Pablo Torre has publicly criticized ESPN, his former employer, for its reporting on the Los Angeles Clippers investigation, particularly regarding its handling of information related to team owner Steve Ballmer and player Kawhi Leonard.
Torre, a Pulitzer-winning journalist, stated that ESPN's reporting that the NBA found no wrongdoing in the Clippers investigation was false. He expressed disappointment that his former colleagues, whom he knows personally, did not exercise more scrutiny before publishing the report. "All those people on that byline, I know them personally," Torre said. "They had the ability to see so much that should have made them pause before publishing that. And I will say that they did not reach out to me for comment."
He questioned the network's journalistic process, asking, "Generously, it is something that will haunt them because they did not intend for this. Less generously, it speaks to the question: How did you guys not smell this earlier when I have been doing this for a year? Why did you not trust the journalist, but instead trusted the source that leaked it to you?"
ESPN's report, authored by Don Van Natta Jr., Baxter Holmes, and Ramona Shelburne, claimed the NBA found no evidence that Steve Ballmer funneled money to Kawhi Leonard through sponsors. This directly contradicted Torre's reporting on his podcast, "Pablo Torre Finds Out," where he had been presenting information to the contrary.
Subsequently, the NBA released its findings, imposing penalties on the Clippers that included stripping the team of five first-round picks and levying a $30 million fine. ESPN also reported that Leonard was unaware of any salary cap circumvention, a claim Torre countered by producing a document signed by the former Clippers star with Aspiration.
Torre, who worked at ESPN from 2012 to 2023, appeared on programs such as "Around the Horn" and "Pardon the Interruption." His commentary suggests a significant divergence between his investigative findings and ESPN's published reports on the Clippers matter.