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

Not sure there was ever any evidence with Haslem.

The worst case clippers scenario is that the Clippers did this with earlier contracts imcluding the one that took Kawhi from Raptors. Kawhi is a much better player than Haslem. Doubtful Haslem got any where close to $40M if they were both circumventing.

 

He declined a player option for more money to take less money because…….? There is a zero percent chance that haslem did that without a promise of future money despite not being an nba player for years. They also clearly paid that one dude under the table to decline his player option so they could sign odom, unless you believe the story that the agent “forgot” to opt in.

 

The difference between Leonard and Haslem is huge. One is a washed role player the other is a franchise level player. Nobody cares if Miami cheated to keep Haslem because he's not a difference maker.

 

That’s what i said, people don’t care about cheating unless it’s someone they don’t like. Miami has repeatedly cheated and nobody cares or will care. They also cheated to sign odom who was a pretty big deal back then, though granted not kawhi. Their cheating allowed them to actually gain a player though, clips didn’t gain anyone just got him more cash.

 

FIFY..... the other is a soon to be washed franchise player with a greedy Uncle Dennis with the appetite that could fill the Grand Canyon.

 

There is no way of knowing if Kawhi would have stayed without the alleged circumvention.

The big difference between the NBA possibly going after LAC instead of Miami, other than Kawhi impacts games more, is that there appears to be a contract worth a lot for no work by Kawhi. The NBA has to look at Kawhi because this has come out. There was never any evidence of a payment that the NBA could go after Miami.

In addition, you assume Haslem was obtained by circumvention, but completely ignore the smoke that LAC had circumvented the cap to get Kawhi in the first place from Toronto. The NBA treated LAC the same way as Miami when there wasn't evidence. The NBA will likely go after LAC because of the evidence in play and not because of the smoke from the original acquisition.

 

There’s no assumptions with haslem. He turned down a player option for more money to take the minimum. It’s cut and dry.

 

That is perfectly within the rules as long as there aren't other payments/agreements, just like Kawhi turning down the supermax to go to the Clippers. Where is the evidence of actual payments or other agreements (i.e., the things that would be circumventing the rules)?

 

Them continuing to give him contracts for YEARS after he was done actually playing. There was also the situation where anthony carters agent “forgot” to opt him in so the heat had the space to sign odom. I guess it depends on what you consider evidence? There’s no proof with miami or with kawhi since i doubt they’re dumb enough to put it in writing.

 

He played in every season until his retirement on contracts the size for players that are the 15th man on an nba roster/emergency C. That's not evidence, as that is the market value for a 15th man on the roster (or at least, not egregious). Being smart enough to not put anything in writing doesn't make what the Heat did or did not evidence. Maybe the Heat had him as an advisor after those years, but I've not seen evidence that he was a no-work advisor.

Kawhi's deal was $28M for no work. Possibly $20M more, but I don't know the details of the other money. This is actual evidence as $28M is not close to the value of no work. My understanding is that this is enough to put it in the Clippers court to prove that it isn't circumvention (i.e., the evidence against Miami does not reach this standard). Maybe proof will come out that something else shady was going on.

I don't know if this evidence is enough to get the book thrown at the Clippers, but unless something else shady is discovered that's not circumvention, I'd expect some penalty against the Clippers.

If there was any actual evidence against Miami, I think the NBA would have gone after them. The NBA does not want to catch cheating whether it is the Clippers or the Heat.

 

He didn't play his last EIGHT seasons in miami. Not one or two, EIGHT. What reason would he have had to turn down his player option outside of being promised they would make up the money later? There's zero logical explanation. The odds it wasn't circumvention is zero.

 

The Heat valued Haslems leadership on the bench and the only way he would stay is as a player, there I provided plausible deniability

Besides that, backdoor handshake promises happen all the time, everybody knows that. But the fact is that Haslem, or Carter, or Giannis's brother or any of the other handshake deals all happened on the books via legal means. Kawhi was given money off the books, money that the Clippers were not able to given him within the rules.

 

What proof is there the clippers gave him that money? I've seen zero. No different from any of the evidence in those cases even if those cases were 100% certain to be circumvention.

 

I don't know why you have such a beef with Miami keeping Haslem. For all we know, they valued his lockerroom presence and they wanted to show their appreciation of Haslem's contribution and loyalty to the team by paying him long after he could meaningfully play on the court. Miami giving a roster spot to Haslem does not really benefit the team. In fact, you could say that they sacrificed a roster spot that could have been given to a more useful player. Why would anyone want to go after them for doing that?

It is totally different from the Clippers trying to lure a superstar free agent who could let a mediocre team to contending level.

 

The benefit was more cap space when he opted out to take less money in exchange for future contracts. Same benefit they got with carter. I just hate the hypocrisy, same thing i hated with the Astros “scandal” although this is much less asinine.

The kawhi stuff also happened years after he signed there (i’m sure something also happened when he signed since Toronto agreed to do the same thing for him but nothing has come out)

 

They could have even more cap space by NOT signing him at all. He's pretty much useless as a player. Why would they waste the little cap space and the roster spot on him?

It could only be something worth the effort of investigation if his basketball value was significantly more than his contract.

Wouldn't you rather have the contract police spend their resources to catch the big fish like Kawhi Leonard? Harden giving a discount to Philly should have been investigated, IMO.

 

No they couldn't have had more cap space, they could have had less had he not opted out of more money to take the minimum.