September 3, 2025 • 41 mins
We discuss the bobshell from Pablo Torre that alleges that the Clippers possibly brokered a false endorsement deal between Kawhi Leonard and a now bankrupt company as a way to give Kawhi more money. Also, who can the Dodgers trust as they continue to struggle against bad teams.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
All right, here we go, fred Rogan, Rodney Pete at
a five to seventy LA Sports a one hour sprint
Forest today and off the top of big reminder, Big
Rugan and Rodney reminder tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Where are you going to be at noon? Rodney? Where
will you be tomorrow at noon? Oh, Freddy, you know,
I like to make that trick down to Irvine, the
b Day's Restaurant brew House in Irvine noon to two
point thirty. We will be there, Freddy, having a good
time with the people down there in Irvine and Orange
County and all over the area. We don't get out much.
There's a reason we don't. We don't.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
There's a reason. Quite frankly, we've never figured out why
we're not allowed out much.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
But we're not.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
So when we get out, it's a pretty big deal.
I mean, as Rodney would say, we let our hair down.
We go for it, and we plan on going for
it tomorrow, starting at noons. Here's what you've got. You
can't win, by the way, if you don't show up.
We've got Dodger tickets. Yes, you will win tickets to
see the Dodgers. We've got tickets to see the Chargers,
and the Broncos. Yes, you will win tickets to see
(01:01):
the Chargers and Broncos. It's BJ's Restaurant and Brewe House
down in Irvine. Noon, as Rodney pointed out, as when
the show begins, and our recommendation is up to you.
You do what you want. You live your own life.
We're not telling you, we're not bossing you around, we're
not your moral compass. But we are saying, if you
want a seat, I'd get there a little.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Bit before noon. Is that fair to say? That is
absolutely fair to say. Plus, as we get older, our
eyesight goes away, so when we're giving away these tickets,
we might not see you if you're standing in the
back behind some folks. So you want to get your
seats early, get there before noon. I'd get there at eleven, fred,
Once I get there about eleven. Yeah, yeah, that just
gets you settled, order your food, be ready to go
(01:43):
for noon. And then if you want, and it's up
to you again, why not make a whole day of it.
NFL season kicks off tomorrow. Just hang out and watch
the games. What a good day, What a good day,
NFL boy, it's here, everything's here now football, you know,
that heard that rating that Ohio State Texas was the
(02:05):
highest rated college football game ever. I didn't hear that ever. Yeah,
highest rated game ever. I guess everybody thought Arch Manning
was the second coming to John Elway. Tell you what,
it's really unfair. It is put that kind of expectation
out of kid. Yeah, but because it was the way
(02:28):
it was. And did you see during the game how
many commercials he did? Oh yeah, about five of them.
I mean it was incredible. Yeah, that's really commercials. Yeah.
And here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
He could not have looked worse. He could not have
looked more pedestrian in that game. So you sit here,
you go, well, what do you expect? I mean, Matt
Patricia is the defensive coordinator for Ohio State now, and
he came from the NFL.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Guess what he knew he had something for him. Yeah,
he knew he was going to confuse him, and and
that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
But the bottom line is with the expectation going to
that game for young mister Manning and then just to
be baffled as he was, that was a bad look.
If you know, going in all he could win the
Heisman this year. I think they had twenty NFL scouts there.
(03:22):
When you see that, that looks pretty pedestrian, doesn't look
that special. And he's gonna have to dig himself out
of a hole, because.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, he's gonna he's gonna have to play phenomenal or
I mean, it's one game. I get it. There's gonna
be other big games. And look, Ohio State won the
national title losing early in the season. I believe they
lost Oregon last year and came back and and when
they lost to Michigan at the end of the year,
and they came back and won the won the national
championship and made the playoffs. So there's there's Texas is
(03:54):
gonna be good and he'll play better than that. And
you know, at some point people will will not remember
this opening game and look for him to try to
redeem himself later in the year. But I just don't
like the way they just anointed him as the number
one picking it. And these are like big time commentators
around the country on Fox and ESPN and all these places.
(04:14):
He's a number one pick in the draft today. I
heard Finebaum say it in July. He's the best college
quarterback I've ever seen, and this kid, he's played, He's
not played a meaningful game yet. He played a backup role.
And then he played some games against some teams that
are that basically like USC played on opening Day and
had some good showings. So how do you say, I know,
(04:36):
I get the name and the family and football royalty
manning name, I get all that, But he was a
backup for two years. He was a backup. If he's
a generational talent, I mean you think of guys like
Trevor Lawrence came in as a freshman and replaced the
starter and then go win a national title. Right John
(04:56):
Elway four year starter at Stanford camp. Miss Andrew lock
four year started. You knew right away he could play.
You know, Caleb Williams replaced the starter Spencer Ratler, who's
a quarterback in the NFL at Oklahoma, then won the
Heisman Trophy the next year. I don't You just haven't
seen enough for him for people to go off like
that and say he is this generation or best quarterback
(05:19):
we've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Because people are now, unlike many years ago, prisoners of
the moment, social media, twenty four hour information, and I
think you're to a point now where everything is bigger
than it ever was before. Everything is better than it
ever was before. Cooper Flagg, the Blake Griffin comment, Oh,
he's the most complete player we've seen in Okay, everybody
(05:43):
is the biggest, the best, the top, the next greatest.
You ever noticed that? Yeah, one performance? Oh my god,
that guy. That guy is a can't miss. That's what
we need. He's gonna go high. It's something you always
bring up up and I always think about Markel Folts
(06:03):
when he was a number one draft pick in the NBA.
Markel for everybody, everybody, how did that happen?
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Right? He was a unanimous the number one pick. Remember
it was between Jason Tatum and Lonzo Ball for this
number two pick, the two and three pick. But everybody
had Markel Foltz as the number one pick in that draft.
What happened? What happened? Seriously?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
How did that happen? Because everybody decided all of a sudden,
whoever everybody is, it's everybody that's the guy. Yeah, It's
sort of like it's sort of like the way the
world works. When the Rams were coming to Inglewood and
the Chargers and Raiders were going to go to Carson
(06:50):
and a great story. Uh, if you listen nationally, If
you listen nationally, the Rams are dead. They weren't going anywhere.
They were not going to be approved to leave Saint Louis.
It was the Raiders and the Chargers and they were
going to go to Carson. Now nationally, that was it.
And I think I've told the story so much so
(07:11):
that when we were at the meeting in Houston when
they were going to decide the big vote, and I understand,
I knew what the big vote was, so it wasn't
a surprise to me. I was like the only person.
Me and Mayor Butts and the Rams they knew. Everybody
that group knew.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Jarry Jones knew it was. It's interesting because there were
what half a dozen maybe six six owners really believed
that was happening. Yeah, and Carson went and the Raiders
and the charges were happening, and the late Jerry Richardson
of Carolina was leading that charge. He was the guy.
(07:48):
He was the guy.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
So and that's why when they had the vote and
the camp was thirty one to one on that vote,
and when the Dean Spanos looked ashen h So, anyway,
we're at the meeting and I get a thing from
Channel four and it's my buddy Carlos Hopkins. He's the
daytime executive producer. And he says, hey, AP has put
out an urgent bulletin, urgent bulletin. CNN is reporting this.
(08:13):
I go, yeah, that the Raiders and Chargers have won.
Everybody here wants us to do that. And I went,
I wouldn't do that, Yeah, but everybody is saying it.
I said, it's not going to happen. Don't do it now.
To his credit, they didn't do it, and we were
the only ones that were right. But Dean Spanos when
(08:35):
he found out that vote Rodney, and this speaks to
how things start, and there's a ground swell. When he
found out that vote, the blood left his face in
that meeting. He looked ashen. It was like he couldn't
believe it. And the reason he couldn't believe it is
because Mark Fabiani, who handled things for the Clinton campaign,
(08:58):
so he's pretty good as a political strategist.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, it happen.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
We had done such a magnificent job of trying to
convince people that he even convinced Dean'spanos. In the end,
they believed their own stories. That they made up and
weren't true, but because the presentation was so convincing, they
(09:23):
thought it was going to happen. That's kind of what
happens when you see these can't miss prospects, Right, that's
kind of what happens. Somebody says something they talked to
somebody else, then a third person jumps in. All of
a sudden, everybody starts talking about it. You see it
on social media, then you see writers writing about it.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Because you don't want to.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Look bad, you don't want to be out on the outside,
you don't want to miss, so everybody kind of jumps
on board, and then we have what happened to Manning.
He wasn't ready. And I understand the Ohio State argument.
If your generational talent, and really in college football, if
you're a generational talent, what's the only thing you're there
(10:02):
for to get to the NFL. If you're a generational talent,
that's it. That's kind of your staging area, right, that's
your triage area.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, he didn't look like a generational talent to me.
He looked confused. He looked like he.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Didn't have a lot of energy. So, yeah, he didn't
look good. Really it was. It was, yeah, it was.
It was a difficult watch. And again to your point
of generational talent, when all things being equal, and going
into that game, most people thought they were equal. Well,
Texas was the number one team in Ohio state, was
(10:40):
the number three team in the country. Everybody felt Texas
was the best team. So if that's the case, and
you're evenly matched and you're the generational talent, then that's
that's when you're you become the difference maker. Everything's equal,
you become the difference maker. And uh, he was inaccurate.
And I think I I I do believe Matt Patricia,
(11:02):
who had a whole summer to get ready for that
game and bring some little tricks from the NFL and
disguises and things like that. Playing them the first game
was a difficult, tall task in their stadium because you
don't have any book on him. You don't have a
scouting report on him, really, because you're not playing preseason
games in college and there wasn't a game before that,
(11:25):
so you don't know how Matt Patricia is really going
to play you. So it's all on the fly. But
it didn't look good. But I mean, I think he will,
he will, he will respond. I think they got a
couple cupcakes coming up here soon, and then then they
start getting into the sec But he'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
All right, All let's get to the Dodgers now and
Game two tonight in Pittsburgh. I think Otani was supposed
to pitch, but now Emmitt Sheen is the starter. They
didn't say why Otani's not pitching. They just said Emmit
Sheen is now the starter. I don't know how much
of a difference that makes in anything. Because he hit
one hundred and twenty mile an hour rocket out of
the stadium, he tweaked his back so he can't he
(12:03):
can't pitch today. I don't know that interesting.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
But he gets the start instead of Otani. That's what
do you think about that? It does? What do you
think about that? It doesn't matter, You don't think. You
don't think of Tony needs to work or they hold
him another day. I mean, what do you think? Honestly,
don't you think he needs to start keep starting? Yeah,
but maybe maybe he's tired, Maybe they think his arm's
a bit fatigued. Maybe they him a day off.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Whether he pitches or not, that's not even the issue
at this point that that doesn't that's not what we're
talking about. What we're talking about is this again. That
was bad last night. Now the Padres lost, thank god,
but that was another.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
How about that? I mean I had to flip over
when the Dodgers debacle happened. I was like, let's see
what the Padre is gonna do. And they laid an
egg against the Baltimore Orioles and at home as well.
And so many opportunities for them throughout this season and
down the stretch to make up ground or really take
the lead from the dock, and they haven't been able
to take advantage. Doddy's gonna be lucky, you know, rubbing
(13:04):
that rabbits. But that Padre didn't get hot right now
because they're not playing well.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
They are so woefully inconsistent, just woefully Now, Kershaw, my guy,
give him the ball. I want him out there, all right. Yeah,
he got little little bit early on, but but he
fought his way through it, came back and looked really good.
And they get back in the game and then they
can't finish it. They can't finish it. Three defensive plays
(13:31):
in the outfield. How many times have we heard this
tough play, sure, catchable balls, yes, none, bandit throws a
wild pitch. You're not looking at a team that looks
like it's gonna win the World Series. I'm not saying
they're not going to, but when you look at them
right now, they don't seem like a team that's going
to win the World Series. And Dave Roberts said something
(13:52):
after the game. We talked about this yesterday. I mean
we hit on this yesterday and he talked about it,
and I thought, there's that word again.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
It's the word we used yesterday. Trust trust. Who do
you trust after yesterday? Because you went on this, this,
this whole dialogue, Freddie, you don't trust, you don't trust
Tanner Scott right after yesterday? Who do you trust?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Well, that's the point, that's that's that's exactly the point.
Who do you trust? If you are to a point
and you are a championship team, you are a team
that many predict to win the World Series, right And
I'm not saying it's not going to happen, but if
you are that team, I want you to think. And
(14:39):
Rodney is a player you can go back through your
mind at this juncture of the season, given the way
they have played all the way through. When you hear
your manager or coach turned it into a question of trust,
you got a problem. You got a problem right now
this team. The one thing you should not hear from
(15:03):
the manager of the defending World Series champions, a team
that people believe would win the World Series this year.
You gotta trust somebody. You gotta go with the guys
you trust. That word should never come out of his mouth. Ever,
if you are a great team, that's not even an issue.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
You don't even consider. Of course, I trust everybody. My
God would have band disagree with that, Fred, because there's
ups and downs, ebbs and flows in a season. And okay,
let's be honest. In June game on the line, do
you trust Mookie Best in that situation to be at
the plate? No? Okay, So I'm saying there's ebbs and flows.
(15:50):
I don't think it's the worst thing. I think it's
brutally honest, yes, But I don't think it's the worst
thing because you can overcome that. There are teams at
this juncture in the past that have gotten and they
still have the capability of doing that. But yeah, it's
hard to believe that and think that that can happen
based on the season that they've had so far. It's
(16:10):
like when when you at least would have hoped they've
had they had a month where they went crazy and
one you know, went eighteen and three in that month
or whatever, But they haven't had that this year, and
it's been so inconsistent, so up and down. There's been
teams that, like a couple years ago, Arizona, they're hovering around,
(16:31):
hovering around. They get hot in late August and September,
and they they remember they they came in as a
wildcard team. They didn't win the division. They came in
as a wildcard, got really hot at the end and
took it all the way to the World Series. So
it can happen. It's just it's it's baffling, and it's
it's tough to watch after they the Dodgers have won
(16:52):
the World Series last year, and on paper it seems
that it got better going into this season, and now
here we are struggling back and forth, uh, battling for
the division and basically the third seed in the National League.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, if I have to tell you, that just struck me.
And you're right, you make a valid point. Do I
want Mooie Bets to hit in June? No, but we're
in September now. If you're gonna have trust issues with people,
if they're gonna be questions, if you're gonna make adjustments,
uh yeah, okay, do.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
It in June.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
You're in September. This is when you catch fire, or
this is when, at the very least, if you get beat,
it's not because you didn't play well.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
It's because you got beat. Yeah, that's what you want
it to be. But are you so are you not
gonna again back to the conversation, are you not gonna
try trot out banda? Are you not gonna trot out
trying to Are you not gonna try it out trying?
I'm gonna try them out, right, So you got to
go what you got. Unfortunately, that's that's who you got.
(18:01):
You know, Mariano Rivera ain't coming through the door. So
you got to go with what you've got and hope
the guys turn it around. And that's the only thing
you can do because at this point you can't bring
somebody up say let's replace him with this and do
this with that. It's pretty much now if the roster's
going to expand or have it expanded. Now, it is
(18:23):
what it is now, and the guys got to come through.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Dodgers ten floss in fourteen games against teams with losing records.
Think about that. Those guys get paid on the other
side too. We know they get paid two ten out
of fourteen against teams with losing records. So then you
have to think to yourself, well, what about teams with
(18:49):
winning records? Well, teams with winning records are who you're
going to see in the playoffs, and theoretically those teams
have better pitching than the teams with losing records, and
the Dodgers have zero consistency offensively right now.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Zero.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I'm not trying to paint a picture of gloom and doom,
but whatever needs to happen needs to happen. It's like
at the beginning of the year, you said this, you
said it, Yeah, you don't went on paper, on paper,
nobody should be near them, shouldn't come close to.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Them, right, but you don't went on paper, and we're
seeing that now.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I'm not saying they're not gonna win, but this is
really kind of a rough, rough patch.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Roney. Yeah, to play professional sports is hard. You don't
just get there. I don't care if you're a bad
team with a bad record, you don't just get there.
You got to be pretty good in all sports. You
got to be pretty good to play at the top
level in professional sports, you have to pretty good. And
(20:02):
if you're pretty good and you're surrounded by other pretty
good players, at some point that talent is going to
come through. Whether you're the Pirates, whether you're the Rockies
or the Dodgers, guys can play and when and on.
You know, not to beat a cliche head, but any
given night, anybody can beat anybody. And and it's again
(20:28):
it is that everybody does get paid on that side too.
They're multimillionaires on both sides. And guys on a night
can get hot and play and beat you if you
don't come with your a game and you don't play
your best. Now, if the Dodgers play their best, nobody
should beat them. Nobody can beat them. But they haven't
played their best consistently all season.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Dodgers take out the Pirates in Pittsburgh once again tonight,
the first pitch of three forty. Listen to all Dodger
games on a five seventy LA Sports live from the
Gallpa Motors Broadcast booth, stream all Dodger games and HD
and the Iheall radio app. The keyword is AM five
seventy LA Sports. Did you hear about this odd story
(21:13):
involving the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard Rodney?
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I did? I did? Interesting? All right, we'll talk about it.
Oh yeah, quick spread today Rodney p Fred Rogan our
show for us. Today. Doctor is back in Pittsburgh doing
their thing. Hopefully get a win today. Let's go Freddy. Okay,
So Pablo Torre does a podcast, calls Pablo Tory, finds
(21:38):
out he really does great investigative stuff, and he broke
a story. So let's lay the story out and you
tell me if you think it means what he thinks
it means. So, you know, in the NBA there's a
rule that you cannot circumvent the salary cap. What does
that mean?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
You can't just start throwing money at guys arbitrarily out
of left field.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
It's all by the I can't well, you're not supposed to.
It's all by the books.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
And there's a reason for that because the league believes
that at least keeps some sort of competitive balance, right.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
In other words, if you're a billionaire many times over right,
and you're someone that has a few hundred million, sure
you can a billionaire. Hey, come come, say a load
to my kids and give them five million dollars. Right, Okay,
twenty million dollars, that's exactly all right. But Bus and
the family. Bus family can't really do that like some
(22:33):
of the other owners.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
No, but you're now, you're you're going, you're hot, You're
going in the right direction. So there was this company,
it was San Francisco base that was called Aspiration, an
environmental startup company. Now, as this company began, Steve Balmer
put fifty million dollars in as an investment. Steve Balmer
(22:55):
has one hundred billion dollars. Fifty million dollars is like
changing the couch to him. So he throws fifty million
dollars in to the pot to get him started. Nice investment.
Nobody says he doesn't care about the environment. I'm sure
he does. He's from Seattle boring in Detroit. Anyway, it
(23:17):
was at this period of time where the Clippers were
going to make a run at Kawhi Leonard. Now they
needed a superstar desperately, and they really needed to distinguish themselves.
And if you remember back that was the pot at
the end of the pot of gold at the end
of the rainbow.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
It was Kawhi Lenon And at that time the Lakers
were pursuing him hard as well. And the Lakers, yeah,
and Ad was on his way as well, and they
thought Kawhi was going to be the third third Big
three of the Lakers. At that time, they were battling
back and forth. So as this is progressing. As this
(23:58):
is progressing, Steve Baumer contributes fifty million dollars to this company.
So he's a contributor, right, He's in there. He's an investor,
if you will. Suddenly out of the clear blue. Because
the company needs public faces, they need spokespeople, they need influencers.
(24:20):
They signed Kawhi Leonard to a four year, twenty eight
million dollar endorsement deal. The company signs Kawhi Leonard four years,
twenty eight million dollars. Fine, but remember Steve Baumer invest
in fifty million into the company. We good, okay, h
(24:42):
The Clippers sign Kawhi Leonard, Well, that's fine. They signed
him by the book salary cap. We're all ready to go.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
But then they started looking at this investment in this
company Steve Balmer made where Kawhi Leonard is now making
twenty eight million dollars over four years.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
And the reality is.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
He didn't do anything, and that got people to start thinking,
wait a minute, how could he make that money as
an endorser, as a spokesperson. But he didn't do anything.
He did nothing. He basically didn't show and he was
(25:30):
never required to show. So then people went, all right,
now this is odd. The owner of the Clippers invest
in the company while trying to pursue Kawhi Leonard. The
Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard and he gets twenty eight million
dollars from the company the owner of the Clippers invested
(25:51):
in for doing nothing.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Nothing.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
It's like they just paid you twenty eight million dollars, Rodney.
Oh you know what, It wasn't as much money, But
it was like when you guys had jobs at USC
and didn't.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Do any Hey hey, hey, hey hey hey. It was
like that, just at a grander scale. That's what it was.
But they he lent his name to the company, didn't
he He lent his name.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Okay, Now that's why we need to discuss this. Yeah,
he lent his name to the company, although from what
I read, I'm not sure anybody even mentioned the fact
that he had lent his name to the company. Because
that's why I wanted to ask you about this.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah, yeah, uh, you would have. You would think, first
of all, you know, these are dummies that were talking
about people know what they're doing. You would think that
at the very least they would have him show up,
say hi, shake some hands, at the very least, at
(26:53):
the very very least, just show up periodically. Hey, good
to be here, good to be a part of this.
This is right. But apparently he didn't do any of that.
And I'm sure that they're going to go back and say,
we'd like to see that contract of that twenty eight
million dollars that he got and what was required of
him in that twenty eight million dollars. But if there's
(27:14):
no contract or there's no requirement, then yeah, there's a
real problem. And didn't the company eventually go bankrupt? And
that's the next part. So the company eventually went bankrupt.
So when you do that, you have to pay off creditors, right, Yeah,
if you file for bankruptcy, there are creditors. Now you
might get ten cents on the dollar. But the creditors
(27:35):
sure line up, don't they.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
You want to know the first person they had to
pay off, Kawhi Leonard, He got his the first person
they had to take care of when they filed bankruptcy.
We have no more money. Oh, we have some money,
but obviously we can't do what we were doing. You
have to take care of your creditors. They paid Kawhi
(27:58):
Leonard off. That was number one on the hit parade.
We're gonna take care of him.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Now, what do you think? Mmmmm ready? Who? Yeah, wait
before you go any further. What is that saying if
it looks like a duck? Yeah? Okay, all right, but
wait before you go any.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Further, Fred, can I jump in for two seconds? Please
add mc clarity to this because Pablo Tori mentioned this.
So they paid Kawhi first only because they got pressure.
Remember Uncle Dennis, Yeah, that was broken in the whole thing.
He was acting as his publicist agent whatever you want
to call it, is not his agent. But Uncle Dennis
apparently was calling the company saying, why haven't you guys
(28:45):
paid Kawhi give him his damn money? Putting pressure on
them while they were in the midst of going through
this bankruptcy situation. So Uncle Dennis was one calling them,
putting pressure on them to get fine money somewhere. Don't
reneg him the.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Babe, maybe Kevin, maybe Fred May. Maybe the reason Kawhy
didn't show up for any of this is because they
did declare bankruptcy and they hadn't paid him yet. Well,
I think he was looking for the rest of the money,
right Kevin.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Yeah, I believe he had gotten payments. He had stopped
getting payments, and according to Pablo torre Ancadennis was like,
what the hell a y'all doing, Where's my money?
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Yeah, but they don't have any obligation to Uncle Dennis
or Kawhi. If they're bankrupt. It's line up, line up,
stick your hand out, all right, we can pay you.
We can't pay you. We'll give you a nickel on
the dollar. I mean, that's bankruptcy.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Maybe he had they had to make so many payments
before his first appearance. You know, some contracts are like that,
I'm not showing up until I have half the money.
And they said we'll pay you in three installments to
half of the money. And once we do that, then
you show up for your appearance. I'm just saying there
there's way many ways to skin a contract cap for it.
(29:57):
That's why I brought it up to you. I've been
in those. I've been those. You get paid after you
do it. I've been in those, and never do those again.
You get paid before, you know, got to be paid
two weeks before I show up. I don't get on
a plane before I'm paid X y Z. Yeah, those
are all different kind of languages are in a contract.
I don't know what this one is, but that's why
I'm saying. Because this is now an issue, a real one,
(30:21):
they will go back and see what that exact contract was.
Was he supposed to show up, what was he actually
supposed to do and all of that should be detailed
in a contract, and what if he was supposed to
do nothing? Problem? So here's what the Clippers communication team said.
They sent out a statement.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
They sent the statement to the athletic because, let's face it,
they would never talk to us. So anyway, here's what
they said. Neither mister Balmer nor the Clippers circumvented the
salary cap, are engaged in any misconduct related to aspiration
and a contrary assertion is provably false. The team ended
it's relationship with Aspiration in during the twenty twenty two
(31:04):
to twenty three season when Aspiration defaulted on its obligations.
Neither the Clippers nor mister Balmer was aware of any
improper activity by Aspiration or its co founder until after
the government instituted its investigation. The team and mister Balmer
stand ready to assist law enforcement in any way they can.
(31:24):
I gotta tell you, all right, So now that's the
Clipper story. We kind of workshopped at Rodney, you and me,
Kevin you jumped in here as well. Pablo Torre, who
does a terrific, terrific job. He's really good as an
investigative sports journalist. He gets stuff and he gets it right.
I hear this. I gotta tell you, I'm not sure
(31:49):
Steve Ballmer circumvented the salary cap here. I think it's
an unfortunate set of circumstances.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I do.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I don't think he paid Aspiration with the sole purpose
and intent of that company paying Kawhi Leonard in a
bag back door to circumvent the salary cap. I don't
think he would do that, and I can be wrong.
I don't think he would do.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
That, do you? No? No? Because what did he did?
He did he get the max when he came to
the Clippers. They couldn't say him anymore? Do we know that?
When Kawhi came to he.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Got as much as he possibly could have been bothered way,
But this is when he was renegotiating. So this is
twenty twenty one, so he had already came. He came
to the team I believe in nineteen if I remember correctly,
So he was signing his second contract, second contract at
that point with the Clippers, and that was in twenty
twenty one. And then the Clippers one thing I think
we might have skipped over. They signed a deal, a
three hundred million dollar endorsement deal with Aspiration. Aspiration there's
(32:53):
a couple of press conferences where you can see their
name on the backdrop. So Balmer obviously was buddy buddy
with the CEO's founders were, if you want to call it,
of this coNP.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
So the Clippers as an organization signed with this company.
Steve Balmer and Steve Bomber individually put fifty million dollars
into it.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
So he put fifty million individually into its Aspiration, correct,
Rodney and then the Clippers organization had an endorsement deal
with Aspiration, however brief, but they did have one.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Right, So at some point he believed in that company, right, Mike.
I guess my question on a salary that if could
Kawhi have made more money, like, for instance, this twenty
eight million dollars that that Aspiration was owed to him?
Could the Clippers said, instead of what if they gave him?
Could have given him three hundred and forty million or
(33:39):
whatever three hundred and twenty eight to make that up?
Could they have done that? Or were they tapped out
in terms of what they could have paid Kawhi in
that second contract?
Speaker 3 (33:47):
If I remember correctly, and we'd have to ask Adam
about this, he would know better than I. They gave
him as much as they possibly could give him legally
under the salary cap. They basically gave him a MAX
contract and as part of an incentive that the NBA
has put in, your incumbent team can sign you for
more than any other team if you leave a free agency.
So I have to believe the Clippers gave him as
every single cent they could possibly give.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Him, right, And you gotta Here's the questioning part on
both sides of this for me is if you're Kawhi
Leonard and he's when did he sign he signed? What
when he first got here? When he first got you
said he came in nineteen, right, I believe that was
(34:30):
his initial that was his initial contract. Then he'd signed
an extension in twenty one, correct.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Rrect he signed an extension with the team.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yes, So basically Kawhi has made over three hundred million
dollars with the Clippers.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Thereabouts or the first career Yeah, I can look that
up his career, his career earnings overall, the three hundred
and twenty five million dollars, and it's.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
In July twenty nineteen, he signed a three year, one
hundred and three million dollars deal with the Clippers. Included
the player option and the UH twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
So that's it.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
After opting out of the final year of his contract,
hundred signed a four year, one hundred and seventy one
hundred and seventy six million MAX deal with the Clippers
in August of twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
The Clippers are technically almost three hundred million dollars they
played paid him. That's fair three hundred eight two hundred
and eighty something million. If you're if they're paying you
two hundred and eighty million dollars is seven million a year,
twenty eight million. I mean that make an a dent.
(35:33):
I don't know, but I I so just strong arm
and like you said, when Uncle Dennis gets involved, maybe
that money was going directly to Uncle Dennis. I don't know,
but I know this that Steve, but I don't care
how much money he has one hundred billion dollars. They
billionaires are not the ones I know don't just give
(35:57):
away fifty million dollars and say, oh, yeah, this company's bad,
it's going to go bankrupt, and then then find out
that the Clippers themselves also had an endorsement deal with them.
So at some point he must have believed this company
was going to go do some things to put fifty
million dollars of his own money into it, because they
(36:18):
don't do it. They don't want to lose a dime.
I don't care how many billions you got, So I
agree with you for I don't think from the Balmber
side that he was doing anything to circumvent the salary cap.
I don't either.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Dodgers take on the Pirates in Pittsburgh, the first pitch
of three forty. Listen to all Dodger games on AM
five to seventy LA Sports. Stream all games on the
iHeartRadio app. The keyboard is a in five to seventy
LA Sports brought you by Asahi Super Dry discovered Japan's
number one selling beer at your favorite bar or grosser.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Sorts.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
We'll be back to complete the sprints in a minute.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Hey, back to wind it down. Roger Pete Fred Rogan
on the quick spread of today, don't forget tomorrow. Tomorrow,
that is Thursday. We are down at b Day's Restaurant
brew House in Irvine, California, noon two thirty. Come on down,
giving away charge your Bronco tickets and Dodger all kinds
(37:24):
of Dodger stuff we're giving away, So come on down.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Yeah, we'd love to see you because we don't get
out very often. So for us, we've done like a
jail break. Speak for yourself, Fred Day Criminals. Is Kevin
gonna be there too? Is Kevin gonna show up? No,
Kevin's gotta work, he got a he got seventeen jobs, Kevin. Yeah,
Kevin's got twenty five jobs. So he's gonna he's gonna
work from Afar.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Oh, Kevin's not gonna come down and see us.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Now, I'll just yell at you in your ear. That's yes, works,
Why change it up?
Speaker 2 (37:53):
All right?
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Well, if that's the case, then we need more people
to come down and see us. Somebody has to be Kevin.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
You know what we'll do. We're gonna rely on Burt.
Oh no, we're not. Oh no, we're not.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
So it'll either be a sleep or eating. So we
cannot rely on Burt. Were it must weigh seven hundred pounds.
We haven't seen him so long. Wait, it might be
ready to explode when we get there.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
You know we're gonna do.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Since we're gonna be there seriously and you know Kevin
will be working from Afar, we will we will select
an honorary.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Producer, Oh oh, from an audience. How can I'm just.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Gonna be honorary producer? Can come up and offer things
up during the show and do what this.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Is right up your rally, Fred, this is gonna go
spectacularly terrible.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
I'm here for it. This is gonna be great.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
The honorary producer, we can ask the producer questions of
what they think we should do. They can just shout
out a topic idea that we'll do honorary producer. Who's
in for this idea? Okay, Fred, you're on your own.
See you know this is a great I'm not gonna
be you want to do that?
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Wouldn't you like to come down to be the producer.
I am not gonna be privy to that. I will
not stand here and let you disrespect the good name
of Rogan and Rodney. They having a random producer come
on the show.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
No, this will be great. Here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna give you the headset to you can listen
on the headset. Oh god, and you can write his notes.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
See put it out there. You can't pull it back. Oh.
I think it'll be great.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
It's like we're auditioning a producer, a backup producer if
Kevin's not working, this will be the best. So if
you get there, if you get there and you were
wearing a tag that says producer, if you make a
name tag, then you might get a chance to do it.
You have to put in some work. You have to
wear a name tag that says producer. Make a tag
that says producer, and if we see you, we may
(39:57):
give you a chance to do it tomorrow. Once in
a lifetime opportunity. People would spend money in an auction
for this opportunity. We're gonna let you do it for
free if you go to BJ's.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Tomorrow in Irvine.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
This in lieu of me buying everybody drinks again, because
I can never happen again. And my god, if I
did it there, I would be broke.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Yeah, yeah, when the amount of people, yeah, you would
be broken. It's it's uh, it's quite the you got
in trouble for that last time. I believe if you
didn't help my baking, you didn't help it all. As
a matter if talking to you or then President Don Martin,
you got in pro you got in trouble from him,
from from him, right.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Yeah, because of you, because of you, And everybody remembers,
because when he walked up to me and he goes,
but man, what the hell are you doing? You better
stop that right now? Do you understand what you're doing?
Do you have any idea what you're doing? I said,
Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Don We won't say
it again. And all of a sudden, you go all right,
(40:56):
free drinks for everybody.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
It was like, oh, Rodney, geeze. He gave me a
look and I just want what do you want me
to do? That was him. I don't remember that. I
don't recall.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Yeah, I do, all right, Ronnie, Thank you, great work.
Kevin appreciate it very much. Rodney Ce at a mile
at BJ's Restaurant in bru House in Irvine, starting at noon.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
Right home,
All right, here we go, fred Rogan, Rodney Pete at
a five to seventy LA Sports a one hour sprint
Forest today and off the top of big reminder, Big
Rugan and Rodney reminder tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Where are you going to be at noon? Rodney? Where
will you be tomorrow at noon? Oh, Freddy, you know,
I like to make that trick down to Irvine, the
b Day's Restaurant brew House in Irvine noon to two
point thirty. We will be there, Freddy, having a good
time with the people down there in Irvine and Orange
County and all over the area. We don't get out much.
There's a reason we don't. We don't.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
There's a reason. Quite frankly, we've never figured out why
we're not allowed out much.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
But we're not.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
So when we get out, it's a pretty big deal.
I mean, as Rodney would say, we let our hair down.
We go for it, and we plan on going for
it tomorrow, starting at noons. Here's what you've got. You
can't win, by the way, if you don't show up.
We've got Dodger tickets. Yes, you will win tickets to
see the Dodgers. We've got tickets to see the Chargers,
and the Broncos. Yes, you will win tickets to see
(01:01):
the Chargers and Broncos. It's BJ's Restaurant and Brewe House
down in Irvine. Noon, as Rodney pointed out, as when
the show begins, and our recommendation is up to you.
You do what you want. You live your own life.
We're not telling you, we're not bossing you around, we're
not your moral compass. But we are saying, if you
want a seat, I'd get there a little.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Bit before noon. Is that fair to say? That is
absolutely fair to say. Plus, as we get older, our
eyesight goes away, so when we're giving away these tickets,
we might not see you if you're standing in the
back behind some folks. So you want to get your
seats early, get there before noon. I'd get there at eleven, fred,
Once I get there about eleven. Yeah, yeah, that just
gets you settled, order your food, be ready to go
(01:43):
for noon. And then if you want, and it's up
to you again, why not make a whole day of it.
NFL season kicks off tomorrow. Just hang out and watch
the games. What a good day, What a good day,
NFL boy, it's here, everything's here now football, you know,
that heard that rating that Ohio State Texas was the
(02:05):
highest rated college football game ever. I didn't hear that ever. Yeah,
highest rated game ever. I guess everybody thought Arch Manning
was the second coming to John Elway. Tell you what,
it's really unfair. It is put that kind of expectation
out of kid. Yeah, but because it was the way
(02:28):
it was. And did you see during the game how
many commercials he did? Oh yeah, about five of them.
I mean it was incredible. Yeah, that's really commercials. Yeah.
And here's the thing.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
He could not have looked worse. He could not have
looked more pedestrian in that game. So you sit here,
you go, well, what do you expect? I mean, Matt
Patricia is the defensive coordinator for Ohio State now, and
he came from the NFL.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Guess what he knew he had something for him. Yeah,
he knew he was going to confuse him, and and
that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
But the bottom line is with the expectation going to
that game for young mister Manning and then just to
be baffled as he was, that was a bad look.
If you know, going in all he could win the
Heisman this year. I think they had twenty NFL scouts there.
(03:22):
When you see that, that looks pretty pedestrian, doesn't look
that special. And he's gonna have to dig himself out
of a hole, because.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, he's gonna he's gonna have to play phenomenal or
I mean, it's one game. I get it. There's gonna
be other big games. And look, Ohio State won the
national title losing early in the season. I believe they
lost Oregon last year and came back and and when
they lost to Michigan at the end of the year,
and they came back and won the won the national
championship and made the playoffs. So there's there's Texas is
(03:54):
gonna be good and he'll play better than that. And
you know, at some point people will will not remember
this opening game and look for him to try to
redeem himself later in the year. But I just don't
like the way they just anointed him as the number
one picking it. And these are like big time commentators
around the country on Fox and ESPN and all these places.
(04:14):
He's a number one pick in the draft today. I
heard Finebaum say it in July. He's the best college
quarterback I've ever seen, and this kid, he's played, He's
not played a meaningful game yet. He played a backup role.
And then he played some games against some teams that
are that basically like USC played on opening Day and
had some good showings. So how do you say, I know,
(04:36):
I get the name and the family and football royalty
manning name, I get all that, But he was a
backup for two years. He was a backup. If he's
a generational talent, I mean you think of guys like
Trevor Lawrence came in as a freshman and replaced the
starter and then go win a national title. Right John
(04:56):
Elway four year starter at Stanford camp. Miss Andrew lock
four year started. You knew right away he could play.
You know, Caleb Williams replaced the starter Spencer Ratler, who's
a quarterback in the NFL at Oklahoma, then won the
Heisman Trophy the next year. I don't You just haven't
seen enough for him for people to go off like
that and say he is this generation or best quarterback
(05:19):
we've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Because people are now, unlike many years ago, prisoners of
the moment, social media, twenty four hour information, and I
think you're to a point now where everything is bigger
than it ever was before. Everything is better than it
ever was before. Cooper Flagg, the Blake Griffin comment, Oh,
he's the most complete player we've seen in Okay, everybody
(05:43):
is the biggest, the best, the top, the next greatest.
You ever noticed that? Yeah, one performance? Oh my god,
that guy. That guy is a can't miss. That's what
we need. He's gonna go high. It's something you always
bring up up and I always think about Markel Folts
(06:03):
when he was a number one draft pick in the NBA.
Markel for everybody, everybody, how did that happen?
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Right? He was a unanimous the number one pick. Remember
it was between Jason Tatum and Lonzo Ball for this
number two pick, the two and three pick. But everybody
had Markel Foltz as the number one pick in that draft.
What happened? What happened? Seriously?
Speaker 1 (06:30):
How did that happen? Because everybody decided all of a sudden,
whoever everybody is, it's everybody that's the guy. Yeah, It's
sort of like it's sort of like the way the
world works. When the Rams were coming to Inglewood and
the Chargers and Raiders were going to go to Carson
(06:50):
and a great story. Uh, if you listen nationally, If
you listen nationally, the Rams are dead. They weren't going anywhere.
They were not going to be approved to leave Saint Louis.
It was the Raiders and the Chargers and they were
going to go to Carson. Now nationally, that was it.
And I think I've told the story so much so
(07:11):
that when we were at the meeting in Houston when
they were going to decide the big vote, and I understand,
I knew what the big vote was, so it wasn't
a surprise to me. I was like the only person.
Me and Mayor Butts and the Rams they knew. Everybody
that group knew.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Jarry Jones knew it was. It's interesting because there were
what half a dozen maybe six six owners really believed
that was happening. Yeah, and Carson went and the Raiders
and the charges were happening, and the late Jerry Richardson
of Carolina was leading that charge. He was the guy.
(07:48):
He was the guy.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
So and that's why when they had the vote and
the camp was thirty one to one on that vote,
and when the Dean Spanos looked ashen h So, anyway,
we're at the meeting and I get a thing from
Channel four and it's my buddy Carlos Hopkins. He's the
daytime executive producer. And he says, hey, AP has put
out an urgent bulletin, urgent bulletin. CNN is reporting this.
(08:13):
I go, yeah, that the Raiders and Chargers have won.
Everybody here wants us to do that. And I went,
I wouldn't do that, Yeah, but everybody is saying it.
I said, it's not going to happen. Don't do it now.
To his credit, they didn't do it, and we were
the only ones that were right. But Dean Spanos when
(08:35):
he found out that vote Rodney, and this speaks to
how things start, and there's a ground swell. When he
found out that vote, the blood left his face in
that meeting. He looked ashen. It was like he couldn't
believe it. And the reason he couldn't believe it is
because Mark Fabiani, who handled things for the Clinton campaign,
(08:58):
so he's pretty good as a political strategist.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, it happen.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
We had done such a magnificent job of trying to
convince people that he even convinced Dean'spanos. In the end,
they believed their own stories. That they made up and
weren't true, but because the presentation was so convincing, they
(09:23):
thought it was going to happen. That's kind of what
happens when you see these can't miss prospects, Right, that's
kind of what happens. Somebody says something they talked to
somebody else, then a third person jumps in. All of
a sudden, everybody starts talking about it. You see it
on social media, then you see writers writing about it.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Because you don't want to.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Look bad, you don't want to be out on the outside,
you don't want to miss, so everybody kind of jumps
on board, and then we have what happened to Manning.
He wasn't ready. And I understand the Ohio State argument.
If your generational talent, and really in college football, if
you're a generational talent, what's the only thing you're there
(10:02):
for to get to the NFL. If you're a generational talent,
that's it. That's kind of your staging area, right, that's
your triage area.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, he didn't look like a generational talent to me.
He looked confused. He looked like he.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Didn't have a lot of energy. So, yeah, he didn't
look good. Really it was. It was, yeah, it was.
It was a difficult watch. And again to your point
of generational talent, when all things being equal, and going
into that game, most people thought they were equal. Well,
Texas was the number one team in Ohio state, was
(10:40):
the number three team in the country. Everybody felt Texas
was the best team. So if that's the case, and
you're evenly matched and you're the generational talent, then that's
that's when you're you become the difference maker. Everything's equal,
you become the difference maker. And uh, he was inaccurate.
And I think I I I do believe Matt Patricia,
(11:02):
who had a whole summer to get ready for that
game and bring some little tricks from the NFL and
disguises and things like that. Playing them the first game
was a difficult, tall task in their stadium because you
don't have any book on him. You don't have a
scouting report on him, really, because you're not playing preseason
games in college and there wasn't a game before that,
(11:25):
so you don't know how Matt Patricia is really going
to play you. So it's all on the fly. But
it didn't look good. But I mean, I think he will,
he will, he will respond. I think they got a
couple cupcakes coming up here soon, and then then they
start getting into the sec But he'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
All right, All let's get to the Dodgers now and
Game two tonight in Pittsburgh. I think Otani was supposed
to pitch, but now Emmitt Sheen is the starter. They
didn't say why Otani's not pitching. They just said Emmit
Sheen is now the starter. I don't know how much
of a difference that makes in anything. Because he hit
one hundred and twenty mile an hour rocket out of
the stadium, he tweaked his back so he can't he
(12:03):
can't pitch today. I don't know that interesting.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
But he gets the start instead of Otani. That's what
do you think about that? It does? What do you
think about that? It doesn't matter, You don't think. You
don't think of Tony needs to work or they hold
him another day. I mean, what do you think? Honestly,
don't you think he needs to start keep starting? Yeah,
but maybe maybe he's tired, Maybe they think his arm's
a bit fatigued. Maybe they him a day off.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Whether he pitches or not, that's not even the issue
at this point that that doesn't that's not what we're
talking about. What we're talking about is this again. That
was bad last night. Now the Padres lost, thank god,
but that was another.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
How about that? I mean I had to flip over
when the Dodgers debacle happened. I was like, let's see
what the Padre is gonna do. And they laid an
egg against the Baltimore Orioles and at home as well.
And so many opportunities for them throughout this season and
down the stretch to make up ground or really take
the lead from the dock, and they haven't been able
to take advantage. Doddy's gonna be lucky, you know, rubbing
(13:04):
that rabbits. But that Padre didn't get hot right now
because they're not playing well.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
They are so woefully inconsistent, just woefully Now, Kershaw, my guy,
give him the ball. I want him out there, all right. Yeah,
he got little little bit early on, but but he
fought his way through it, came back and looked really good.
And they get back in the game and then they
can't finish it. They can't finish it. Three defensive plays
(13:31):
in the outfield. How many times have we heard this
tough play, sure, catchable balls, yes, none, bandit throws a
wild pitch. You're not looking at a team that looks
like it's gonna win the World Series. I'm not saying
they're not going to, but when you look at them
right now, they don't seem like a team that's going
to win the World Series. And Dave Roberts said something
(13:52):
after the game. We talked about this yesterday. I mean
we hit on this yesterday and he talked about it,
and I thought, there's that word again.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
It's the word we used yesterday. Trust trust. Who do
you trust after yesterday? Because you went on this, this,
this whole dialogue, Freddie, you don't trust, you don't trust
Tanner Scott right after yesterday? Who do you trust?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Well, that's the point, that's that's that's exactly the point.
Who do you trust? If you are to a point
and you are a championship team, you are a team
that many predict to win the World Series, right And
I'm not saying it's not going to happen, but if
you are that team, I want you to think. And
(14:39):
Rodney is a player you can go back through your
mind at this juncture of the season, given the way
they have played all the way through. When you hear
your manager or coach turned it into a question of trust,
you got a problem. You got a problem right now
this team. The one thing you should not hear from
(15:03):
the manager of the defending World Series champions, a team
that people believe would win the World Series this year.
You gotta trust somebody. You gotta go with the guys
you trust. That word should never come out of his mouth. Ever,
if you are a great team, that's not even an issue.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
You don't even consider. Of course, I trust everybody. My
God would have band disagree with that, Fred, because there's
ups and downs, ebbs and flows in a season. And okay,
let's be honest. In June game on the line, do
you trust Mookie Best in that situation to be at
the plate? No? Okay, So I'm saying there's ebbs and flows.
(15:50):
I don't think it's the worst thing. I think it's
brutally honest, yes, But I don't think it's the worst
thing because you can overcome that. There are teams at
this juncture in the past that have gotten and they
still have the capability of doing that. But yeah, it's
hard to believe that and think that that can happen
based on the season that they've had so far. It's
(16:10):
like when when you at least would have hoped they've
had they had a month where they went crazy and
one you know, went eighteen and three in that month
or whatever, But they haven't had that this year, and
it's been so inconsistent, so up and down. There's been
teams that, like a couple years ago, Arizona, they're hovering around,
(16:31):
hovering around. They get hot in late August and September,
and they they remember they they came in as a
wildcard team. They didn't win the division. They came in
as a wildcard, got really hot at the end and
took it all the way to the World Series. So
it can happen. It's just it's it's baffling, and it's
it's tough to watch after they the Dodgers have won
(16:52):
the World Series last year, and on paper it seems
that it got better going into this season, and now
here we are struggling back and forth, uh, battling for
the division and basically the third seed in the National League.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, if I have to tell you, that just struck me.
And you're right, you make a valid point. Do I
want Mooie Bets to hit in June? No, but we're
in September now. If you're gonna have trust issues with people,
if they're gonna be questions, if you're gonna make adjustments,
uh yeah, okay, do.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
It in June.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
You're in September. This is when you catch fire, or
this is when, at the very least, if you get beat,
it's not because you didn't play well.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
It's because you got beat. Yeah, that's what you want
it to be. But are you so are you not
gonna again back to the conversation, are you not gonna
try trot out banda? Are you not gonna trot out
trying to Are you not gonna try it out trying?
I'm gonna try them out, right, So you got to
go what you got. Unfortunately, that's that's who you got.
(18:01):
You know, Mariano Rivera ain't coming through the door. So
you got to go with what you've got and hope
the guys turn it around. And that's the only thing
you can do because at this point you can't bring
somebody up say let's replace him with this and do
this with that. It's pretty much now if the roster's
going to expand or have it expanded. Now, it is
(18:23):
what it is now, and the guys got to come through.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Dodgers ten floss in fourteen games against teams with losing records.
Think about that. Those guys get paid on the other
side too. We know they get paid two ten out
of fourteen against teams with losing records. So then you
have to think to yourself, well, what about teams with
(18:49):
winning records? Well, teams with winning records are who you're
going to see in the playoffs, and theoretically those teams
have better pitching than the teams with losing records, and
the Dodgers have zero consistency offensively right now.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Zero.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I'm not trying to paint a picture of gloom and doom,
but whatever needs to happen needs to happen. It's like
at the beginning of the year, you said this, you
said it, Yeah, you don't went on paper, on paper,
nobody should be near them, shouldn't come close to.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Them, right, but you don't went on paper, and we're
seeing that now.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I'm not saying they're not gonna win, but this is
really kind of a rough, rough patch.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Roney. Yeah, to play professional sports is hard. You don't
just get there. I don't care if you're a bad
team with a bad record, you don't just get there.
You got to be pretty good in all sports. You
got to be pretty good to play at the top
level in professional sports, you have to pretty good. And
(20:02):
if you're pretty good and you're surrounded by other pretty
good players, at some point that talent is going to
come through. Whether you're the Pirates, whether you're the Rockies
or the Dodgers, guys can play and when and on.
You know, not to beat a cliche head, but any
given night, anybody can beat anybody. And and it's again
(20:28):
it is that everybody does get paid on that side too.
They're multimillionaires on both sides. And guys on a night
can get hot and play and beat you if you
don't come with your a game and you don't play
your best. Now, if the Dodgers play their best, nobody
should beat them. Nobody can beat them. But they haven't
played their best consistently all season.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Dodgers take out the Pirates in Pittsburgh once again tonight,
the first pitch of three forty. Listen to all Dodger
games on a five seventy LA Sports live from the
Gallpa Motors Broadcast booth, stream all Dodger games and HD
and the Iheall radio app. The keyword is AM five
seventy LA Sports. Did you hear about this odd story
(21:13):
involving the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard Rodney?
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I did? I did? Interesting? All right, we'll talk about it.
Oh yeah, quick spread today Rodney p Fred Rogan our
show for us. Today. Doctor is back in Pittsburgh doing
their thing. Hopefully get a win today. Let's go Freddy. Okay,
So Pablo Torre does a podcast, calls Pablo Tory, finds
(21:38):
out he really does great investigative stuff, and he broke
a story. So let's lay the story out and you
tell me if you think it means what he thinks
it means. So, you know, in the NBA there's a
rule that you cannot circumvent the salary cap. What does
that mean?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
You can't just start throwing money at guys arbitrarily out
of left field.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
It's all by the I can't well, you're not supposed to.
It's all by the books.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
And there's a reason for that because the league believes
that at least keeps some sort of competitive balance, right.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
In other words, if you're a billionaire many times over right,
and you're someone that has a few hundred million, sure
you can a billionaire. Hey, come come, say a load
to my kids and give them five million dollars. Right, Okay,
twenty million dollars, that's exactly all right. But Bus and
the family. Bus family can't really do that like some
(22:33):
of the other owners.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
No, but you're now, you're you're going, you're hot, You're
going in the right direction. So there was this company,
it was San Francisco base that was called Aspiration, an
environmental startup company. Now, as this company began, Steve Balmer
put fifty million dollars in as an investment. Steve Balmer
(22:55):
has one hundred billion dollars. Fifty million dollars is like
changing the couch to him. So he throws fifty million
dollars in to the pot to get him started. Nice investment.
Nobody says he doesn't care about the environment. I'm sure
he does. He's from Seattle boring in Detroit. Anyway, it
(23:17):
was at this period of time where the Clippers were
going to make a run at Kawhi Leonard. Now they
needed a superstar desperately, and they really needed to distinguish themselves.
And if you remember back that was the pot at
the end of the pot of gold at the end
of the rainbow.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
It was Kawhi Lenon And at that time the Lakers
were pursuing him hard as well. And the Lakers, yeah,
and Ad was on his way as well, and they
thought Kawhi was going to be the third third Big
three of the Lakers. At that time, they were battling
back and forth. So as this is progressing. As this
(23:58):
is progressing, Steve Baumer contributes fifty million dollars to this company.
So he's a contributor, right, He's in there. He's an investor,
if you will. Suddenly out of the clear blue. Because
the company needs public faces, they need spokespeople, they need influencers.
(24:20):
They signed Kawhi Leonard to a four year, twenty eight
million dollar endorsement deal. The company signs Kawhi Leonard four years,
twenty eight million dollars. Fine, but remember Steve Baumer invest
in fifty million into the company. We good, okay, h
(24:42):
The Clippers sign Kawhi Leonard, Well, that's fine. They signed
him by the book salary cap. We're all ready to go.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
But then they started looking at this investment in this
company Steve Balmer made where Kawhi Leonard is now making
twenty eight million dollars over four years.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
And the reality is.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
He didn't do anything, and that got people to start thinking,
wait a minute, how could he make that money as
an endorser, as a spokesperson. But he didn't do anything.
He did nothing. He basically didn't show and he was
(25:30):
never required to show. So then people went, all right,
now this is odd. The owner of the Clippers invest
in the company while trying to pursue Kawhi Leonard. The
Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard and he gets twenty eight million
dollars from the company the owner of the Clippers invested
(25:51):
in for doing nothing.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Nothing.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
It's like they just paid you twenty eight million dollars, Rodney.
Oh you know what, It wasn't as much money, But
it was like when you guys had jobs at USC
and didn't.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Do any Hey hey, hey, hey hey hey. It was
like that, just at a grander scale. That's what it was.
But they he lent his name to the company, didn't
he He lent his name.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Okay, Now that's why we need to discuss this. Yeah,
he lent his name to the company, although from what
I read, I'm not sure anybody even mentioned the fact
that he had lent his name to the company. Because
that's why I wanted to ask you about this.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah, yeah, uh, you would have. You would think, first
of all, you know, these are dummies that were talking
about people know what they're doing. You would think that
at the very least they would have him show up,
say hi, shake some hands, at the very least, at
(26:53):
the very very least, just show up periodically. Hey, good
to be here, good to be a part of this.
This is right. But apparently he didn't do any of that.
And I'm sure that they're going to go back and say,
we'd like to see that contract of that twenty eight
million dollars that he got and what was required of
him in that twenty eight million dollars. But if there's
(27:14):
no contract or there's no requirement, then yeah, there's a
real problem. And didn't the company eventually go bankrupt? And
that's the next part. So the company eventually went bankrupt.
So when you do that, you have to pay off creditors, right, Yeah,
if you file for bankruptcy, there are creditors. Now you
might get ten cents on the dollar. But the creditors
(27:35):
sure line up, don't they.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
You want to know the first person they had to
pay off, Kawhi Leonard, He got his the first person
they had to take care of when they filed bankruptcy.
We have no more money. Oh, we have some money,
but obviously we can't do what we were doing. You
have to take care of your creditors. They paid Kawhi
(27:58):
Leonard off. That was number one on the hit parade.
We're gonna take care of him.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Now, what do you think? Mmmmm ready? Who? Yeah, wait
before you go any further. What is that saying if
it looks like a duck? Yeah? Okay, all right, but
wait before you go any.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Further, Fred, can I jump in for two seconds? Please
add mc clarity to this because Pablo Tori mentioned this.
So they paid Kawhi first only because they got pressure.
Remember Uncle Dennis, Yeah, that was broken in the whole thing.
He was acting as his publicist agent whatever you want
to call it, is not his agent. But Uncle Dennis
apparently was calling the company saying, why haven't you guys
(28:45):
paid Kawhi give him his damn money? Putting pressure on
them while they were in the midst of going through
this bankruptcy situation. So Uncle Dennis was one calling them,
putting pressure on them to get fine money somewhere. Don't
reneg him the.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Babe, maybe Kevin, maybe Fred May. Maybe the reason Kawhy
didn't show up for any of this is because they
did declare bankruptcy and they hadn't paid him yet. Well,
I think he was looking for the rest of the money,
right Kevin.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Yeah, I believe he had gotten payments. He had stopped
getting payments, and according to Pablo torre Ancadennis was like,
what the hell a y'all doing, Where's my money?
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Yeah, but they don't have any obligation to Uncle Dennis
or Kawhi. If they're bankrupt. It's line up, line up,
stick your hand out, all right, we can pay you.
We can't pay you. We'll give you a nickel on
the dollar. I mean, that's bankruptcy.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Maybe he had they had to make so many payments
before his first appearance. You know, some contracts are like that,
I'm not showing up until I have half the money.
And they said we'll pay you in three installments to
half of the money. And once we do that, then
you show up for your appearance. I'm just saying there
there's way many ways to skin a contract cap for it.
(29:57):
That's why I brought it up to you. I've been
in those. I've been those. You get paid after you
do it. I've been in those, and never do those again.
You get paid before, you know, got to be paid
two weeks before I show up. I don't get on
a plane before I'm paid X y Z. Yeah, those
are all different kind of languages are in a contract.
I don't know what this one is, but that's why
I'm saying. Because this is now an issue, a real one,
(30:21):
they will go back and see what that exact contract was.
Was he supposed to show up, what was he actually
supposed to do and all of that should be detailed
in a contract, and what if he was supposed to
do nothing? Problem? So here's what the Clippers communication team said.
They sent out a statement.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
They sent the statement to the athletic because, let's face it,
they would never talk to us. So anyway, here's what
they said. Neither mister Balmer nor the Clippers circumvented the
salary cap, are engaged in any misconduct related to aspiration
and a contrary assertion is provably false. The team ended
it's relationship with Aspiration in during the twenty twenty two
(31:04):
to twenty three season when Aspiration defaulted on its obligations.
Neither the Clippers nor mister Balmer was aware of any
improper activity by Aspiration or its co founder until after
the government instituted its investigation. The team and mister Balmer
stand ready to assist law enforcement in any way they can.
(31:24):
I gotta tell you, all right, So now that's the
Clipper story. We kind of workshopped at Rodney, you and me,
Kevin you jumped in here as well. Pablo Torre, who
does a terrific, terrific job. He's really good as an
investigative sports journalist. He gets stuff and he gets it right.
I hear this. I gotta tell you, I'm not sure
(31:49):
Steve Ballmer circumvented the salary cap here. I think it's
an unfortunate set of circumstances.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I do.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I don't think he paid Aspiration with the sole purpose
and intent of that company paying Kawhi Leonard in a
bag back door to circumvent the salary cap. I don't
think he would do that, and I can be wrong.
I don't think he would do.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
That, do you? No? No? Because what did he did?
He did he get the max when he came to
the Clippers. They couldn't say him anymore? Do we know that?
When Kawhi came to he.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Got as much as he possibly could have been bothered way,
But this is when he was renegotiating. So this is
twenty twenty one, so he had already came. He came
to the team I believe in nineteen if I remember correctly,
So he was signing his second contract, second contract at
that point with the Clippers, and that was in twenty
twenty one. And then the Clippers one thing I think
we might have skipped over. They signed a deal, a
three hundred million dollar endorsement deal with Aspiration. Aspiration there's
(32:53):
a couple of press conferences where you can see their
name on the backdrop. So Balmer obviously was buddy buddy
with the CEO's founders were, if you want to call it,
of this coNP.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
So the Clippers as an organization signed with this company.
Steve Balmer and Steve Bomber individually put fifty million dollars
into it.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
So he put fifty million individually into its Aspiration, correct,
Rodney and then the Clippers organization had an endorsement deal
with Aspiration, however brief, but they did have one.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Right, So at some point he believed in that company, right, Mike.
I guess my question on a salary that if could
Kawhi have made more money, like, for instance, this twenty
eight million dollars that that Aspiration was owed to him?
Could the Clippers said, instead of what if they gave him?
Could have given him three hundred and forty million or
(33:39):
whatever three hundred and twenty eight to make that up?
Could they have done that? Or were they tapped out
in terms of what they could have paid Kawhi in
that second contract?
Speaker 3 (33:47):
If I remember correctly, and we'd have to ask Adam
about this, he would know better than I. They gave
him as much as they possibly could give him legally
under the salary cap. They basically gave him a MAX
contract and as part of an incentive that the NBA
has put in, your incumbent team can sign you for
more than any other team if you leave a free agency.
So I have to believe the Clippers gave him as
every single cent they could possibly give.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Him, right, And you gotta Here's the questioning part on
both sides of this for me is if you're Kawhi
Leonard and he's when did he sign he signed? What
when he first got here? When he first got you
said he came in nineteen, right, I believe that was
(34:30):
his initial that was his initial contract. Then he'd signed
an extension in twenty one, correct.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Rrect he signed an extension with the team.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yes, So basically Kawhi has made over three hundred million
dollars with the Clippers.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Thereabouts or the first career Yeah, I can look that
up his career, his career earnings overall, the three hundred
and twenty five million dollars, and it's.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
In July twenty nineteen, he signed a three year, one
hundred and three million dollars deal with the Clippers. Included
the player option and the UH twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
So that's it.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
After opting out of the final year of his contract,
hundred signed a four year, one hundred and seventy one
hundred and seventy six million MAX deal with the Clippers
in August of twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
The Clippers are technically almost three hundred million dollars they
played paid him. That's fair three hundred eight two hundred
and eighty something million. If you're if they're paying you
two hundred and eighty million dollars is seven million a year,
twenty eight million. I mean that make an a dent.
(35:33):
I don't know, but I I so just strong arm
and like you said, when Uncle Dennis gets involved, maybe
that money was going directly to Uncle Dennis. I don't know,
but I know this that Steve, but I don't care
how much money he has one hundred billion dollars. They
billionaires are not the ones I know don't just give
(35:57):
away fifty million dollars and say, oh, yeah, this company's bad,
it's going to go bankrupt, and then then find out
that the Clippers themselves also had an endorsement deal with them.
So at some point he must have believed this company
was going to go do some things to put fifty
million dollars of his own money into it, because they
(36:18):
don't do it. They don't want to lose a dime.
I don't care how many billions you got, So I
agree with you for I don't think from the Balmber
side that he was doing anything to circumvent the salary cap.
I don't either.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Dodgers take on the Pirates in Pittsburgh, the first pitch
of three forty. Listen to all Dodger games on AM
five to seventy LA Sports. Stream all games on the
iHeartRadio app. The keyboard is a in five to seventy
LA Sports brought you by Asahi Super Dry discovered Japan's
number one selling beer at your favorite bar or grosser.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Sorts.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
We'll be back to complete the sprints in a minute.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Hey, back to wind it down. Roger Pete Fred Rogan
on the quick spread of today, don't forget tomorrow. Tomorrow,
that is Thursday. We are down at b Day's Restaurant
brew House in Irvine, California, noon two thirty. Come on down,
giving away charge your Bronco tickets and Dodger all kinds
(37:24):
of Dodger stuff we're giving away, So come on down.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Yeah, we'd love to see you because we don't get
out very often. So for us, we've done like a
jail break. Speak for yourself, Fred Day Criminals. Is Kevin
gonna be there too? Is Kevin gonna show up? No,
Kevin's gotta work, he got a he got seventeen jobs, Kevin. Yeah,
Kevin's got twenty five jobs. So he's gonna he's gonna
work from Afar.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Oh, Kevin's not gonna come down and see us.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Now, I'll just yell at you in your ear. That's yes, works,
Why change it up?
Speaker 2 (37:53):
All right?
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Well, if that's the case, then we need more people
to come down and see us. Somebody has to be Kevin.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
You know what we'll do. We're gonna rely on Burt.
Oh no, we're not. Oh no, we're not.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
So it'll either be a sleep or eating. So we
cannot rely on Burt. Were it must weigh seven hundred pounds.
We haven't seen him so long. Wait, it might be
ready to explode when we get there.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
You know we're gonna do.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Since we're gonna be there seriously and you know Kevin
will be working from Afar, we will we will select
an honorary.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Producer, Oh oh, from an audience. How can I'm just.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Gonna be honorary producer? Can come up and offer things
up during the show and do what this.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Is right up your rally, Fred, this is gonna go
spectacularly terrible.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
I'm here for it. This is gonna be great.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
The honorary producer, we can ask the producer questions of
what they think we should do. They can just shout
out a topic idea that we'll do honorary producer. Who's
in for this idea? Okay, Fred, you're on your own.
See you know this is a great I'm not gonna
be you want to do that?
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Wouldn't you like to come down to be the producer.
I am not gonna be privy to that. I will
not stand here and let you disrespect the good name
of Rogan and Rodney. They having a random producer come
on the show.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
No, this will be great. Here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna give you the headset to you can listen
on the headset. Oh god, and you can write his notes.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
See put it out there. You can't pull it back. Oh.
I think it'll be great.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
It's like we're auditioning a producer, a backup producer if
Kevin's not working, this will be the best. So if
you get there, if you get there and you were
wearing a tag that says producer, if you make a
name tag, then you might get a chance to do it.
You have to put in some work. You have to
wear a name tag that says producer. Make a tag
that says producer, and if we see you, we may
(39:57):
give you a chance to do it tomorrow. Once in
a lifetime opportunity. People would spend money in an auction
for this opportunity. We're gonna let you do it for
free if you go to BJ's.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Tomorrow in Irvine.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
This in lieu of me buying everybody drinks again, because
I can never happen again. And my god, if I
did it there, I would be broke.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Yeah, yeah, when the amount of people, yeah, you would
be broken. It's it's uh, it's quite the you got
in trouble for that last time. I believe if you
didn't help my baking, you didn't help it all. As
a matter if talking to you or then President Don Martin,
you got in pro you got in trouble from him,
from from him, right.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Yeah, because of you, because of you, And everybody remembers,
because when he walked up to me and he goes,
but man, what the hell are you doing? You better
stop that right now? Do you understand what you're doing?
Do you have any idea what you're doing? I said,
Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Don We won't say
it again. And all of a sudden, you go all right,
(40:56):
free drinks for everybody.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
It was like, oh, Rodney, geeze. He gave me a
look and I just want what do you want me
to do? That was him. I don't remember that. I
don't recall.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Yeah, I do, all right, Ronnie, Thank you, great work.
Kevin appreciate it very much. Rodney Ce at a mile
at BJ's Restaurant in bru House in Irvine, starting at noon.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
Right home,
Roggin And Rodney News
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.