@mcuban
I’m on Team Ballmer. As much as I wish they circumvented the salary cap, First Steve isn’t that dumb. If he did try to feed KL money, knowing what was at stake for him personally, and his team, do you think he would let the company go bankrupt ? Knowing all creditors would be visible to the world ?
1) Criminal law attorneys: Do defendants often say "I'm not that dumb."; "If I had done it why did I do X?"
They do. All the fucking time. The prosecution does not have to prove the defendant's IQ level, nor that (s)he is the kind of person who would do it. Those are irrelevant. The prosecution has to prove that the crime was committed and that the defendant committed the crime. Period there.
They got scammed by Aspiration, along with many others. Crimes for which they pleaded guilty last week.
2) The "crime", Mr. Cuban, is circumventing the NBA's salary cap. Did Mr. Ballmer circumvent the salary cap? That is the question. It would be no less a crime if the side-deal were made with Albert Schweitzer as opposed to Joe Sanberg. You can't have side-deals to funnel money to players. Period there.
Scammers do scammy things. They did a $300m sponsorship deal with the clippers in 2021. That’s a HUGE deal. The better the team does , the more value the sponsorship has. It actually makes perfect sense that if they stole money from investors and want the clippers to succeed, why not give stolen money to help keep their best player ?
3) You said in paragraph one that Ballmer "isn't that dumb" to fall for a scam. The "Lakers" and "Raptors" were also hit up by Dennis Robertson to make this side deal happen. Both teams flat told Robertson it was against the rules and that they wouldn't do it.
Was Ballmer too dumb to know what Jeanie Buss and Larry Tanenbaum knew? Or was Balmer just willing to go along with the scam? It DOES make sense that Aspiration/Sandberg would "want the clipperd to succeed" by keeping Kawhi a "Clipper." It ALSO makes sense that Steve Ballmer would "want the clippers to succeed" by keeping Kawhi.
It’s sad that @PabloTorre didn’t take the time to find out how these scammers pulled off their scam. The idea that the default is Ballmer is the bad guy is going to back fire on him.
Mark Cuban: a) Was Steve Ballmer a victim of this scam? Didn't he get exactly what he wanted, i.e. Kawhi Leonard?
b) Let's say Ballmer was a victim: Can a person be both victim and perp of the same illicit activity? Yes, and hell yes. One example of a myriad: Let's say I am trafficking in liquor during Prohibition. I agree to buy booze from another trafficker. Unbeknownst to me, the seller has stolen my whisky and I am buying it back. I am still guilty of trafficking in whisky and the seller is also guilty of trafficking in whisky. (the Paper Moon scenario).
b) So no "crime" occurred? There was no circumvention of the salary cap? Only owners/team executives can commit this "crime". Uncle Dennis and Joe Sanberg were/are not owners/execs. So no punishment? No crime and no punishment? You ought to write a book. That would make a good title.
