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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Insider obtained a guest list for a 2017 event on "Billionaire Mountain" that featured top judges.</li><li>Law firms paid $10,000 a year for access to such exclusive gatherings – and their clients came, too.</li></ul>Champagne flowed at a 2017 Aspen Institute event, held at a mansion on "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/photos-aspen-red-mountain-nicknamed-billionaire-mountain-neighborhood-colorado-2021-12"><u>Billionaire Mountain</u></a>," where $10,000-year donors and their guests rubbed shoulders with some of the nation's most powerful judges.<br /><br />The Aspen Institute promises "exclusive access to high-level gatherings" for donors in its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/justice-and-society-program/justice-circle/"><u>Justice Circle</u></a>, and the 2017 "speakers dinner" featuring Justice Elena <keyword id="20470454" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kagan" source="keywords">Kagan</keyword> was as exclusive as they get.<br /><br />Roughly 50 attendees RSVP'd, according to two guest lists obtained by Insider. Corporate execs and lawyers with business before the <keyword id="19895345" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="supreme-court" source="keywords">Supreme Court</keyword> mingled with some of the country's most influential jurists. While Kagan was a guest of honor, Brett Kavanaugh, at the time a judge on the DC Circuit <keyword id="19900770" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="court" source="keywords">Court</keyword> of Appeals, was also present. The following year, President Trump nominated Kavanaugh to join Kagan on the nation's highest court.<br /><br />The hospitality provided to the judges wasn't anywhere near the scale of the decadeslong relationship between Justice Clarence Thomas and the billionaire real-estate developer Harlan Crow. Kagan's visit to Aspen had a public component, and both she and Kavanaugh documented that the Aspen Institue provided free travel and lodging for the event on their annual disclosure forms.<br /><br />What the guest lists do show is the economy of access and influence that has sprung up around the Supreme Court. Revelations about Thomas and Crow's relationship have prompted calls in Congress for the Supreme Court to adopt its first-ever binding code of ethics. Kagan's appearance as an apparent guest of honor could violate the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/code-conduct-united-states-judges"><u>Code of Conduct for federal judges</u></a>, which bars judges from being a "speaker, a guest of honor, or featured on the program" of fundraising events. But as a Supreme Court justice, Kagan is not currently bound by those rules.<br /><br />The Supreme Court bans justices from attending fundraising events, but it defines them to include only events that raise more money than they spend or where there is a specific solicitation for funds, Kathleen Clark, an expert in government ethics at Washington University in St. Louis, said.<br /><br />"It may not violate those rules as the rules have been narrowly interpreted, but nonetheless, there still is a problem with it," Clark said. "How can you call this event anything but a reward for having given money to the organization? A bonus awarded to those who have already generously contributed?"<br /><br />But more than a hypothetical ethics violation, what the guest list reveals is the perfectly legal way in which the power of the nation's highest court is marketed by third parties as a chance to pay for face-to-face access.<br /><br />Everybody got something: Kagan and Kavanaugh got a free trip to a luxurious destination, Aspen got money from donors, and those donors got privileged access to Kagan and Kavanaugh — an intimate dinner setting where the two jurists, no longer ensconced by their chambers, clerks, and robes, were more approachable than they would be in any official setting.<br /><br /><h2>The benefits of face time with a justice</h2>Kagan's admirers like to recall the time she turned down a proposed gift of lox and bagels from a group of her high-school friends as evidence of her stringent approach to ethics. But the evening at the Aspen Institute demonstrates a willingness to mingle with VIPs who were only there because they'd shelled out five figures.<br /><br />Eleven of the 50 names listed as attendees at the dinner were guests of law firms. They included in-house lawyers for the coal giant Peabody Energy and the convenience-store chain Speedway, both guests of the law firm Shook, Hardy &amp; Bacon. <keyword id="23597093" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tristan-duncan" source="keywords">Tristan Duncan</keyword>, the chair of the Aspen Institute's Justice Circle and a partner at Shook, who was also at the dinner, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.shb.com/news/2016/02/supreme-court-blocks-epa"><u>represented Peabody</u></a> before the Supreme Court in 2016 and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.shb.com/news/2018/03/news-cy-pres-case-duncan"><u>Speedway in 2018</u></a>.<br /><br />"Tristan Duncan may be supplying names for 2-3 additional guests," one of the lists said.<br /><br />The Aspen Institute, Duncan, Peabody, and Speedway did not respond to requests for comment from Insider.<br /><br />When contacted by Insider, some attendees said that they didn't remember much of the event, and that nothing inappropriate had happened. Christina Sullivan, who worked for a company that runs apartment complexes called Gables Residential, said that her interaction with Kagan was limited to a handshake and a greeting."shak[ing] her hand and say[ing] hello."<br /><br />"People are all up in arms — the court, privilege, whatever — but I think you're barking up the wrong tree," said Brian O'Connor, a real-estate businessman whose mother, the former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, was being honored at the Aspen event.<br /><br />But hobnobbing with judges can give lawyers and litigants flashes of insight into their values and personalities with a candor and clarity unavailable to the general public.<br /><br />Muslim Lakhani, a Washington businessman, told Insider that he chatted with Kagan about judges and "judicial activism" in his native Pakistan. At one point, he said, Kagan seemed to invoke a higher power.<br /><br />"Once a judgment is made, after that, there's only one court. That's up there," Kagan said, according to Lakhani's recollection. Kagan, Lakhani continued, "keeps that front and center in her mind, something like 'I must pass laws that are correct, because I have to answer for the judgments that I give.'"<br /><br />While Kagan has also spoken about her faith in public settings, it's hard to imagine a Supreme Court litigator who wouldn't jump at the chance to have an informal back-and-forth with her away from the cameras, as Lakhani did.<br /><br />Kagan and Kavanaugh did not immediately respond to requests for comment made with the court's public-information officer.<br /><br /><h2>The uneasy intersection of friendship and self-interest</h2>Hours before the Aspen dinner, Meryl Chertoff introduced Kagan before a public conversation. At that time, Chertoff, a law professor, headed the Aspen Institute's Justice and Society Program. In 2010, she <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emFlq9Ng9DE"><u>spoke favorably</u></a> about Kagan's nomination to the highest court. As the head of the Aspen Institute's Justice and Society Program at the time, which was hosting Kagan, she likely would have had a hand in shaping the VIP guest list for the dinner.<br /><br />Michael Chertoff, a former appeals judge who was the secretary of Homeland Security under George W. Bush, accompanied his wife to that dinner. In 2018, the year after the Aspen dinner, Michael Chertoff's consulting company, Chertoff Group, started working directly with the Supreme Court. That relationship <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/21/supreme-court-michael-chertoff-00088119"><u>wasn't made public</u></a> until this year. CNN reported that the Chertoff Group <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/27/politics/supreme-court-chertoff-leak-investigation/index.html"><u>billed upward</u></a> of $1 million, money that ultimately came from taxpayers.<br /><br />In response to questions from Congress, Michael Chertoff explained that he'd advised the court on security and on a pandemic-response plan. When asked if he maintained "personal relationships" with any justices, Chertoff wrote that he did not have "ongoing or regular social relationships," though he said there had been "occasional social exchanges," "mostly at widely attended events."<br /><br />It's unclear whether Michael Chertoff interacted with either justice at the dinner, or whether there is any connection between the event and his later work for the court, which was handled not by Kagan or Kavanaugh, but by Chief Justice John Roberts.<br /><br />But the presence of so many wealthy and influential people who might want something from the court is itself a problem, Gabe Roth, who runs the advocacy group Fix the Court, said. Roth told Insider that the access economy can create the appearance of conflicts of interests, and said that judges should recuse themselves from cases involving firms or clients who pay large sums of money to meet with them.<br /><br />"I get that Washington is a chummy town and more resources for Court security is likely warranted," Roth said in an email. "But by the same token, given the ties between Chertoff and the justices, the notoriously opaque institution should open up its books to reassure the public that Chertoff's work was above board."<br /><br /><h2>Access to Supreme Court justices is used to reward donors</h2>While ProPublica's reporting on the<a target="_blank" href="https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow"><u> undisclosed gifts and financial ties between Thomas and Crow</u></a> has captured headlines, increasing attention is turning to other ways the rich and powerful gain access to Supreme Court justices.<br /><br />The Aspen Institute isn't alone in dangling Supreme Court access to lure deep-pocketed donors. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/30/us/politics/supreme-court-historical-society-donors-justices.html"><u>Reporting by The New York Times</u></a> revealed that Rob Schenck used the Supreme Court Historical Society as a springboard to build relationships with conservative justices.<br /><br />An <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-nonprofit-anti-abortion-access-1"><u>Insider analysis of Historical Society donor and event records</u></a> found that a suite of archconservative activists — including the anti-abortion philanthropist and Domino's founder <keyword id="23597094" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tom-monaghan" source="keywords">Tom Monaghan</keyword>, the former Trump attorney Jay Sekulow, and the QAnon proponent and election denier Sidney Powell — had used the society as a vehicle to gain face time with the justices.<br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-ethics-donors-politics-4b6dc4ae23aac75d4fccb1bcff0b7e0b"><u>The Associated Press exposed</u></a> how officials at University of Colorado Law School pushed for a larger "donor-to-staff ratio" at a 2019 dinner with Kagan, and how Justice Sonia Sotomayor's taxpayer-funded staff <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-ethics-investigation-books-donors-15b60acaffb933ebd21aae0b57b39f7d"><u>prodded the schools</u></a> hosting her to buy copies of her book.<br /><br />All of these events entailed the same kind of exchange. Financial support for a public mission flowed one way, and scheduled private time with Supreme Court justices was dispensed in return.<br /><br />"Obviously, the justices should have friends," Roth said. But if they started becoming friendly with a businessperson or lawyer after joining the Supreme Court, he said, that's more of a red flag.<br /><br />"To me, it's almost like: Who are your new friends?" Roth said.<br /><br /><em>Have a tip? Know more? Reach Mattathias Schwartz by email at (</em><a target="_blank" href="mailto:schwartz79@protonmail.com"><em>schwartz79@protonmail.com)</em></a><em> or Signal (+1-202-684-9255). Reach Jack Newsham via email (</em><a target="_blank" href="mailto:jnewsham@insider.com"><em>jnewsham@insider.com)</em></a><em> via Signal ( +1-314-971-1627). Reach Katherine Long via email (</em><a target="_blank" href="mailto:klong@businessinsider.com"><em>klong@businessinsider.com</em></a><em> or Signal (+1-206-375-9280). Do not use a work device.</em><br /><br />

Buying face time: A secret invite list shows how big donors gain access to Supreme Court justices

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/square">Square</a> cofounder <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-most-powerful-people-working-at-the-next-twitter-2011-12">Tristan O'Tierney</a>&#xa0;died Feb. 23 at age 35 from causes relating to addiction, the&#xa0;<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Square-co-founder-who-created-company-s-first-13655221.php"><em>San Francisco Chronicle&#xa0;</em>reported</a>.</strong></li><li><strong>O'Tierney, who worked at Square from 2009 to 2013, built the original <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/iphone">iPhone</a> app at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/square-payroll-will-make-employee-benefits-easy-for-small-businesses-2018-11">Square</a>, the mobile payments company.</strong></li><li><strong>In the last years of his life, he pursued photography as a hobby and for work, traveling around the world and sharing his work on Instagram.</strong></li><li><strong>Here's what people are saying on Twitter.</strong></li></ul><p>Square co-founder Tristan O'Tierney, who develop Square's original mobile payment app, passed away Feb. 23 in Ocala, Florida at age 35, the <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Square-co-founder-who-created-company-s-first-13655221.php"><em>San Francisco Chronicle&#xa0;</em>reported</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/simple-debit-card-invite-list-2012-6#like-many-startups-nowadays-simples-focused-on-a-great-mobile-experience-no-mailing-checksinstead-snap-a-photo-to-deposit-4">O'Tierney</a> joined Square in February 2009 and built the original iPhone app as the head developer. He was the third co-founder of <span>Square <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-dorsey-is-not-steve-jobs-2014-11">alongside Jack Dorsey</a> and Jim McKelvey.&#xa0;</span>Prior to that, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/square-starts-shipping-new-iphone-4-compatible-credit-card-reader-2010-10">O'Tierney</a> had worked at companies like VMware, Apple, and Yahoo. O'Tierney left Square in June 2013.</p><p>Since leaving Square, he has done freelancing app development, worked as Director of Mobile for Voteraide, and pursued photography. He spent time traveling and doing photography both as a hobby and as a freelancer.</p><p>O'Tierney's family told <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Square-co-founder-who-created-company-s-first-13655221.php"><em>San Francisco Chronicle</em></a>&#xa0;that he died from causes relating to addiction, and they are <span>awaiting an official cause of death from officials. He had been battling addiction for three years and was in a three-month rehabilitation program in Ocala, his mother Pamela Tierney told the&#xa0;<em>Chronicle.&#xa0;</em>O'Tierney had previously shared some of his struggles with addiction <a href="https://twitter.com/tristan/status/918980258925129728">on social media</a>.</span></p><p>A memorial service for&#xa0;O'Tierney will take place in San Francisco in the next two to three weeks.</p><p>Business Insider has reached out to Square for a statement. Square's website does not mention <span>O'Tierney.</span></p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-most-powerful-people-working-at-the-next-twitter-2011-12">Meet The Most Important People Working At Silicon Valley's Next Red-Hot Startup</a></em></p><p>As an avid photographer, O'Tierney often posted his work on Instagram. Below is O'Tierney's last image he posted on his Instagram, taken in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>Here's what people have been saying on Twitter.</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p>&#xa0;</p><div>    </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-foldable-phone-galaxy-x-f-winner-2018-9">Everything we know about Samsung's foldable phone</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Square co-founder Tristan O'Tierney, who built the company's first mobile app, dead at age 35

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In the five days between July 17 and July 21, accounts tied to <keyword id="6354484" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Donald-Trump">Donald Trump</keyword>'s campaign posted 450 separate adverts on <keyword id="6354576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="facebook">Facebook</keyword> and <keyword id="819905" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Instagram">Instagram</keyword> lambasting <keyword id="6762469" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="TikTok">TikTok</keyword> for spying on users and siphoning data to China.</li><li>Facebook's transparency data showed that the campaign spent tens of thousands of dollars on the ads, perhaps as much as $80,000. </li><li>The most-viewed ad posted by the Trump campaign is a 30-second video that claims "TikTok is spying on you." It reached at least 400,000 Americans.</li><li>TikTok has denied all the allegations made in the ads.</li></ul><p>Donald Trump really hates TikTok. If you didn't get the hint from his multiple threats to ban the video sharing app, then you only need look at your Facebook or Instagram feed.</p><p>In the five days from July 17 to July 21, three accounts tied to Trump's campaign — his official Facebook and Instagram pages, his vice president Mike Pence's official pages, and the pages of Team Trump, an organizing committee — posted 450 separate <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-campaign-facebook-ads-anti-tiktok-spying-china-ban-2020-7">adverts lambasting TikTok</a>, claiming it spies on users and siphons data to China. TikTok has denied all the allegations made in the ads, but declined to comment for this story.</p><p>Analysis of transparency data published by Facebook shows that the Trump campaign spent tens of thousands, perhaps as much as $80,000 (Facebook's data gives wide ranges for amounts spent) on the ads. They were seen by up to 5.5 million Americans and were mostly targeted at Trump-voting states, including Texas and Florida. </p><p>As of July 22, the most-viewed ad posted by the Trump campaign is a<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?id=279029680045436"> 30-second video</a> that replaces the TikTok logo with an Asian man looking through binoculars. "TikTok is spying on you," the man says. The Trump Make America Great Again Committee paid up to $3,000 to reach at least 400,000 Americans from Trump's Facebook page, the transparency data shows. More than half of viewers were women aged between 18 and 34, the data shows. Other ads targeted men in the same age group. </p><p>Tristan Hotham, founder of the <a href="https://www.socialmediaresearchcentre.com/about-us">Social Media Research Centre</a>, and an expert on Facebook political <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword>, says that could reflect Trump's need to attract younger voters. "The older people are already in the bag for Trump. Their campaign is about reaching the under-45s, and that seems who they're trying to target," he says.</p><p>Or, the ads might simply reflect Trump's growing hostility towards China, he says. "To go so hard into this either means it's electorally prescient, or Trump just hates TikTok and it feeds into this bigger narrative of China and the second Cold War. I'm not sure which one has more power within that logic. It probably doesn't matter."</p><p><div type="image" title="donald trump facebook tiktok ad" height="1500" width="2000" msid="77134615" hostid="261"></div></p><p>On whether the ads ring true, experts are split. Cybersecurity experts have downplayed the idea that TikTok operates differently to other apps. One claim central to the Trump ad campaign, that TikTok was caught copying data from users' cell phone clipboards, is also true of the LinkedIn and Fox News apps.</p><p>But Andreas Fulda, a China expert at the University of Nottingham, says the Trump campaign should be "commended for highlighting the potential risks emanating from Chinese apps like TikTok."</p><p>"There can not be such a thing as an apolitical Chinese app," he says. "In terms of its functionality TikTok is a very popular app, but from a privacy perspective this Chinese app is highly problematic." </p><p>A Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider it has removed an unspecified number of the ads "for violating our policies against misrepresenting company branding and depicting features that don't exist on our platforms."</p><p>True or not, the claims in Donald Trump's ads carry weight. </p><p>Trump's Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, visited the UK on July 22 to press politicians to ramp up pressure on TikTok.  Right-wing members of the ruling Conservative party, including former Tory party leader Iain Duncan Smith, obliged, calling for the app to be banned for unspecified national security reasons. </p><p>Whether Trump's claims manage to convert skeptics or not, the ads mark an escalation of a spat between the president and the video-sharing app that began more than two years ago, when the app was called Musical.ly.</p><p>Between March and May 2018, Musical.ly's Facebook page spent thousands of dollars on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?id=382335168952946">five ads</a> on Facebook and Instagram, seen by around 165,000 Americans.</p><p>The message of the ads? "Donald Trump doesn't use musical.ly. Join now."</p>

Trump ads on Facebook claiming 'TikTok is spying on you' reached up to 5 million Americans and targeted younger voters

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>David Maxwell/Getty</span></p><p class="caption">The Spurs attacked Kevin Love in the fourth quarter.</p></div><p></p></div></div>The San Antonio Spurs beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 99-95 in one of the highlight games of the NBA regular season on Thursday night.</p><p>While it was close throughout much of the game, in the fourth quarter the Spurs' unselfish, smart offense picked apart a Cavs team that looked disjointed on both ends.</p><p>Specifically, the Spurs seemed to realize late that they could get what they wanted by going right at Kevin Love on the defensive end.</p><p>Love has never been a great defender, but the Cavaliers, despite their offensive weapons, are an elite defensive team, ranking sixth in defensive rating. With solid defenders in LeBron James, Iman Shumpert, and Tristan Thompson, the Cavs are often able to hide Love on defense or simply ask him to be competent, and they can usually get by.</p><p>The Spurs exposed that on Thursday night in a way only the smartest teams can.</p><p>In the fourth quarter, the Spurs often put Love in pick-and-rolls, forcing him to make tough choices to deny penetration or stop the dive to the basket by his own man.</p><p>Here in the fourth quarter, Spurs guard Patty Mills hit a momentous three-pointer after the Spurs ran a double screen for him, leaving Love as the last man on defense. Love dropped back to deny the penetration, and Mills took advantage.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Via NBA.com/Stats</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Things worsened for the Cavs when the Spurs were able to attack Love and Kyrie Irving, another weak defender. This is not entirely Love's fault, but clearly Love and Irving botched the coverage. They never communicated if they were switching or were going to recover, and by the time they realized, they left one of the most dangerous midrange shooters in Tony Parker wide open:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Via NBA.com/Stats</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>This is not ideal coverage:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Via NBA.com/Stats</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>With one minute left, the Spurs just went to Tim Duncan in isolation. They cleared out the entire left side of the floor, and while Love played respectable defense and likely got scored on because of a height disadvantage, the fact that the Spurs chose to run this play down the stretch speaks volumes:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Via NBA.com/Stats</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>And for the dagger basket, the Spurs got Manu Ginobili some momentum, and had him go right at Love:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Via NBA.com/Stats</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Note, again, that not all of this is Love's fault. If it were easy to guard the Spurs, more teams could do it. He also didn't receive tons of help from his teammates. On Ginobili's drive to the basket, Tristan Thompson offered no help off LaMarcus Aldridge, who was at a tough angle to score.</p><p>Yet this is a problem for the Cavaliers. The Spurs scored 27 fourth-quarter points and shot 58% from the field. In this game, they badly needed Love's shooting and offensive production, but San Antonio targeted him on defense.</p><p>Look at where Love ranks in the Cavs' total fourth-quarter minutes this season:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="Via NBA.com/Stats" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56991ec5c08a809b088b9e21-960/screen shot 2016-01-15 at 11.29.40 am.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Via NBA.com/Stats</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>This is also with Kyrie Irving missing the first two months of the season, Iman Shumpert missing 25 games, Mo Williams missing 12 games, and Timofey Mozgov rendering himself borderline unplayable.</p><p>Love is vital to the Cavs' success, but they have trouble playing him down the stretch because he can be a liability on the defensive end. The Cavs' on-off splits with Love demonstrate how difficult the decision can be. With Love on the court, the Cavs' offensive rating goes up four points while their defensive rating is one point worse. With Love off the court, the Cavs' offensive rating is eight points worse while their defensive rating is almost two points better.</p><p>Clearly, Love is worth playing for what he brings on offense. Yet smart teams like San Antonio have the ability to put him in compromising situations on the defensive end.</p><p>The Cavs are now 0-2 against the top-two teams in the NBA in the Golden State Warriors and Spurs. While both games were played on the road, the Cavs, in some manner, must be worried about how they truly stack up with the NBA's elite.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-tom-brady-eats-nfl-diet-patriots-nutrition-2016-1">This is what Tom Brady eats to play pro football at 38 years old</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="NmZTcyMDE6SmnagiVt-_oQ8agPIHu0Dr" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

The Spurs exposed a major weakness in the Cavaliers, and there's no easy fix

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Mark Duncan/AP</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Tristan Thompson and the Cleveland Cavaliers have been in a summer-long standoff over Thompson's next contract.</p><p>Thompson entered the offseason as one of the NBA's best young free agents, particularly after an impressive Finals performance in which he showed off his elite rebounding prowess, defensive versatility, and capability around the basket on offense.</p><p>However, Thompson and the Cavs have hit a wall in contract negotiations, one that's only been complicated by Thompson being a restricted free agent, meaning the Cavs can match any offer Thompson receives.</p><p>At the beginning of the summer, the Cavs and Thompson seemed to be nearing an agreement on a five-year, $80 million deal. Then, suddenly things fell through, and it was reported that Thompson felt that deal <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tristan-thompson-turned-down-80-million-cavaliers-offer-2015-8">wasn't on-par with what other big men got in free agency</a>.</p><p>It later came out that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tristan-thompson-qualifying-offer-2015-8">Thompson is demanding a max. contract</a> of $94 million, and if he doesn't get it, he'll take the one-year, $6.8 million qualifying offer to become an unrestricted free agent next year. His agent, Rich Paul, who also represents LeBron James, has said that if Thompson plays on the qualifying offer this season, he won't re-sign long-term with the Cavs next summer.</p><p><a href="http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/13709587/tristan-thompson-cleveland-cavaliers-millions-apart-start-training-camp-approaches">According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst</a>, negotiations haven't progressed any further, as neither side has budged in the months since free agency began. The two sides are reportedly still $14 million apart, and with training camp one week away, if a deal doesn't happen soon, Thompson may end up taking the qualifying offer.</p><p>There are risks and benefits for both sides. If Thompson has another strong year, he'll look like a genius for gambling on his future with a one-year deal. The NBA's salary cap is expected to jump nearly $20 million next summer as a result of a new TV deal, and Thompson could enter as one of the best free agents when teams are flush with cash.</p><p>However, taking a one-year deal would be an enormous gamble for Thompson. If he gets hurt or has a bad season, he might not end up with a better offer than the $80 million the Cavaliers offered him this season.</p><p>For the Cavs, while they've been smart not to bend to a max. salary for Thompson - their $80 million offer is right on par with what other bigs have gotten this offseason - they are playing with fire. As Windhorst notes, the Cavs' other big men, Kevin Love, Timofey Mozgov, and Anderson Varejao are all coming off injuries. Pushing a young, talented, durable big man like Thompson out the window doesn't bode well for the future.</p><p>Similarly, losing Thompson could also anger LeBron James, who's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/lebron-james-cavs-tristan-thompson-2015-8">publicly supported re-signing Thompson</a>. Though Windhorst says LeBron has stayed out of negotiations, he has said Thompson should be a Cav for life, and has said they need him back this season. The NBA world widely believes LeBron has a tremendous amount of say in the Cavs' personnel decisions, and if they ignore him, it could factor into his decision when he becomes a free agent again.</p><p>The NBA season is right around the corner, and unless a deal happens soon, the situation between the Cavs and Thompson doesn't bode well for a team that looks like a contender to make it back to the Finals.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-players-biggest-financial-threat-sports-agents-ballers-2015-9">Sports agents reveal the biggest threat to an NFL player's financial success</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="0ydThmdzqyMdMdbz5XEITnnDNOs0Dn4W" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

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