Silver has large powers to punish the clippings, it says it would be reluctant to “simple appearance of improper”

Commissioner NBA Adam Silver said he had large powers that could be exercised to punish the Los Angeles clippers and the owner Steve Ballmer if it has been shown that the salary limit to obtain Kawhi Leonard plus money through a sponsors of a team of a team. However, he also said he would be reluctant to use that power for the “simple appearance of impropriety”.

Mainly, Silver looked like a cautious and patient lawyer when he spoke after the meeting of the Council of Governors of the NBA on Wednesday.

“I am a great supporter of the right trial and equity and now we have to let the investigations follow its course,” Silver said.

As a question about possible punishments, the clippers could face if the franchise that consciously circumvented the wage hood is shown, Silver seemed like a man who understands that he has a hammer to break down.

“My powers are very wide,” Silver said. “Complete range of financial penalties: drafts, suspensions, et cetera. I have very large powers in these situations.”

However, it seemed cautious in the use of that hammer. While the collective bargaining agreement of the NBA (CBA) states that a case of circumvention of the limit can be based on circumstantial tests – which is all that is public at this moment, although there is a flood – silver seemed like a lawyer who wants something more concrete.

“We and our investigators examine the totality of the tests … I would be reluctant to act if there was a kind of simple aspect of inadequacy,” Silver said. “I think the goal of a complete investigation is to find out if there was really an impropriety.”

The Clippers and Ballmer have vehemently denied any impropriety, Ballmer saying that he was “ducted” by the aspiration of society and his CEO Joe Sanberg (who declared himself guilty of bilking investors of $ 248 million).

The improper appearance in this case is still quite harmful. At the beginning of August 2021, Ballmer made a personal investment of $ 50 million in aspiration, a “Green Bank” company that planted trees to obtain carbon credits that could sell to customers. A couple of weeks later, Leonard signed an extent of the maximum contract of four years of $ 176 million with the clippers. With the opening of the clippers training field of that year, the aspiration was a key sponsor of $ 300 million clippers, while Ballmer was building the cupola of intuit and had made the priority to make it a green building. A couple of months later, Leonard formed an LLC and, through that, signed an approval agreement of $ 28 million with the aspiration. This agreement eventually grew to $ 48 million after a subsequent shares of $ 20 million (actions now useless when the company has failed).

The core of the problem for the Clippers and Leonard is this: it has done nothing, absolutely nothing, for this money of approval. No appearance, marketing or advertising, not even a post on social media. He got the money for nothing.

This has a perfume of fish, but showing that ballmer and clipper knew this or orchestrated is a much higher bar. THE Original report by Pablo Torre and Pablo Torre discovers the podcast He reported that there were seven people in the office who declared that they had been said that Leonard’s approval agreement was lined up to help the clippings to get around the salary limit. Ok, but investigators will want to know “said by whom?” And where did he learn that person? What is the source of this knowledge and is verifiable?

There are too many coincidences here so that everything is random, but the clippers have more likely to orchestrated this, or that the “uncle Dennis” – the uncle and the company director of Leonard, Who had asked for the “no show” sponsorships in Toronto – I just solved this aspiration and the clippers really knew nothing? Each option is on the table. All the existing evidence we know count, but how much weight will silver and other owners give it?

“The answer is that we are not even a court at the end of the day,” Silver said. “We have a wide authority to examine all the information and weigh it accordingly.”

Silver said that his cautious approach was taken up by the other owners with whom he spoke about the matter.

“At least what is told is a reserve of judgment,” Silver said. “I think people recognize that it is the one you have an office of the League. This is what you have a commissioner, someone who is independent of the teams … at least what those governors have told me directly, to the extent that we had discussions, have been limited.”

Some feel in the championship, considering everything that is already known, that there is a weight for clipper to demonstrate that you have not put it together, or at least know it. The CBA NBA suggests that there is some burden on clippers. However, Silver said that the burden of proof remains with the NBA and investigators.

“The burden is in the league if we are about to regulate a team, owner, player or any constituent member of the League,” Silver said. “I think that as with any process that requires a fundamental sense of fairness, the burden should be to the party which, in essence, is bringing these accusations.”

It is possible that when all this ends, the NBA will create that its current supervision system on the sponsorships of the players must update (something on which the union of the NBA players would have strong opinions). The owners of the NBA could be hesitant in wanting to punish Ballmer if he puts a precedent where they could be in trouble if one of their sponsors becomes rogue with a player. When asked about that supervision, the Silver patient, the cautious side came to the foreground.

“We do through this investigation. We will rival,” Silver said. “We will see what happened here. Then we will sit both among our owners and potentially with the association of players because part of this is a function of collective bargaining and see if there are more things we have to do.”

For now, silver is willing to sit and leave the The New York Law Firm by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz guide the investigations. What silver does with that hammer he exercises will depend on what the investigation finds.