NBA restarts investigation into the Clippers, but the evidence link is weak & Ballmer may be able to escape easily

Translator's note: The original text was published in The Athletic. The data in the article were as of the time of the original text (September 6 local time). The dates and times involved were local time

If the NBA can collect enough evidence to prove that the Clippers owner Steve Ballmer did evade the salary cap on Kawhi Leonard's contract issue, then President Adam Xiao Hua had no choice but to use Thunder methods to the Clippers: impose a million dollar fine, deprive the draft pick, and may even declare the remaining two-year $100 million in Leonard's contract invalid.

But we are still far from that step. The reality is that while Pablo Torre provides new clues on his recent podcast show Pablo Torre's Great Discovery, we may never get to that point. The

league announced this week that it will launch a new round of investigations against Leonard and the Clippers. This is at least the second time the league has looked at their business practices, which had previously investigated in 2019 but found no evidence of misconduct. Torre has really made a big contribution in providing new investigation clues. However, my first reaction when I heard the news of the new investigation was simply: Who will try this case? Will Ballmer be brought to a jury composed of his peers? (Imagine Joe Lacob and James Dolan sitting in the jury table together.)

The most notable question is what proof standards need to be met before taking action against Ballmer? What is the threshold for evidence? It does not depend on the law here. It depends on Adam Xiao Hua. Article 13 of the Labor and Capital Agreement clearly stipulates that violations of the wage cap evasion clause "can be proved by direct or indirect evidence, including but not limited to evidence that the player's contract or any of its terms or provisions cannot be reasonably interpreted in the absence of such act".

This seems to give Xiao Hua a lot of room for operation, as long as he chooses to do so. Because what Torre revealed is definitely indirect evidence.

Sports leagues usually do not have enough capacity to handle such investigations. These investigations are either conducted by alliance employees or by “external investigators” who are not considered real outsiders at all. When Tim Donagy began investigating the Astronauts' secret stolen incident [1], the Major League Baseball (MLB) gave players who cooperated with the investigation complete immunity. The NBA's investigation of infamous referee Tim Donagy focuses more on damage control than really understanding whether Donagy's behavior affected the outcome of the game. Former president David Stern hired highly respected attorney Lawrence Pedovitz to investigate Donagy and equipped Pedovitz with three members of the NBA referee division to work directly with him. This is really not an external investigation.

[1]The Astronauts use cameras in the midfield stand area to observe the pitching instructions given by the opponent's catcher to the pitcher, and then the Astronauts players or staff who watch the live video will tell the fighter what kind of ball is next by knocking on various sound signals such as garbage cans.

[2] In the 2005-2007 season, Donaghy made an illegal profit of over $30,000 by passing on internal information to the betting gangs.

Tom Brady was suspended for four games for the "deflation" incident

NFL) paid for Ted Wells' investigation of the "deflation" incident and the Patriots [3] - again, this is hardly considered an external investigation. The investigation turned a trivial problem of equipment into a farce that lasted nearly two years. The NCAA's investigation into the University of Miami in 2018 was so bad that it had to investigate itself—yes, you read that right—because investigators unjustly gathered evidence against the university.

[3]The New England Patriots were accused of deliberately making the game ball contain less gas than the NFL standard in the January 2015 final.

[4]Adidas allegedly paid a top high school player in 2018 to ensure he promised to join the University of Miami and later signed with Adidas and a sports agent.

Essentially, sports is an entertainment business, not a judicial system, and alliances are often more concerned with protecting their own sources of income (i.e., their brands) than seeking justice. They are also susceptible to strong opposition and public opinion.

NFL is well-known in this regard. The league's initial investigation into the Ray-Race incident was so messy that in response to the incident and subsequent public opinion, President Roger Goodell finally formulated a new code of personal conduct. And he was suspended for only two games before the video of Rice punching his fiancée and dragging her out of the elevator (when she was unconscious) was made public. The NFL hired former FBI director Robert Mueller to investigate the matter. Mueller concluded that while the league was unaware of the video before it was released, it should have done more to thoroughly review the evidence.

Now, the NFL has an independent arbitrator, former U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson, to hear cases that may violate the norm.

Dashion-Watson

Nevertheless, Goodell still has the final say and the judgment does not always follow the precedent. When the Browns traded quarterback DeShaun Watson in 2022, they knew Watson faced more than 20 civil lawsuits for sexual misconduct related to massage, but Brown still sought a deal to get him and expected he could face a four-to-six game ban.

In fact, Robinson's initial ruling based on the jurisprudence was to suspend six games. She believes this is the toughest punishment she can do under the alliance policy. Goodall may have felt the public's growing anger at Watson and the NFL brand image. Under the Labor Agreement, he has the right to appeal Robinson's ruling. Watson was eventually suspended for 11 games.

Of course, none of these applies to bosses, who are essentially employers of the president of the league. And the NBA is now dealing with a problem about competitive advantage, not a problem of behavior.

"Steve is very smart," a team executive told me this week about Ballmer. "I don't believe he would be stupid enough to send $50 million to a company just to get that company to redeem it and give it to Kawhi. I don't believe it." The core of the league's investigation will be the $28 million contract revealed by Torre, which was signed by now-bank fintech company Aspiration, and Leonard doesn't seem to provide anything for it. Torre learned that Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration in September 2021 to provide part of the funding. Less than two weeks later, the Clippers announced a $300 million partnership with the same company. It is not uncommon for players to establish partnerships with team sponsors. Stephen Curry has been a brand ambassador for JPMorgan Chase since 2016, and the company is the company that has the Warriors' home title rights.

However, the amount Aspiration paid Leonard $7 million a year would seem outrageous for such a deal, and it may be difficult for the Clippers and/or Leonard to explain clearly, especially given Torre's reports that Leonard did not provide any services to the company. Although Ballmer gave his statement in an exclusive interview with ESPN Thursday night, this doesn't seem normal at all, and it's undoubtedly an arrangement worth investigating.

However, Ballmer can simply tell the investigators: "I invested in a company I believe in. How could I know what they are going to do with the money?" Is this statement tenable? Of course I can't stand. The question now is how to prove what he said is wrong.

Balmer told ESPN that the Clippers introduced Leonard to Aspiration in November 2021 (which is legal under NBA rules), three months after Leonard signed an early contract renewal with the Clippers. Torre's investigation shows that the agreement between Leonard and Aspiration was signed in April 2022.

Balmer said that as part of the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, the Clippers recently reviewed all their documents and text messages with Aspiration executives.

"We've reviewed all of this material because it's part of the document retrieved from their investigation (the Ministry of Justice and the SEC) investigation," Ballmer told ESPN. "We even found the email when the initial introduction was introduced. It was in early November. I don't remember the exact date. So, where could this circumvention happen? It didn't happen. It couldn't happen."

To punish Ballmer and the Clippers, the league needed to come up with stronger evidence than the testimony of several disgruntled employees from a company's finance department. The company where the employees worked had not only defrauded investors including Ballmer, nearly $250 million, but its co-founder Joseph Thunberg pleaded guilty last month to two felony counts of telecom fraud, which could face up to 40 years in prison. These people are really not witnesses of noble character.

What is equally unexplainable in all this is why the Clippers even needed to provide a "sweet" contract to retain Leonard, who was already missing the entire 2021-22 season due to a partial ACL tear. If the evidence revealed this week dates back to 2019, when the Clippers first got Leonard, then these clues would be automatically connected. The timing of this deal (after Leonard has played for the team for two seasons) is also questionable.

Investigators may have to prove that Ballmer orchestrated it all and deposited the money into an account set up specifically for Leonard, who has agreed to pay the player $176 million in four years and know he will miss one of the seasons due to a serious knee injury. Proving this may be much more difficult than it seems. The court is now open. Dear Lord Adam Xiao Hua presided over the trial. All stood up.

Author: Jason Lloyd

Translator: GWayNe

source:7m tỷ số