Pablo Torre dropped his latest Pab-bomb with an in-depth report into Kawhi Leonard receiving tens of millions of dollars in a no-show sponsorship payment from a company supported by Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.
It was the latest report from Torre in a year that is the sports journalism equivalent of steroid era Barry Bonds. The episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out is built around the evidence, documents, and quotes from sources inside a company called Aspiration that makes it appear that the Clippers circumvented the salary cap to sweeten the pot when they signed Kawhi Leonard in free agency back in 2019.
The report from Torre has sent shockwaves around the NBA universe. But it appears that Ballmer and the Clippers may have misjudged the goods that Pablo Torre possessed. (Which if that’s the case, they probably should have Googled him to find out who they were dealing with.)
In their initial statement, the Clippers told Torre that the allegation they were circumventing the salary cap were “provably false.” However, after the podcast was released, Torre noted just how much their position on the controversy had changed. And he told Dan Patrick that the Clippers were likely unaware of the documents in his possession.
I (obviously) stand by our reporting, 3,000+ pages of documents, and 7 sources inside Aspiration.
Two questions about the latest Clippers statement:
What does the word “oversight” mean?
Where did the phrase “provably false” go? https://t.co/DKnSt0VzW6 pic.twitter.com/8k2MDur2DU
— Pablo Torre 🕳️ (@PabloTorre) September 4, 2025
But instead of going to Torre and hashing it out or providing direct clarification and answers to questions there (as former Mavericks owner Mark Cuban actually did), Ballmer instead gave an interview to ESPN. The Clippers owner sat down with ESPN NBA reporter Ramona Shelburne in a lengthy interview to give his side of the story. Ballmer said that he was the one that was conned by Aspiration and there was nothing nefarious about the sponsorship deal with Kawhi Leonard.
Ballmer choosing to grant a sit-down interview to ESPN was something that Torre himself even predicted.
One thing I’ve been wondering about, as the NBA officially announces its investigation and the scope of our Aspiration investigation continues to crystallize:
When is Steve Ballmer going to try and appeal to public sympathy with a sit-down interview?
— Pablo Torre 🕳️ (@PabloTorre) September 4, 2025
The optics here weren’t lost on anybody. And it’s no criticism of ESPN or Ramona Shelburne. She is a well-respected reporter who asked the questions that needed to be asked, including hitting the “provably false” description head-on at the beginning of the interview. But it’s certainly not the same as going to Torre, who is at the heart of the story and has actually talked to all the sources inside Aspiration and collected the thousands of pages of documents for himself.
But it was infinitely easier for Steve Ballmer to go to an NBA rights partner while claiming to be the victim from a bad investment gone wrong and professing ignorance about the documents that Torre has already made public than it was to answer questions from the man himself.
Steve Ballmer:
“Pablo’s podcast I don’t know anything about the court documents on this. I haven’t seen them and I don’t know….The speculation is what it is…They conned me. I made an investment in these guys.”
(h/t @ohnohedidnt24)
pic.twitter.com/noChD5Mcnw
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) September 5, 2025
“The only person in the world that could actually do a fair, reasonable, and thorough interview with Steve Ballmer is Pablo, and that’s not what the Clippers did.”@jasonfitz and @carolinefenton1 react to Ballmer going on ESPN.
(via Yahoo Sports Daily) pic.twitter.com/p1YxiYq5fq
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) September 5, 2025
One confusing thing about the Steve Ballmer interview is how he twice says he appreciates the opportunity to respond to @PabloTorre’s story …
But he had the opportunity to give this same interview to Pablo before the story hit. https://t.co/V9HSGIe1GT via @YouTube
— Alex Sherman (@sherman4949) September 5, 2025
The richest men in the world don’t give lengthy television interviews at a moment’s notice just whenever they feel like it. When was the last time that a prominent sports owner gave an interview that resembled this? Ballmer’s ESPN conversation shows just how serious this story is for himself, the Los Angeles Clippers, and the NBA. Pablo Torre has even said that he is looking into Jalen Brunson’s team-friendly contract with the New York Knicks next.
But as this story continues to develop, there may be no amount of damage control that Steve Ballmer or anyone else can do to wrestle back control of the narrative.