Pablo Torre’s bombshell reporting about Kawhi Leonard’s alleged no-show endorsement deal, which allegedly circumvented the NBA salary cap, has only grown tighter in recent days with the release of a “smoking gun” showing that Los Angeles Clippers ownership was allegedly aware of and aided the arrangement.
Beginning with Torre’s initial report on the alleged $28 million no-show endorsement deal between Aspiration and Kawhi Leonard, this has emerged as one of the biggest stories in the NBA and the sports world. While the newly minted The Athletic podcast has been heaped with praise and sparked an internal investigation within the league, not everyone thinks the reporting is all that special.
Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban has been a vocal critic of the reporting, claiming there’s no way Clippers majority owner Steve Ballmer intentionally tried to circumvent the salary cap through this arrangement (Ballmer has also denied doing so). Cuban and Torre went head-to-head afterward, but Cuban appears to be ducking the reporter now, instead choosing to voice his displeasure on social media and other podcasts.
So I have responsibility to your show ? I emailed you what I thought. And you had all this info available to you already. There isn’t anything new. Took me five minutes to find. Same to post. A lot less time than doing your show again.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) September 12, 2025
Cuban appeared on Road Trippin’ with Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye, Kendrick Perkins, and Allie Clifton to discuss Torre’s bombshell “smoking gun” evidence and double down on his belief that the Clippers are the victim of scammers here (even though it sounds like he hasn’t really engaged with Torre’s reporting in full).
This podcast, featuring a collection of former NBA players, made for a friendlier setting than the one he might have received sitting down with Torre again. That’s especially true because Frye made it clear in last week’s episode that not only did he disagree with the reporting, but that he felt Torre was “snitchin'” in doing so (at the 40-second mark below).
“First of all, why you snitchin’? Why you snitchin’? Who cares?” Frye asked of Torre, causing Jefferson to put his head in his hands and Perkins to look down.
Frye then held up a bottle of lemon water to illustrate his point. “Do you know how much this Lemon Perfect bottle was? Probably 28 cents. This is what Steve Ballmer thinks of $28 million. ‘Here you go, you want this? Here you go.’ He don’t care. Also, why you snitchin’?”
It’s a little unclear what point Frye was trying to make. If he’s saying that Ballmer wouldn’t have gone to all that trouble to give Leonard more money, he’s missed the point that it was illegal under the NBA’s salary cap, which is the actual crux of the story.
Jefferson chimed in to defend Torre, saying that he’s just doing his job and doing it well.
That segment went under the radar until Friday, when Legion Hoops shared the context-less quote from Frye on X, where it went viral. The post, which included “First of all, why you snitchin’? Who cares?” eventually made its way to Torre, who offered a concise response.
“I don’t know which of these two questions is worse tbh,” he wrote.
I don’t know which of these two questions is worse tbh https://t.co/9lr35mmQLA
— Pablo Torre 🕳️ (@PabloTorre) September 12, 2025
Torre has made a point of publicly responding to critics of his reporting and attempting to sit down with them to explain why he’s so confident in his reporting. Perhaps we’ll get an appearance by one on the other’s podcast soon.