Sports journalist Pablo Torre spent the past year exposing how Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers funneled money to pay Kawhi Leonard under the table.
Despite contradictory rebuttals and some pushback, Torre stood by his reporting and kept presenting facts, laying out evidence, and presenting the paper trail.
Ultimately, time proved him right, and the NBA unleashed a harsh punishment on the Clippers.
That’s why New York Knicks fans are terrified he might do the same to reigning NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson. In a recent interview, he eased those fears.
Pablo Torre won’t investigate Jalen Brunson’s contract with Knicks
“I’m getting stopped on the street regularly by people saying, ‘Leave Jalen Brunson alone,’” Torre told Marlow Stern of Variety. “It’s been a consistent theme as a New Yorker of people threatening me. Even Rick Brunson (a basketball coach and Jalen Brunson’s father) reached out to me being like, ‘What are you up to?!’”
Torre later clarified that he’s not sitting on any investigation into Jalen Brunson. Instead, he’s looking into Mark Walter’s latest turmoil with the Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers.
For those who lack context, Brunson famously took a $113 million pay cut to sign an early extension with the Knicks.
NBA players rarely leave money on the table, let alone $100 million-plus. Also, as a young guy, most of his colleagues would’ve maximized their earning potential while they’re still in their prime.
That allowed the Knicks to put together a championship-caliber roster with two of his former college teammates, but it also prompted speculation about whether Knicks owner James Dolan was paying him under the table.
That may or may not be the case, but as a born and raised New Yorker, Torre knows better than to mess with the most beloved guy in the Big Apple.
For now, Brunson is in the clear, but who knows? Maybe that all can change if he switches teams or after retirement.