Sep 22, 2026 · 1h 7m
Clippers confront the cost of denial
The Rules of Kawhi Engagement: A Visit to Los Angeles, with Clippers Super-Fan Paul Scheer
The conversation tests what Steve Ballmer and the Clippers owed fans after alleged misconduct, limited penalties, and an investigation that kept expanding.
- 1Pablo Torre and Paul Scheer debate whether Clippers executives were uninformed, misleading, or responsible for ignoring warning signs.
- 2The NBA settlement protected players but left fans, staff, and the franchise absorbing much of the fallout.
- 3Scheer argues the Clippers can recover by acknowledging failure and embracing their villainous identity rather than denying the story.
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Scheer argues that the Clippers should stop denying their failures, embrace their villain status, and turn humiliation into a new identity.
The brief
Paul Scheer revisits a year of reacting publicly to Pablo Torre’s Clippers reporting, bringing both a personalized Kawhi jersey and the perspective of a fiercely loyal fan.
The central dispute is not simply what happened around Kawhi Leonard and Uncle Dennis, but what Clippers executives knew, when they knew it, and whether denial deepened the damage.
Pablo traces the evidence trail through signed documents, contemporaneous notes, public statements, and the Wachtell report, while Scheer questions why penalties fell so heavily on everyone around Steve Ballmer.
They argue that the Clippers’ avoidable failures reflected organizational hubris: powerful people assumed they were smarter than outsiders and could not be exposed.
Scheer’s prescription is unexpectedly direct: address fans, fill the arena, and let the Clippers become the league’s villain instead of pretending the scandal never happened.
Featuring
Steve Ballmer
Los Angeles Clippers
Donald SterlingBooks & mentions
Listen to the full episode and explore every guest, topic, and moment on PodLume.