[Pablo Torre] Steve Balmer paid Kawhi Leonard under the table to avoid salary cap

Of course cuban did it, i would bet that if every team was investigated you could find something for every single one. Every team will be to a different definition money wise but every team does this.

 

The only ones where I could believe haven't even looked at circumventing **** are the few who don't actually seem to give that much of a **** about team success and are super tight with their money. Anybody else, you have to assume is a fan up to a certain degree, and if it's known that others are doing it I can't see them wanting to fall behind either.

 

Ya maybe the worst of the worst aren’t doing it but anyone who cares at all absolutely is. Letting a player use your jet, or vacation house, or anything is cap circumvention.

 

"Oh you guys all going out tonight? Take the credit card" Has to happen all the time too - a group of NBA players bar/food tab vs me and you is somewhat different I'm sure lol. Only them super shitty owners aren't doing stuff like that .

 

It’s all just grandstanding nonsense basically, no difference front the Astros or the patriots nonsense. The only possible difference is balmer went further than other teams, unlike astros/pats.

 

And also left so much of a trace in a way that some youtuber thinks they're making their career on exposing it. I reckon that probably adds to it also tbh, like you can tell he's a bit obsessive about the scoop he's got. Even if it's no big deal by league standards behind closed doors he's making so much noise it almost forces them to address it at least in some way.

 

I'd say it is similar to the Astros, in that someone in the media has uncovered what appears to be cheating.

I think the $190M in tax savings and $28M in extra spending is likely a bigger deal.

 

Wow is that seriously the tax amount they would've paid? When you bear in mind that goes to the teams who stay under the tax that really would cause some waves you would've thunk...

 

Well no there would be no tax anything since kawhi was making the max anyway, it’s not like he took a smaller contract

 

An important point to remember is that a major benefit of a salary cap is to control costs and in essence, protect owners from themselves in over-competing for free agents. Ultimately, every owner in the league is a business partner in a legalized cartel. It is to their benefit to create rules that will benefit the cartel as a whole, but this inherently creates a massive incentive to cheat the rules. It's up to the majority of governors to decide where to set where the unwritten line is, and to knock back a given member when they cheat too much.

Just look at the reporting surrounding Uncle Dennis's demands for part ownership, no-show sponsorships, etc. from the Toronto Raptors ownership group. If you're a governor, you want to be able to draw that line in the sand with future agents/players, to be able to actually say "we can't pay you any more". The last thing in the world you want is to be giving players and agents more leverage, more expectations, and essentially uncap the league. The owners have fought incredibly hard to add maximum salaries and shorten the max number of years for players; it is the only major North American sport that has been able to do so, and is in a very strong economic position as a result even with rapidly declining ratings and viewership. This is why salary cap circumvention is the cardinal sin; it gives bargaining power back to the workers.

 

Not just the teams - I would imagine other max players who didn't get that extra money that Kawhi did are grumbling too. The CBA is an agreement between players AND teams - this creates an imbalance that impacts both parties.

 

If the salary cap circumvention occurred, he was making more than the max, and not what was allowed by the rules. Penalties should not be based on if a team followed the rules, and everything happens exactly as it did as there is no way of knowing if everything happens the same way.

The Clippers had an unfair advantage in obtaining his services if the allegations are true. The Clippers set themselves up as being the place to make way more than the max (long term, this has huge ramifications). One should not assume a payment in 2022 was not promised while he was a Raptor if it was circumvention.

The NBA fine, if circumvention occurred, should reflect that the Clippers made payments/agreed to make payments that allowed the Clippers to spend money on players at a rate that they would have incurred $190M in additional taxes. Those taxes are meant to curtail the spending advantage of guys like Balmer. We don't live in an alternative universe in which Kawhi didn't sign a no show contract and accepted the max without the promise of a no show contract.

 

I mean we don’t know when it was promised, there’s no hard evidence of anything yet. I get what you’re saying though, it’s pretty reasonable. Toronto admitted they agreed to give him 15 mil in no show money though everyone knew he was going to LA like LeBron was all year.

 

Someone needs to look into Jalen Brunson’s situation. He basically took a 100 million dollar paycut, no one in their right mind would do that.

 

Everyone knowing that a player wants to play for the Clippers does not preclude the Clippers from offering that player money to skirt the salary cap before the end of the season.

Personally, I think salary cap circumvention is a significant issue, whether a player is joining a new team or not. To me, it is more about whether the evidence is good enough.

 

I just want James to get a shot to compete in the finals again at some point (not over the Rockets, of course). I'm sure it's frustrating for him to be concerned about the Clippers going forward in trades especially after carrying that team into the playoffs last year.

And, I think Pablo jumped the gun way too early. The situation seems a bit off, but I wonder how many other teams have had similar, grayscale arrangements in the past.

 

Steve Ballmer highlights that Kawhi Leonard’s deal with Aspiration was “independent” of the Clippers’ deal with them. Feels confident that the Clippers abided by the rules of the CBA, welcomes the NBA’s investigation, and says that “this too shall pass.”

 

We’ll see, there’s nothing so far but who knows what else comes out.

 

There's tons of hard evidence, most of it was paper/hard copy apparently, but I can look up the bankruptcy docket & see KL2 Aspiration LLC (the front company for the no show job) on the list of creditors with Uncle Dennis' address in there & the amount owed, for example. Also, again, the fact that this contract existed for years and that it was never announced & Kawhi never did any endorsemet is very much hard evidence of a "no show" job.

NBA podcasters & commentariat are unncessarily obscuring this by watching too much Law & Order & blabbing on about burden shifting and circumstantial evidence etc - if Kawhi Leonard and Steve Ballmer were employees of a company, they would have been walked out by security on day 1.

 

Adam Silver gets ahead of Torre’s claim that he lied about not knowing of Aspiration’s existence: “I said I never heard of it— I meant in the context of the accusations here. I was certainly aware of the brand.”

Adam Silver on the Clippers investigation: “I’m a lawyer. I believe in due process. I believe in fairness. We will begin with a presumption of innocence, not a presumption of guilt.” — Listen to his full 8-minute statement: