Tony Kornheiser You went on this show a million times and you said they're not going to touch Steve Ballmer Well they touched him He's done Two weeks ago there was an ESPN report that was all over this network that the league found nothing

Steve Ballmer In an exclusive interview with Ramona Shelburne and ESPN last year following Pablo Torres reporting on the Clippers alleged salary-cap circumvention through Aspiration They conned me

Pablo Torre says the NBA approached Steve Ballmer told him they found wrongdoing and tried to get him to admit to it and accept the punishment Instead Ballmer chose to fight it so the NBA turned around and found a way to settle the matter with Kawhi and the NBPA

Puck Hamby If big mainstream media outlets arent touching your Pablo Torre scoop to me thats not defending Steve Ballmer the NBA or the Clippers Thats like Is there anything here and are you just presenting this story for your audiencefor clout and clicks and building your audience

Adam Silver I think that in terms of Steve's Ballmer statement I'd say putting aside the precise words he chose to use Most importantly he indicated a willingness to accept the league's decision in this case and the accompanying sanctions so that's initially what I was most focused on

Quotes from Brian Windhorst Tim MacMahon Zach Lowe Chris Mannix and Jon Krawczynski describing how Clippers acted and lied personally to the media during the investigation Krawczynski It was a behind the scenes ferocious defense that was accusatory to anyone who dared question them

PTFO The NBA was looking forward to settling and negotiating down the Clippers' punishment The Clippers fundamentally refused to settle and undercut the investigation at every turn giving the version of their defense to ESPN as the NBA's findings