Everyone around the league will be watching to see if the investigation by the firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which led the league’s investigation into the Sterling tape, will, if cap circumvention is proven, lead to severe sanctions against the NBA’s richest owner.
You may recall when the league suspended former Suns governor Robert Sarver for a year and fined him $10 million in 2022, after a 10-month investigation by Wachtell, Lipton into allegations of a toxic work environment for women and minorities in the Suns’ organization, LeBron James and Chris Paul expressed disappointment with the NBA’s discipline. If cap circumvention is found in the Clippers’ case, many of the league’s other teams want the Clippers to pay, significantly.
“Either you have a severe punishment,” a longtime NBA executive said Tuesday, “or you’re giving everyone a road map of how to do it.”
Of course, Ballmer, who strongly maintains his and his team’s innocence, deserves due process, as does anyone else. Of course, the Clippers have denied they’ve done anything wrong. Of course, the burden of proof is on the league to prove malfeasance up near Playa Vista, Calif., where the Clippers were headquartered in 2021, when all this began.
Smoking guns tend to be hard to find, though Torre’s dogged work over the last several months has unearthed quite the road map toward one.
If the NBA finds the Clippers guilty, it can’t do what it did in 2018 to the Mavericks, after a seven-month investigation that was initiated by the team, with league oversight, corroborated the findings of a Sports Illustrated story detailing a toxic work environment for women throughout the organization. The Mavs’ “punishment,” such as it was, was what the league obliquely called a $10 million “donation” that Cuban would make toward organizations “committed to supporting the leadership and development of women in the sports industry and combating domestic violence.”
Which was noble, and helpful, but did not include the word “fine” anywhere.
There was no such equivocating when Silver threw Sterling out of the league in 2014, after the disclosure of the infamous audio tape between Sterling and his mistress by the website TMZ. The tape didn’t detail any specific illegal action on Sterling’s part. Sterling didn’t break any laws with his words.
They were just … disgusting.
Yet the NBA and Wachtell, Lipton only needed three days to begin and conclude an investigation, which seemed to have exactly one question at its core:
“Donald, is this you on the tape?”
“Yes, it is.”
“No further questions.”
This took, again, all of 72 hours, from start to finish.
Of course, the comments and investigation also came during the first round of the playoffs, which included Sterling’s Clippers, who were playing the Warriors in the first round. And Silver was faced with the likelihood of a league-wide boycott of its three playoff games the night of April 29, by players on all six teams scheduled to play that evening, if he didn’t drop the hammer on Sterling. Which, he did.
The Kawhi business, of course, will take longer. There is a third party involved — Aspiration, which went bankrupt earlier this year, and whose co-founder, Joe Sanberg, agreed to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in August, amid allegations that Sanberg defrauded Aspiration’s investors, including Ballmer, out of a collective $248 million. This appears to be the crux of Ballmer’s argument: I was duped like everyone else.
But Torre’s reporting unearthed an unusually united recollection from people in Aspiration’s financial department at the time the deal with Leonard was consummated: many former employees Torre spoke with believed, adamantly, that Leonard’s deal with Aspiration was a) a “no-show” arrangement, in which Leonard wouldn’t have to do any work to get the $28 million Aspiration agreed to pay him over four years, and b) clearly designed to circumvent the NBA’s cap. There are also c), the disclosure that Leonard’s deal with Aspiration would be voided if he left the Clippers, and d) evidence that Robertson, Leonard’s representative, asked for similar workarounds from other teams before Leonard signed with the Clippers in 2021.
Aspiration’s co-founder, Andrei Cherny, told The Athletic last week via e-mail that Leonard’s job was not a no-show one, though he didn’t provide specifics about Leonard’s job responsibilities or answer why there is no record of anything that Leonard did on behalf of the company. (And, other high-ranking executives in the company recall details about the arrangement with Leonard differently than Cherny does.)
Again, this will be long and complicated. Aspiration’s former C Suite does not answer to the NBA and does not have to cooperate; the NBA does not have subpoena power. Multiple people at different levels of the company will have to talk. To get the clearest picture possible, Leonard and/or Robertson will have to talk. The Clippers, of course, will have to cooperate: not just Ballmer, but any other executives who had knowledge — assuming they did — of Leonard’s arrangement with Aspiration.
“When they talk to the NBA,” the longtime NBA exec said of the Clippers’ executives, “they better come up with a better answer” than Ballmer did in his interview with ESPN last month.
Yet there is another, equally important principle at stake aside from whether Ballmer and the Clippers violated Article 13.1 of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.
In our current times, objective truth is, far too often, smashed into bits, and is rarely put back together into a coherent whole. Our ecosystem has been poisoned by misinformation, a virus injected into every aspect of our lives. Whatever it is we believe, you can rest assured that there is someone or something — a reasonably well-paid human, or an unpaid bot — doing their level best to make you doubt that what you saw or heard is actually what you saw or heard. They do this for their own, selfish reasons; I leave it to you to determine who benefits most from such an arrangement. The assault on truth is designed to destroy our notion of shared, accepted belief.
Journalism of the type Torre is providing is not designed to prove something beyond a shadow of a doubt. But journalism, good journalism, points you in a clear direction. It says, “Here is what I know now. Tomorrow, I hope to know more.”
Al Pacino, as “60 Minutes” producer Lowell Bergman in the movie “The Insider,” put the journalist’s credo into stark relief as he pressed an official for more information: “I’m getting two things: pissed off, and curious.”
Yes, the NBA’s System Arbitrator will, technically, rule on whether or not the investigation by Wachtell, Lipton proves prima facie circumvention. But it will ultimately be up to Adam Silver to decide Ballmer’s fate. If he determines Ballmer and the Clippers broke the rules, he will have to unleash afterward the resolve he displayed a decade ago, when he threw the book at Sterling based not on broken laws, but righteous anger, and didn’t look back. Because he knew what was true.
43 comments
Hint: It’s gonna be the roadmap sadly
Possiblies I can think of.
1. Severe punishment. People move on after a while.
2. No severe punishment. No noise means some kind of deal struck behind or some shit.
3. I win the lotto and retire.
4. Aliens.
I’ve been thinking about this, the road map is there, regardless of the punishment. As long as the company you are in bed with isn’t a fraudulent company that goes bankrupt, then you are good to pay your players whatever the hell you want.
The punishment has to be harsh just to show that there’s actual risk involved.
It’s also why the punishment has to be harsh for all parties involved. It’s not just teams that need to feel that there is risk, it’s the players and agents.
Not just a roadmap, you won’t even need to hide it.
This is what the billionaires want for all aspects of society.
Silver is a fucking coward but he must throw the book at the Clips. For example, what’s to stop Mark Walters from telling Wemby to take his qualifying offer and then sign a 1 billion dollar endorsement deal. If you set the precedent that this is okay, then everyone will engage in it.
Docking multiple future Draft picks from the clippers would be a fair punishment
Void kawhis contract
Suspend him until offseason 2026 summer
Instead of fully rescinding draft picks, just make them max be able to get pick #30
I really like Zach Lowe, who generally has been better than most on this, but I’m still confused as to why he seems to think the Joe Smith punishment is unlikely. Sure, they had a legit written agreement, but the circumstantial evidence is growing by the second, to say nothing for it being entirely possible that they will find something more concrete.
Ballmer is the richest owner by the long shot, the new CBA is more punitive than it was back in the Joe Smith era, and it was specifically written to curtail the power of someone like Ballmer. It feels like the Joe Smith punishment should be the starting point, not an unlikely end point.
It was found, we all have eyes and common sense.
If you’re allowed to circumvent the cap as long as there’s no document or recorded audio that says “I’m circumventing the cap” then this is a joke league.
Rich people and finding ways to circumvent laws and rules to make more and more stupid amounts of money that they could never spend in a single life lifetime: name a more iconic duo.
So what the fuck is the point of the lockouts and lost games and the CBA? It was the OWNERS that pushed for salary cap restrictions.
The players association should rightfully fuck the owners over, under, and sideways at the next collective bargaining. Get rid of the salary cap. Just make it a free for all like baseball if this is deemed okay.
Release all their players and put their cap at $100 dollars. It’s the only way.
Mavericks foolishly give away Luka Doncic.
Mavericks win the first pick in the NBA lottery
Death Penalty… NBA style… so that could be nothing or something. Depends on if the ref saw it …
The Wolves were docked five first round draft picks for doing the same thing and it set the organization back YEARS. It’s why they were so bad for so long.
If the Clippers get a slap on the wrist for this I will be furious.
Monetary fines are completely meaningless. Ballmer needs to be stripped of ownership, Kawhi banned from the NBA, and several (at least 3) first round picks stripped from the Clippers. That would be a fair punishment
NBA reporting really is just one guy saying a thing happens, then 30 dudes finding different ways to say the exact same thing huh lol
They have to make this really hurt all parties otherwise it is going to be open season. Anything less than a year long suspension for all parties, voided contracts, cap penalties, and serious loss of draft capital will probably not be enough to deter most owners. It remains to be seen if Silver has the stones to do it, but if he doesn’t this is going to be such a joke
The roadmap argument is beyond stupid because there are multiple owners in this league that would rather have a foot amputated than spend well into the luxury tax and that doesn’t even get into dropping more money on top of that under the table.
If you aren’t going to do anything about Ballmer ignoring the rules, you may as well let him buy the entire league and be the sole owner. You literally cannot out spend him.
Just do it already and quit stretching this out until the season starts. I’m not one for drama so idgaf about any of this but it’s clearly be stretched out for ratings
How can the Lakers purchase carbon credits to sign Giannis and Jokic next year?
Players’ parents and family are gonna start getting high dollar contracts randomly
Investigate the teams being the loudest. They’re projecting
Steve Ballmer is the Walter White of the NBA’s Gus Fring Operation. They had a good thing going, and he had to ruin it.
Thieves don’t get caught until they get sloppy and/or greedy. Every team did minor cap circumvention forever. Not to the tune of $50 mil
Postseason ban for 2 seasons and docked picks should be a strong enough message
The roadmap and Cole’s Notes to cap circumvention has always been here. I learned everything there is to know from Hollywood mob movies. The key is how the league audits you and enforces the rules.
The next stage is instead of paying Kawhi directly, Ballmer will simply hire Kawhi’s cousin, mom, best man and his dog as spokespersons.
Of course,
I get why they say it, but this feels like a pretty hollow threat when you look at the wealth of the rest of the league compared to Ballmer.
Even if you”throw the book” at Ballmer, why would he care? This guy is so obscenely wealthy that any monetary punishment is going to be trivial, and anything that cripples the team is just a punishment for fans that had nothing to do with it.
The only punishment that actually hurts Ballmer and doesn’t ruin the fans of the team is forcing him to sell. Any other punishment doesn’t matter. I feel like I’m going crazy when I see people downplay this
Remove all their banners and accolades
They threw the hammer at us for the Joe Smith deal, so the better throw it at the Clips for this.
Even if it isn’t cap circumvention under the NBA’s made up rule book, does anyone WANT behavior like this to be allowed??
What I think Cuban misses is this point. I don’t care if Ballmer did it or not, or if Ballmer is a good guy. I care about basketball and the NBA.
The facts that have come out about Aspiration is indistinguishable from cap circumvention, and it’s only public because Aspiration was a fraud company and went bankrupt. If this is allowed then you may as well rewrite the CBA while you’re at it
Make Ballmer pay for everyone else circumventing the cap for 5 years.
i mean there’s a third option, and it’s a cop out that saves face for all parties
they say it’s not prohibited (so no punishment) but it should be, and then make it so
Boston just trade 3 of their top 6 because of the cap. No way the owners let this slide
You guys, it doesn’t matter at this point. The Clippers already got away with it. The fact that we need a 10-month investigation to corroborate Torre’s reporting shows how easily other teams can get away with this. I’m waiting for my Lakers to sign another big agent and everyone will already know that what is reported in the deal will not be the full deal. The roadmap to cap circumvention is clear for everyone to see, regardless if the Clippers are punished or not.
Suspend baller from any and all clippers related management for 5 years to include attending games, penalize the team 5 first round draft picks, 5 second round draft picks, and suspend kawhi one season with no pay and make him pay back all of the illegally received aspiration money before he’s allowed to rejoin the league.
They should force Ballmer to sell the team.
They won’t, but they should…
Zero integrity in the NBA
Prediction: Balmer is going to accept a “harsh”personal punishment for “failing to maintain proper oversight” or some bullshit like that without admitting to actually doing anything wrong. Suspension for a year, resigning his leadership role on the BOG, and a fine that looks like a huge amount of money to a normal person but that he has between the cushions of his couch.
Clippers as a team will lose a first and a second, but avoid the Joe Smith penalty.
Silver is too weak to take on Balmer if Balmer decides he’s going to make a fight of it and they both know it, but Silver can’t do nothing and Balmer has incentive to get this situation over with and stay on good terms with the other owners so he’ll make a show of falling on his sword.
Fine the Clippers $10m+, dock multiple first-round picks, and suspend Kawhi for the remainder of his contract so it stays on their salary cap, given that it was his idea and he was demanding this of every team he spoke to as a free agent.
If the reward is more than the punishment, it’s just the cost of doing business
The Joe Smith punishment should be the *starting point*.
But fines won’t be a barrier for someone like Ballmer. If you really want to set the tone, I humbly suggest (in addition to a loss of draft picks):
1. Voiding Kawhi’s deal, and take his salary off the cap (there’s a reason for this)
2. Suspend Kawhi for the upcoming season.
3. With Kawhi’s contract voided, the Clippers will be a hair over the cap for the upcoming season. The organization would then be strictly hard-capped at the cap limit (before penalties) for as many seasons as Leonard was on the roster. Six years?
A popular opinion has been to void Leonard’s deal and leave the cap hit on the books for the organization. That kind of penalty only deters almost everyone but Ballmer, who could own multiple teams and pay the luxury tax if he wanted to. The money doesn’t mean anything to him, but competitively handicapping his team so they struggle because they can’t sign elite talent? That would be BRUTAL