Pablo Torre is feeling vindicated — sort of.
But on Sept. 2, the NBA handed down its punishment, and it was historic (translation: the biggest penalty levied against a team in league history):
The Clippers will lose five first-round picks, in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033.
The Clippers will be fined $30 million.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer will be suspended for one year “for knowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities.”
Leonard’s uncle, Dennis Robertson, is banned from engaging with NBA teams for five years.
Clippers president Laurence Frank will be suspended for six months, while Clippers president of business operations Gillian Zucker is suspended for one year.
Leonard will be fined $700,000, despite pocketing tens of millions from the deal, and not suspended.
Variety caught up with Torre to ask him how he feels about everything from the NBA’s ruling (and Leonard’s slap on the wrist) to ESPN and Puck throwing him under the bus.
Do you feel vindicated?
It says a lot that your work was deeply reported and won a Pulitzer Prize, yet a good portion of the public chose to side with the billionaire and the superstar.
It was, for that reason, both vindicating and the opposite. I don’t want that to be the standard. I think it’s good that people have high standards, but the way to assess that is by assessing the work on its own merits. What I’m heartened by is for the people who did take the time to listen — or watch — and really followed the story, there was no ambiguity about what this was.
I wanted to talk to you about ESPN’s report on Aug. 17 that claimed the “NBA has no evidence Ballmer funneled money to Leonard via sponsors.” This is your former employer — that rather coldly showed you the door — releasing a story which seems to be pro-Clippers/Ballmer propaganda and undermined your reporting. I’m sure that made your life hell the last couple of weeks and appears to be the opposite of what journalism should strive to be.
I also wanted to ask you about the Puck report from Dylan Byers and Peter Hamby which basically accused you of clout-chasing and read like character assassination.
Well, you did receive public apologies from Mark Cuban and Ty Lawson.
And I loved both of those — and the way they came. They’re deeply appreciated.
Let’s talk about the historic penalty against the Clippers that your reporting compelled: A $30 million fine, five first-round draft picks, a year-long suspension for Steve Ballmer and yet only a $700,000 fine and no suspension for Kawhi Leonard. It seems like Leonard was let off the hook with a tiny fine, compared to the tens of millions he pocketed, and gets to leave the country and be traded to the Toronto Raptors.
What did you make of Leonard’s statement which read, in part: “Integrity and respect for this game are fundamental to who I am. I accept full responsibility for the lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle and regret the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family.” That certainly doesn’t sound like accepting “full responsibility” to me.
Pablo Torre interviews a guest on “Pablo Torre Finds Out.”
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I know we’ve already discussed this but just so we’re clear: You are not investigating the New York Knicks or Jalen Brunson, correct?
They are not a target. At the moment I’m absolutely not focusing on the Knicks or Jalen Brunson.
But you did just tease an investigation into Mark Walter, the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, that will be dropping on your pod tomorrow. Walter, of course, is under federal investigation over $21 billion in undisclosed loans made by two insurance companies he owns, and who recently sold the Lakers to Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, brother to the president’s son-in-law, for $12.5 billion. Can you tell me more about that?
Tomorrow — Friday — we have part one of an investigation that also involves federal agencies, also involves the public interest, also involves Hall of Fame basketball players, also involves a team in Los Angeles, also involves a baseball team in Los Angeles, and we’re trying to make something that seems very complicated, once again, something that people realize is not only a lot simpler than they might think, but is also deeply relevant to their interests as the public is concerned. I hope people give it time and sit through it.
How much does this go into Walter’s sale of the Lakers to Iger and Kushner?
