Picks 'n Pops: Kawhi Leonard thoughts, unintended CBA consequences, and Derrick White's best

Every week I gather some thoughts about the Celtics, the NBA, and beyond and dump them here. Because Greg doesn't want to get fined for giving me a no-show job. 

- Steve Ballmer went on ESPN for a long interview to discuss the ongoing story of Kawhi Leonard’s apparent no-show deal with the now-bankrupt company Aspiration. Here it is in full. 

The short version: Aspiration struck a deal to endorse the Clippers, the Clippers introduced Leonard to Aspiration (which is legal), and they were on their own after that. He denied any cap circumvention and said he welcomes the league’s investigation. 

“I don’t know why they did what they did,” he said. “These are guys who committed fraud. Look, they conned me. They conned me. I made an investment in these guys thinking it was on the up-and-up, and they conned me. At this stage, I have no ability to predict why they might have done anything they did, let alone the specific contract with Kawhi.” 

Ballmer said what he needed to say and he sounded sincere doing it. The Clippers may have plausible deniability in this case, but as an observer of this situation, I still can’t get things to add up. 

• Why would Aspiration sign Leonard to such an out-sized deal compared to the Hollywood A-listers who were actually doing work for Aspiration?

• Why would they spend so much money on Leonard without announcing they have signed Leonard as an endorser? They had the Clippers in the fold as a client. Why wouldn’t they announce a partnership with the new star player? 

• Why would Andrei Cherny, as an inside source told me, close a massive deal with Leonard without his executive team’s involvement? 

• Why would Joseph Sanberg cut a side deal with Leonard, which I’m told was funneled through a side entity and not directly with Aspiration, to pay Leonard $20 million in Aspiration stock from his personal portfolio? 

Ballmer can say “I don’t know” all he wants. But by saying that, he expects us to believe that a company led by people he is calling fraudsters, would earn a commitment from an NBA superstar and not publicize it in order to get more business. 

As I understand it, Cherny, the CEO, came to his management team with a final contract worth $28 million over four years. There was no further scrutiny of the deal. It was done with no further input. Sanberg, the co-founder, then agreed to pay Leonard, through Leonard’s LLC, another $20 million worth of stock over four years from his own personal stash.

So we’re to believe Cherny, an aspiring politician who lives in a world of quid pro quo, did this deal just to hand out money out of the kindness of his heart? That Sanberg, who just pled guilty to fraud for borrowing against his inflated stock price, would just be throwing shares away for nothing in return? All while securing a $50 million investment from Ballmer? 

There may be no paper trail to link these things, but even so, I think we’re being asked to make one hell of a leap here. It doesn’t make sense. 

- One other note here: Ballmer was careful to say he owned less than 3% of the company. That puts the valuation of Aspiration up over $2 billion at the time. Owners are not allowed to own more than 5% of a company that an affiliated player endorses. If a player endorses a company that a team owner holds more than 5% of, that can be seen as salary cap circumvention. 

In my opinion, this can be seen a couple of ways: 

1. It’s evidence that Ballmer was aware of and followed the rules. He invested in a company, but only to a certain threshold allowed by the league. 

2. It’s evidence that Ballmer was aware of but broke the rules. He knew that they needed $50 million to offset the Leonard money, but he had to pay a premium on the shares to ensure his investment didn’t rise to the 5% threshold.

I don’t know the answer to this. It very easily could be innocent. It also may not be. 

- I can’t wait to hear what Pablo Torre is teasing about Jalen Brunson now. 

- In other news … congratulations to Celtics PR legend Jeff Twiss, who will receive the John Bunn award at the Naismith Hall of Fame tonight. It is the Hall’s most prestigious honor outside of enshrinement. 

Twiss has been with the team since 1981, witnessed five championships, and has worked alongside the biggest legends the franchise has ever known. He is an incredibly kind and helpful person, and I’m happy to say that I’ve gotten to know him over these past few years. I can confirm all the nice things people say about him, even if he’s not willing to bask in that kind of personal glory himself. 

My favorite Twiss moment is his supporting role in this Kevin Garnett rant about being able to shoot 3-pointers. He’s standing over Garnett’s right shoulder and it comes at the 1:14 mark, but the buildup makes it great. 

- Ben Simmons is, according to the New York Post, questioning whether he wants to play in the NBA anymore. This is the least shocking thing I’ve seen with the Simmons story.

Ultimately, someone like Simmons is such a waste when it comes to NBA basketball. I wish I could give his body to Payton Pritchard and see what that ultimate drive and passion would do in a 6-foot-10 body with gifts like Simmons. How many MVPs would that guy win? 

- I’m happy for Neemias Queta and Portugal for making the EuroBasket knockout round for the first time ever. Queta is playing well, which is good to see. It gives some hope that maybe he’s more of a late bloomer and he’ll grow into a bigger role in the NBA. This move was the best I’ve ever seen from him: 

We do, however, have to keep a couple of things in mind. The competition is not NBA-level, and the rule allow the game to be defended differently. It’s a grain of salt to be taken with the enjoyment of Queta’s play. Hopefully it’s more of a turning point for him than a flash in the pan. 

- The refs can be just as infuriating overseas, though. 

What a weak tech. That's how you eject a guy from a EuroBasket tournament game? If he followed it up with a Jayson Tatum wave-off, they might have sent him to The Hague. 

At least he didn’t spit on anyone.

- Derrick White, on his own podcast, said this is the “first time, since I’ve been in Boston, that people don’t believe in us … So, it’s kind of a fun spot for me to be in. It’s kind of where I’ve always done my best, actually.”

One of the “best case” scenarios for Boston this season is White reaching yet another level. If this situation is where we’ll see his best, then I can’t wait to see what that is. 

- White also said Memphis is his least-favorite NBA city. As much as I’ve been trashing downtown Orlando over the past few months, I do agree that Memphis is worse. Beale Street is massively overrated, and it’s the one city where I truly felt unsafe on the streets. Its redeeming qualities are the food and the history of the Lorraine Motel. 

Standing at almost the exact spot where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated was truly powerful. The Civil Rights Museum is a must-visit. Outside of that, go grab some Central BBQ and hunker down in your hotel. 

At least Orlando has theme parks and golf nearby. 

- Cam Thomas taking the $6 million qualifying offer to stay in Brooklyn is incredibly interesting to me. I’ve been waiting to see when the qualifying offer would be good enough for guys to start accepting that and entering unrestricted free agency the following season. I’m not saying Thomas is going to start those dominoes falling, but I’m not saying it won’t, either.

The new CBA is really messing with restricted free agents. The pool of money is shrinking, and how that money is spent is under more scrutiny than ever. This probably applies most to the mid-tier RFAs, but if there is less money out there for them to get qualifying offers, then there's less incentive for teams to just throw money at them. 

I think this is part of the tough negotiating that Austin Ainge was talking about when he took the Utah job. But if young players, most of whom are still very much in “prove myself” mode, take exception to that negotiation and decide to play for less in one season in order to free themselves up the following year, it changes the entire dynamic of team building. 

One of the key elements of drafting one-and-done players from college is that they are under team control for about 10 years. Because teams can match any restricted offer sheet, they can just assume the player will stick around.

But the key to becoming an RFA is rejecting that qualifying offer. That's the trigger that allows teams to match. The deal is a fraction of what they're allowed to pay, so rejecting it is pretty standard. If players start accepting those offers, then does this change how guys get drafted? Does this, combined with the shortened windows in the new CBA, change how NBA-ready teams want their players to be? 

And does all this, combined with NIL money now available to players, make it so the middle lottery players stay in school longer in an effort to move up in the draft? 

The ripple effects from college to the pros could be incredible if players start regularly accepting the qualifying offer. If things start to change quickly, restricted free agency will head back to the bargaining table. I don’t know if each side will wait until the CBA expires to address it, or if they’ll get together and separately negotiate an addendum to the CBA to address it sooner. 

I think this is definitely a situation to closely watch. 

- The NBA All-Star game will reportedly remain a round-robin tournament but with one team exclusively consisting of international players. As I’ve said before this is the best way to do a “World vs. U.S.” style event. There aren’t enough international All-Stars to make one full NBA roster, but they can get eight on a smaller tournament team without an issue. 

The last thing people want to see is Dillon Brooks being shoehorned into an NBA roster because he’s from Canada. 

- TCU’s tweet after thrashing Bill Belichick’s UNC football team was priceless. 

I hate that all great things have to end this way. No one as great as Belichick wants to quit when the fairy tale ends. They want to keep things rolling. Bill Burr nailed it when he was asked by Rich Eisen “What did you think of Bill Belichick’s first game as head coach of North Carolina?”

“What did you think of Joe Namath on the Rams?”

How about Hakeem Olajuwon on the Raptors, Patrick Ewing on the Sonics, or Robert Parish on the Hornets?

Ugh.

- I’m going to do something I’ve never done here, but I’m going to give a repeat Best Week Ever to Neemias Queta for still playing well and helping lead Portugal out of the EuroBasket group stage for the first time ever. He’s having the best WEEKS ever!

- This week’s AI-generated image: Kawhi Leonard showing up to work in his new ride. 

The extra “R” in “BRRINKS” is for the cold cash that he earned doing nothing. 

- Here’s my latest Podcast, if you’re bored.