Good episode. Just want to clear up something the episode mentions as not common that is actually common. Star players often sign contracts with big team sponsors. Some may have clauses that say the deal ends if they move to another team because they don’t sponsor other teams…
For instance if the patch sponsor of the Knicks signs Jalen Brunson to an endorsement deal, they don’t want to keep paying him in the instance he gets traded to a team that they don’t sponsor…
Of course, I’ve never seen an instance of a player not actually being asked to activate. But Kawhi can say that’s not on him. That’s on Aspiration for not making the asks. Didn’t see any emails saying don’t ask Kawhi to activate this partnership.
Also, I know it’s just a function of how people operate on social media, but people are running with this and saying that this is how the Clippers got Kawhi. Kawhi signed in 2019, this was a 2021-22 deal. If anything, you should say this is how they kept Kawhi
Yes, pretty much every NBA team star has a deal with a major team sponsor(s). It’s not considered circumvention because there’s an exchange of rights. It’s on the partner to utilize those rights/enforce their rights. Paying $7 million is PRICEY, but Clippers/Kawhi have cover here
His cover is that he believed in what they were doing and made an investment based on that. Ballmer is not an idiot. He likely has records of diligence, etc. to cover his ass
Unless there’s evidence that Aspiration employees were told do not activate Kawhi or don’t make asks, then no. He signed his deal with a team sponsor (common practice for a team star). They didn’t utilize him…that’s on them.
Yes, it’s an obvious overpay. But the league still needs evidence that they overpaid in order to help the clippers circumvent the cap. The overpay alone is not evidence. He has a legit contract that was negotiated by representatives.
@JonesOnTheNBA No way the NBA lets this slide. I would imagine it would void out his current deal, and the team will face a massive fine and other punishment such as loss of draft pick?
@JonesOnTheNBA To be clear, this was a no-show job that didn’t require Kawhi to endorse a company or product. The conditions were simply to remain a Clipper. This type of deal is not common.
@JonesOnTheNBA Is there some type of disclosure process for these deals? That would be crazy if there isn’t.
@JonesOnTheNBA @JonesOnTheNBA tell Lee Jenkins we said hi Bro, quit it! This does not look good at all.
@JonesOnTheNBA This is not "a sponsor", this is a company in which the owner of the team has money invested. It's not the same as Lebron getting money from Bibigo.
@JonesOnTheNBA Does the NBA allow that?
@JonesOnTheNBA that's not at all similar to this