It was a little more than 11 years ago that Adam Silver was confronted by his first big challenge as NBA commissioner.
Donald Sterling, then the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, was caught on tape uttering racist remarks. Only a few days after the tape鈥檚 vile content became public, and only a few months after Silver took over the helm from his mentor, David Stern, the new commissioner banned Sterling from the league for life. Silver was widely heralded for wielding his power so decisively.
More than a decade on, Silver is faced with another instance of a Clippers owner bathed in what appears to be an awfully unflattering spotlight. Sadly for Silver, this case isn鈥檛 quite as cut and dried.
Thanks to the reporting of U.S. podcaster and journalist Pablo Torre and the Boston Sports Journal, there is a compelling circumstantial case that the Clippers engaged in salary cap circumvention in a 2021 deal with Kawhi Leonard. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has denied any wrongdoing, insisting he can鈥檛 be held responsible for the actions of the green banking company Aspiration, whose former CEO recently pled guilty of defrauding investors of $248 million (U.S.). Still, that same company, in which Ballmer reportedly invested $50 million, appears to have agreed to pay Leonard $48 million to essentially do nothing, so long as he played for the Clippers.
And as the Star鈥檚 Bruce Arthur recently outlined, there was a well-worn path of Leonard and his representatives seeking cap-circumventing compensation going back to his 2019 negotiations with the Raptors. Heck, in 2019 Silver himself acknowledged that the league had a problem with deals that 鈥渄on鈥檛 fall squarely within the collective bargaining agreement.鈥
You know the old saying: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck 鈥
During 2019 contract talks, Leonard’s camp wanted a trade for Paul George, shares in the Maple
The problem for Silver is that Ballmer is an NBA golden goose, largely a model owner who financed his new arena with his own money and ranks among the world鈥檚 richest human beings with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $151 billion.
On one hand, Silver works for Ballmer. On the other, Silver also works for the other 29 NBA owners, who have collectively hired him to, among his many duties, effectively police themselves on matters of fair play.
鈥淚 have an independent obligation to be the steward of the brand and the integrity of this league,鈥 Silver said.
That is why Silver said he is reserving judgment on the case until an investigation by a New York law firm is concluded, adding that 鈥渢he burden (of proof) is on the league if we鈥檙e going to discipline a team.鈥
鈥淚 would be reluctant to act if there was sort of a mere appearance of impropriety,鈥 Silver said. 鈥淭he goal of a full investigation is to find out if there really was impropriety.鈥
For all that, Silver added that he has 鈥渧ery broad powers,” from taking away draft picks to levying fines and suspensions. And cap circumvention is not a capital crime; it does not need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not a court of law at the end of the day, either,鈥 Silver said. 鈥淲e have broad authority to look at all information and to weigh it accordingly.鈥
Still, Silver said he 鈥渃ut off any further conversation鈥 about the Clippers situation at this week鈥檚 owners meetings in New York, pointing out that 鈥渋n a public-facing sport, the public at times reaches conclusions that later turn out to be completely false.鈥
We don鈥檛 know how many owners might be skirting the cap and we don’t know whether this was a
Said Silver: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know the facts here. I don鈥檛 know what Kawhi was paid. I don鈥檛 know what he did and didn鈥檛 do.”
For all that, Silver acknowledged that the reaction to the recent reporting has suggested that there鈥檚 very little public tolerance for cap-related cheating.
鈥淚 mean, the amount of attention this has commanded. Certainly no one out there is saying, 鈥極h, this is just business as usual in the NBA. What鈥檚 the big deal? This is what teams do when they want to sign players,鈥 鈥 Silver said. 鈥淭he suggestion is this is highly aberrant behaviour, which is why聽鈥 we brought in the big guns on the investigation.鈥
The league brought in the big guns because the crime the Clippers are alleged to have committed raises a scary question. If side deals are the new max deals, where does that leave a cap-based league?
The answer, of course, is a wild-west scenario in which the richest owner wins. On Wednesday Silver pointed to the parity in a league that has seen seven different champions in the past seven seasons, some of which have come from small markets like Oklahoma City and Milwaukee, none of which include the Clippers.
鈥淚n order to (achieve parity), you have to have a fair set of rules that the community thinks are going to be enforced without any bias in a full and fair way by the league office,鈥 Silver said. 鈥淚 hope that鈥檚 how members of the NBA community feel and outsiders feel about our reaction to these allegations against the Clippers, that we take it very seriously. And that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e doing the investigation that we are.鈥
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