like if Adam Silver decides to punish the franchise? LAC does not own an FRP until 2030, so forfeiting the draft picks would hurt teams like OKC and Philly.
Joe smith deal was suspension fines+ 5 first rd draft picks and this seems way worse.
Interesting POV.
I personally wonder the extent that everyone is doing this.
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I have seen in a lot of places but I donāt think itās many. Maybe some of the new age owners but most the nba owners are super cheap with their operations so doubtful they are going out of their ways to expend more resources and do side deals with players.
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owners protecting owners? now iāve seen everything!
there are many times mark cuban talks where the most charitable interpretation of what he says is heās credulous beyond belief. iām not saying this is one of those times, but i donāt necessarily trust him to bring the right amount of scrutiny to a thought
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Was def my first thought. The money for Kawhi here is just not THAT much, it seems very unlikely either party deemed it crucial to get him re-signed.
There are a lot of reasons an owner would be furious at Ballmer and not defend him at all. Circumventing the cap is a huge concern for nearly every team in the league and the reason why the CBA has been headed this direction for a while.
i did think about that - owners will definitely backstab other owners when it comes to making things more expensive - but i think cuban is not even really the owner anymore so his loyalty is probably with the other outspoken charismatic billionaire?
Cuban owns like 30% of the Mavs as far as I know, which certainly makes him an owner. He doesnāt have anything to do with basketball operations, hence the Luka deal. I donāt really have any idea how to guess at his motivation, it doesnāt seem obvious what heuristic points the way here.
For that matter I donāt have any specific opinion bc Pablo put this out in my absolute least favorite medium so all I know is the highest level headline stuff.
But it seems very obvious to me as it stands that the league and owners will apply stiff penalties unless it turns out that actually everybody does this in which case, I dk. Guess the cap isnāt the cap!
Canāt wait for TPTMNBN to weigh in!
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I quickly watched the video on this, but am confused. Theyāre saying the company is fraudulent, but then showed Drake, Doc Rivers, and Robert Downey Jr mentioning them and doing ads. So why were those celebs mentioning a fake company? I get that the connection that Kawhi got paid through this company by Ballmer, but why did they also pay those other people if it was a sham to begin with?
Yeah thatās what didnāt make sense to me. And doesnāt seem like they proved Ballmer knew or had anything to do with it
āSteve Ballmer funded this company with $50M!ā is the only evidence I can see. But whatās $50M to a guy worth $150B? Thatās the equivalent of what the average person probably throws away at Starbucks every month.
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