What is happening with the Clippers & Kawhi Leonard? + Thoughts on the 76ers I NBA Today

Back to our top story out of New York today. That’s where the board of governors met earlier and where NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed the biggest story in the league right now that the Los Angeles Clippers and team owner Steve Balmer reportedly have been accused of circumventing the NBA salary cap by paying $28 million to Kawhi Leonard for a no show job. Here’s Commissioner Silver moments ago. How broad do your powers extend as far as the collective bargaining agreement as far as penalties you can assess to the Clippers to Kawhi Leonard? My um powers are very broad. Um full range of financial penalties um draft picks, suspensions, etc. I have very broad powers in these situations. You might have been being a little cheeky there, but actually that that’s very true. So we are now welcoming in Tim Bonmps who was in attendance for the commissioner’s press conference. And we knew, Tim, you and I were chatting yesterday that going into today, there were going to be a lot of questions about Kawhi Leonard and about the Los Angeles Clippers. There certainly were. So, can you help us distill all of that down? What is the most important thing for fans to take away after sitting through that press conference? Well, Malik, as you played in that clip from Adam Silva, our friend Vinn Vinnie Goodwill asked him, “What are your powers in terms of levying a punishment to the Clippers if you find fault in this investigation?” Which he laid out in that answer. But I think the most important thing Adam Silver said today is that the burden of proof in this investigation to decide whether the Clippers actually committed salary cap circumvention in this whole saga involving Kawhi letter and aspiration these $28 million in payments falls on the NBA to do so. There’s been a lot of discussion since Pablo Tori’s podcast came out about where that burden of proof lands. Is it on the Clippers to say here’s definitive why we didn’t do this or is it on the NBA to say no here’s where we have found you guys have committed salary cap circumvention. and we’re going to bring the hammer down on you in terms of the various different ways they can be penalized under Adam Silver’s leadership of the league. By Silver saying under these negotiations, it’s up to the league to prove that they can find true salary cap circumvention, that they can find ways to show the Clippers did this. I think that’s going to guide how this investigation is going to play out. And the mere circumstantial evidence of the appearance of, as Silver said a couple times, the appearance of the potential of something to happen here probably isn’t going to raise to the level of hammering the Clippers with the kind of penalties we saw the last time there was a true sour cap circumvention case back in the early 2000s with Joe Smith and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Yeah, that that’s very true and important to remember that however things appear, there is a process here that needs to play out and that could take a little a little bit to see exactly how long and what what um conclusions are are found here. So Tim, how long of a process do you think that this could be? Because our Bobby Marks told us earlier in the show that this could take quite a bit of time. Yeah, it certainly could, Malikica. And sources within the league have told me that there is no timeline on how long this investigation will take. The league has already gone out and hired an external law firm here in New York to handle the negotiation, to be an impartial arbiter to go out and do the interviews and collect the evidence and figure out what exactly went on here. Uh, but it is unclear how long that is going to take. It clearly is a priority for the league to go through this investigation and figure it out. It was the number one topic of discussion during this press conference. It obviously was a huge topic of discussion here at the board of governors where Steve Balmer, the Clippers owner, was in attendance along with the other 29 owners of teams across the league. And this is something the NBA obviously takes very seriously as all sorts of people have said over the past week or so since Pablo’s pod came out. If this becomes a case where sire cap circumvention is found, this is something that gets right to the core integrity of the league if you have teams that are able to go above and beyond the salary cap to pay players. So certainly the league is taking extremely seriously. They’re going to conduct a very thorough investigation and where the facts lead them will determine just what the penalties are and how much trouble if any the Clippers wind up being found in. And it does not seem however like that’s going to be happening anytime this week or frankly anytime soon after that. Yeah, fairness such a key tenant of not only the NBA but sports in general and so this could take a little bit of time. I have to imagine that when media day is held in a couple of weeks from now, a little later this month, that the Clippers will once again be asked about this. And certainly I imagine that Kawhi Leonard himself will be asked about this as well. Well, Tim Bonds, thank you so very much. We really appreciate the time here. So, as we mentioned, this is certainly the number one story around the NBA right now, but there’s a lot to get to. So, we’re going to try to get to as many topics as we can all in one segment. Let’s play a little chop or chop it. Shannon, you’re new around here. So, what happens is I’m going to throw out a topic. If you want to talk about it, if you want to chop it up, you say, “Let’s chop it or we drop it and move on.” Sometimes we try to do these combos. Don’t do that. We’re chop it or drop it. We’re going to start in Philadelphia. All right. That’s for the Sixers. They put out this video of Joel Embiid working out, Paul George lifting some weights. You see top three pick VJ Edgecom, who there’s a lot of excitement for attacking the rim. But yes, that’s 4 seconds of Joel Embiid without a brace. So, I’m going to start with Perkure. Should Sixers fans be encouraged by seeing this? It’s a brief clip, but a clip nonetheless of Joelle back on the floor doing some basketball activities. Why is everybody laughing? I’m laughing at their face. Come on. We dropping this. It’s on me. Yes, perk. You dropping it? I’m asking you. Oh, I’m dropping this. I don’t want to talk about that. I don’t want to talk about them Joel and be shooting jumpers. I want to see him be ready for the season. We’re dropping this. See what I mean? I say let’s let’s drop it. He keeps doing the thing about We appreciate that perk. All right. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On NBA Today, Tim Bontemps joins Malika Andrews to take a deeper look at the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard’s situation. Plus, Chiney Ogwumike, Kendrick Perkins and Channing Frye give their thoughts on the 76ers video featuring Joel Embiid without a brace.

0:00 Adam Silver’s comments on the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard situation
0:43 Tim Bontemps joins the show
2:40 How long of a process Tim Bontemps thinks this could be
4:10 Chop or drop it: The 76ers

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46 comments

  2. ESPN afraid of reporting the truth. You guys trying to protect Ballmer like a bunch of sycophants. You aren't real journalists and a disgrace to the profession. We all know he cheated, so don't insult our intelligence

  5. NBA needs rich owners to stick around so it's difficult for them to go hard on Ballmer. Kawhi is a different story. Owner hate guys like his uncle so they don't owe Kawhi a break.

  10. So there's not going to be any significant punishment for the Clippers or its management staff or for Ballmer or Leonard and in future every team and every star player
    will be trying to find ways around the salary cap so that it becomes meaningless?

  19. League rules allow for circumstantial evidence to be sufficient. You’re not gonna have someone writing a check with the subject line saying fraud on it.

  20. Soooooo lemme get this right if i may. The clippers were force to be sold because an old white guy said the N word. Yet now you can literally circumvent the rules, the salary cap, and basically make the rules or buy the team you want if you are a rich owner. Ya seems like loosing a draft pick, compared to an entire franchise seems right hahahahahahahah I don't think there is 2 more entitled leagues in professional sports quite like the NBA and WNBA.

  22. Subsection 13.2(d) (or “Section 2(d)” in some summaries) says:
    “A violation of Section 2(a) or 2(b) above may be proven by direct or circumstantial evidence, including, but not limited to, evidence that a Player Contract or any term or provision thereof cannot rationally be explained in the absence of conduct violative of Section 2(a) or 2(b).”

  25. Buncha Jews being a bunch of Jews. Nothing to see here. The usual scandal. The obvious pinning of a scapegoat. Billionaire Jews making moves and getting away with corruption and financial crimes. Gets swept under the rug. And the cycle continues.

  30. I'll tell you who I'm NOT going to for information on Kawhi and the Clippers….ESPN. Why would I care what ESPN has to say after that absolute tongue bath Ramona Shelbourne gave Steve Ballmer? It's like trusting Jizzlaine about all of big Jeff's dealings in DC.

  31. No question Paul Torre found the smoking gun. Ball is on Adam Silver's court. Let's hope he does the right thing with commensurate penalties on Balmer, Leonard, and the Clippers. Maybe even Dennis Wong and Dennis Robertson!

  36. So, a regular reporter found out this information, but NBA investigators couldn't find out anything and closed the case.😂😅😂😂😅😂😅😂😅😂😅

  38. Remember when the entertainment of the NBA were the games itself? Funny how it's evolved. The games are boring. The news surrounding the games are far more interesting 😮

  41. If this is true ban Leonard from the league as well as the owner .
    How is Leonard allowed to keep getting what he wants in the wrong way first the spurs now this .

  42. I would bet Leonard's uncle Dennis is involved as one of the main culprits in asking shenanigan deal and Clippers actually fell for it from what it appears.

    Uncle Dennis may have been good to have him around when Lenoard was younger, growing up, but the same cannot be said for Lenoard's pro career, going back to Spurs days.

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