The Halo, Ballmer's Bowl and a New Crisis in the Super-System: Kawhi-Gate, Part XIII
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What is the opening premise and why is Kawhi Leonard’s secret ownership being investigated?
Welcome to Pablo Torre Finds Out. I am Pablo Torre, and today we're going to find out what this sound is.
During it in terms of what was going on with, you know, the salary caps or convention, right away, you know, light bulbs went off in my head in terms of, oh yeah, this is also going on with other parts of the Intuit Dome project as well. Right after this.
I'm going to point out that we are underneath a roof, the same roof again, Amin. Yep. Thanks for being here. No problem. Are you adjusted? Yeah, there it is. Okay, I like it.
Okay, very good. This is true narcissism. I like hearing the sound of my own voice. It's shocking to everybody. Yeah, it's like, oh yeah, there it is. The deep baritones of Amin al-Hassan.
I do really love this part for people who are just somehow finding out about us for the first time. You're about to see, along with our audience for the very first time, what the f*** is going on today. Last week, you may recall that we broke the news of Kawhi Leonard's secret unannounced part ownership. Okay, so this is a Kawhi episode. Got it. All right, cool. A second-tier pro soccer team on the opposite side of the country from the Los Angeles Clippers in... Rhode Island! While the Kawhi trade with the Raptors remains frozen, at least for right now, as the NBA's investigation is still hanging over the head of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. And my personal favorite piece of feedback from this last episode is, in fact, the first thing in your folder.
This is from user at PDWO on Blue Sky. David Sampson basically gives up the game on getting public financing for sports stadiums, and it's maybe the C-plot in this episode.
Our friend David Sampson, former president of the Marlins, was explaining to us how he hid things from journalists by relying on intermediaries, these third-party entities, during the construction of the stadium that he had built, Marlins Park. And you may recall that after years of this very careful secrecy, David told us that he finally got to the point, this was in 2011, where he could autograph a steel beam. A beam that got raised to the roof of his brand new stadium in a beautiful ceremony. As we showed you in our last episode, we could remind us what you see in this photograph.
It's our guy, David Sampson. First of all, these sunglasses are the mid-otzos, I want to say. A little Morpheus from the Matrix. He's got a Marlins hard hat on and a construction vest.
Yes, the neon yellow high visibility safety vest is what that is called, apparently.
And he's pointing at a massive beam with a massive Sharpie. And there are all sorts of names and messages written and signed on that beam. And I'm assuming that this is the one that goes to the roof.
This was the sea plot. The third most important thing it felt like in the last episode because we had spent 10 months investigating the perfect storm of life after aspiration. Aspiration, that do-gooding Clipper sponsor which had specialized in... Planting trees and giving you carbon credits for them. That's right. Aspiration was broke and under federal investigation, leaving Kawhi Leonard looking for the multiple millions of dollars he was owed on top of his guaranteed eight-figure ownership stake in said tree planting company, despite never... Doing a single thing. Not planting a single tree. Not planting a single tree. All of it somehow leading to Kawhi's sub-max extension with the Clippers in January 2024, the week after he formally registered two LLCs tied to the Rhode Island Football Club and its owner, Brett Johnson's real estate development around their brand new Centerville Bank Stadium.
a nine-figure project sucking up millions and millions of taxpayer dollars that had been originally earmarked for... Affordable housing! Which takes us back to this headline. I mean, from The Athletic, which remains extremely useful context for this episode.
NBA investigating second Kawhi Leonard sponsorship deal as part of Aspiration Probe.
And here is what RIFC itself told our collaborators at local WPRI-TV last Friday, the day after our episode dropped, in an updated statement.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the opening premise and why is Kawhi Leonard’s secret ownership being investigated?
0:00–5:52
2
How does the Rhode Island Football Club (RIFC) relate to Kawhi’s hidden deals and the salary‑cap controversy?
5:52–13:03
3
Why did Aspiration collapse and how did that affect Kawhi’s financing and the Clippers’ cap‑circumvention theory?
13:03–21:16
4
What is Murphy’s Bowl LLC and how does it connect Steve Ballmer, the Englewood legal fight, and the secret sponsorship?
21:16–30:43
5
How did the Intuit Dome beam‑signing ceremony illustrate the “Halo” board and the involvement of Ballmer, Kawhi, and other key figures?
30:43–39:30
6
Why did Daktronics, a struggling public‑company, become a multi‑million‑dollar sponsor for Kawhi and how did that boost its stock?
39:30–47:51
7
Who is Glenn Bunting, what role did his crisis‑communications firm play, and how does it tie to Ballmer’s legal battles?
47:51–55:26
8
What is the significance of the lemon‑cypress tree planted at the Intuit Dome ceremony and how does it relate to the “super‑system” narrative?
55:26–1:02:34
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Pablo Torre Finds Out
The Rules of Kawhi Engagement: A Visit to Los Angeles, with Clippers Super-Fan Paul Scheer
Share & Rot & Tell with Mina Kimes
Steve Ballmer's Sword, the DOJ's Probe and a "Road to Jail Time": Kawhi-Gate, Part XVI
The Revolution of Stavros Halkias Will Be Vindicated
The Sporting Class: Private Equity, Salary Caps and Whether Players Should Want a Piece
Inside the Billionaire Shadow League Funding American Tennis