Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz discuss the potential ramifications if the NBA doesn’t severely punish both Kawhi Leonard and Steve Ballmer for the Los Angeles Clippers’ attempt to circumvent the salary cap. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV.
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Video Transcript
I think that this is so backwards and so twisted, and I think it’s a massive indictment on the NBA.
Not just because Kawhi is getting punished, that’s fine.
Kawhi broke the rules, you get punished when you break the rules.
But if Kawhi is the lone member of the Clippers, is the lone person involved in the aspiration of it all that gets any sort of punishment, shame on you, Adam Silver, and shame on the NBA.
Because what Adam Silver is saying, the message that he would be sending is, “Look, if you’re rich enough, you can really get away with whatever you want.”
Because any time that I bring up big-time punishment for Steve Ballmer, or potentially even a forced sale from the Clippers if they really wanna lay the hammer down, everyone says, “Well, okay, but they’re not gonna kick Steve Ballmer out of the league.
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He’s the richest owner in the league.
He’s worth $150 billion, they’re not gonna do that.”
Okay, fine!
Then if you’re rich enough, you can do whatever you want.
That this isn’t, you know, that Adam Silver is not the commissioner of the NBA, we have an oligarchy in the NBA.
It’s Adam Silver and it’s Steve Ballmer, because he has carte blanche to break whatever rules he feels like breaking because he’s rich enough to make up for it.
The scary thing about this, it’s a word I use all the time when we talk about this stuff, is precedent, right?
Like, to me, if you do not punish the Clippers for what they’ve done, what you’ve really told every team in the NBA is, “Hey, if your window’s right now, screw it, go all in.”
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You’re telling every player that’s at the very end- Yeah of their window, “Find another way to circumvent the cap, we won’t punish the teams.”
And if I’m the Cavs or any other team that’s right on the precipice of winning a championship, hell, it’s worth it!
If all you’re gonna do is slap the player for it or just give me a second-round draft pick sort of a fine for it, cool.
I will cheat all day and twice on Sunday if I know that I don’t have to pay the consequence for it.
I think the precedence on this is absolutely dangerous for the future of the NBA.
How many other businesses outside of just the Knicks could James Dolan go to and say, “Hey, you know what?
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We figured it out.
Salary cap or not, we are gonna make sure that every single veteran player at the end of their career wants to come here and try and win a chip.”
If the Knicks this summer decide that they’re gonna go after LeBron and Giannis both, and all of a sudden it’s like, “Wow, I can’t believe it, they signed reasonable contracts to go to the Knicks?
Why would they ever do that?”
“Oh, okay, fine, now I’ll go to 30 other businesses in New York and say, ‘What’s it worth?'”
What’s it worth to every single person You’re essentially gonna do what they do in college with NIL.
Like, if you don’t punish the Clippers in this process, and you only punish Kawhi for what is clear and obvious circumvention of the salary cap, and, I- it should be noted, not the first time that Ballmer and the Clippers have got in trouble for circumventing the salary cap.
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So now you have a repeat offender that you’re saying, “Nah, we’re good, it’s actually, ha, it’s totally on the player and his uncle, it’s not on you guys for doing what you know you cannot do.”
Like, ignorance is not excuse in any of this.
Every other NBA team in a market where there is business that can make their players money should immediately, I mean immediately, and don’t even try and hide it, just go out to the world and be like, “Well, you know what?
By the time you investigate this, and by the time you turn around and get your fi- your findings from it, we’ll be raising a banner in the rafters, and we won’t give a damn about your punishment.”