PTFO The DOJ could build a criminal conspiracy case against Steve Ballmer and the Clippers for securities fraud in the Kawhi Leonard scandal per former federal prosecutors Even in 2026 a creative theory could map out a road to jail time And thats before the US president gets involved

Goodwill Steve Ballmer is expected to aggressively fight the NBA legally if penalties are levied against him in the Kawhi Leonard investigation Steve Ballmer can lawyer up as well as anybody

Pablo Torre On the DOJ investigation while holding the new plant he just bought The reason Ive been anticipating this is because as Ive repeatedly said on the show the main reason Ballmer would not want to admit any kind of guilt is everything else thats happening to him in the real world

Dan Patrick Show I think theres a very real chance that Steve Ballmer emerges relatively unscathed - PabloTorre on the possible fallout from the Kawhi Leonard situation

Pablo Torre on Ballmers cap circumvention This is not a first-time offense In 2015 Ballmer the Clippers get fined 250k because they tried to offer DeAndre Jordan a marketing deal with Lexus which was a team sponsor Now you have Aspiration Daktronics This is a multiple alleged offender

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

Stephen A lists his punishment for Kawhi and the Clippers if the cap circumvention allegations are proven true Void Kawhis contract ban Kawhi from playing next season strip the Clippers of draft picks suspend Steve Ballmer from attending games But I cant imagine Adam Silver going that far