(News4usonline) – The NBA came down hard on the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers messed around and found out that breaking the rules comes with a price.
The league rendered a stern decision following an investigation into whether or not the Clippers had violated salary cap circumvention rules involving Kawhi Leonard.
“The NBA’s collectively bargained system for determining player compensation is a fundamental component of the basketball competition that the league oversees for the benefit of the teams and players and ultimately the fans,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers’ institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct. The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations.”
The end result of the NBA’s investigation figures to send the Clippers into the abyss. It may be years, even decades before the Clippers can recover from this latest mess. It doesn’t look pretty, that’s for sure.
The NBA didn’t waste time going after the foot soldiers. The league wanted to send a clear message to the rest of the NBA that certain things are not going to be tolerated.
The league made an example of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, banning him from all team and league activities for a year. It gets worse. Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker was handed down a one-year suspension by the league without pay.
Clippers general manager Lawrence Frank won’t be earning a paycheck for the next six months for his involvement in the scandal.
The Clippers organization received additional punishment in the form of a $30 million fine that they have to pay the league. And then there was the move by the league to strip the Clippers of future first round draft picks for the next five years.
What that means is that any player that could have or would be drafted in the first round in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033 NBA Drafts, will be forfeited. On top of that, the Clippers are to be monitored by the league over a period of five years to boot.
All of this didn’t sit too well with the Clippers organization.
“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. What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner Silver set at the start of this investigation to ensure its fairness and accuracy, “ the team said in a released statement.
The statement goes on to say, “For the past year, we cooperated fully and in good faith and we will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence. 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.”
In a report facilitated by a firm hired by the NBA, the Clippers are accused of orchestrating off-court income opportunities for Leonard and four companies that were already doing business with the team.
The Clippers are also accused of arranging endorsement agreements between Leonard and these companies. The NBA went on to state that the Clippers coerced these same companies into the deals by offering them business from the team.
As far as the punishment that Leonard received, he got off relatively easy, having to pay just a $700,000 fine. But Leonard’s uncle, Dennis Robertson, who allegedly represented the player in these dealings, received a five-year ban from doing business with any other NBA teams, players or the league itself.
Leonard, through his agent, Harrison Gaines, tried to negate the harsh penalties by sending out a statement to try to rebuke the league’s actions.
“Integrity and respect for this game are fundamental to who I am,” the statement goes. “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.”
He went on to say, “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.”
Cover Art/Lead Photo. Photo credit: Mark Hammond/News4usonline/File Photo
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com
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