Steve Ballmer Vows To Fight Historic NBA Punishment
Shortly after the NBA announced historic penalties for the Los Angeles Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer, the team came out swinging.
“We vehemently reject the NBA’s findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence,” an initial statement read. “We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process.”
The league announced today that a year-long investigation by law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz found Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard had agreed to a $28 million no-show contract with California environmental company Aspiration, which had previously been a team sponsor. The investigation found three other companies had arrangements with the team and with Leonard that were not above board. The Clippers were found to be dodging the salary cap by paying Leonard more than what he made from the team for being a player. It specifically singled out Ballmer for “knowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities.” The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement limits what a player can make for what he does on the court. The ultimate offense, as the league described it, was the former Microsoft CEO’s “failure to create conditions under which his organization abided by the NBA’s circumvention rules.”
The NBA announced the Clippers will forfeit their first-round picks in the NBA Draft from 2029 through 2033. Ballmer was suspended for “all league and team activities for one year” and fined $30M. Leonard, a two-time NBA Finals MVP signed by the Clippers in 2019, was not suspended but was fined $700,000.
In a longer statement reportedly sent to the league and obtained by multiple reputable sources later in the day, including longtime NBA reporter Marc Stein, the Clippers alleged that the league did not follow its pledge to conduct the investigation with “a fundamental sense of fairness.” The statement goes on to enumerate a long list of actions the team has taken in the last year to accommodate the investigation, including Ballmer allegedly footing a $50M legal tab from the investigating firm. Further, it says that “Mr. Ballmer’s reputation has been irreparably damaged.”
The question is what, if anything, the team can do about those assertions.
In its announcement today, the league went out of its way to note: “The NBA and the NBPA have entered into an agreement confirming these penalties are final and binding on all parties.”
Leonard, who is now most likely headed back to the Toronto Raptors, where he won a championship in the spring of 2019, had a more contrite response. It read in part, “I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle and regret the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family… I entered into my contract with the Clippers as well as the agreements in question in good faith, fully committed to fulfilling my obligations and with no knowledge of any intent on anyone’s part to circumvent the salary cap.”
Leonard’s uncle Dennis Robertson has allegedly been tied to to the controversial Aspiration deal. Specifically, the NBA cites, “Failing to report improper solicitations for off-court income opportunities made on Mr. Leonard’s behalf” by Robertson, who was then his manager.
The affair is the second major scandal to hit the Clippers in a little more than a decade. Back in 2014, then-owner Donald Sterling was banned from the NBA for life and forced to sell the team after the public release of racist comments he made in a private call with his girlfriend. Silver, who had taken the job just weeks before, also fined Sterling $2.5 million – the maximum allowed under NBA rules.
Also, one year after Ballmer bought the team in 2014, the league fined the Clippers $250,000 after an investigation found it had circumvented player compensation rules by including a potential third-party endorsement opportunity in a presentation to center DeAndre Jordan, whom it was trying to resign.
