Even if it wasn’t the complete dead of the offseason, the Clippers potential cap circumvention would be the center of focus for the league. What Steve Ballmer and the franchise are being accused of, with pretty damning evidence, would be some of the most egregious rule-breaking arguably since the last instance of cap circumvention over 20 years ago.
Given what has already been made public via Pablo Torres’ magnificent reporting and investigating, it feels incredibly unlikely that the Clippers escape
this situation without any form of punishment, no matter how much Ballmer wants to portray ignorance.
Even as Adam Silver stood at the Board of Governors meeting and claimed, despite what the Collective Bargaining Agreement says, that the onus is on the league to find guilt in this situation, this feels like a mountain of circumstantial evidence that will be impossible to simply ignore.
But what the rest of the league is going to be monitoring is just how severely the Clippers get punished.
Depending on your level of cynicism, this is somewhere between an isolated incident by the Clippers or something all 30 teams partake in. How the league treats the Clippers after seemingly being exposed for cap circumvention is likely to determine how many teams continue to take part in this practice.
Realistically, for example, if the Clippers get a fine — however large it may be — and the loss of a couple of draft picks, what’s to stop a team like the Lakers, who will welcome in their own billionaire owner this year, from following suit? Is it worth signing a player below market value to save money on cap space if the cost of doing business is a fine and the loss of some draft capital?
It’s worth noting that if not for a freak happenstance — and one of the worst named LLCs imagineable — that led to this coming onto Torre’s radar, this would have flown under the radar. What other teams would be willing to roll the dice, maybe not name the LLC as blatantly obvious and hope that a journalist doesn’t uncover their whole plan?
When does the punishment no longer make it worth the risk?
It’ll be a question that’ll have a firmer answer after this situation is resolved. This isn’t a pretty situation for the NBA and it’d make sense if they largely want it to go away.
If they simply slap them on the wrist, then they’re ushering in a world where cap circumvention is going to be a far greater norm. If they don’t levy a hefty punishment, they may just be opening Pandora’s box, and one that’ll be very hard to close.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
