Kawhi "no-show job" that paid $28M

[Fairview4Life]

Nope. He did his job and got paid his money and we won a championship. If he wanted to leave for shady money, I do not care. Flags fly forever.

[OakleyDokely]

Ya, I can separate Kawhi the player from Board Man Gets Paid.

In the end, he was playing hurt as a Raptor player throughout the run and probably took years off his career because of it. Ultimately, they won a title, which is the most important thing.

This is very much an ownership issue. Ballmer agreed to this, and he should pay the biggest price.

[PushDaRock]

If all they do is give a $4.5M fine, I will laugh. That's setting bad precedent. Every owner will look at that and gladly pay if it means getting a game changing player for their franchise. I expect the NBA will come down harsher than that and force them out of 1st round picks.

If it's only a fine, Raps should prepare a plan to bribe SGA.

Rogers is way too cheap to pull something like that off

[PushDaRock]

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Reading this, I'm more bullish that the NBA will actually come down on them. It's basically a textbook case. When the only termination clause is leaving the Clippers and the services rendered are zero, it's obviously compensation for basketball services. They weren't being subtle. And they were compensating him above the market value of Leo Dicaprio and Robert Downey Jr.

This company going under and this all becoming public is the perfect opportunity for the league to look tough on this - even if it's not much different from deals happening elsewhere. The excess of it, the sloppiness, and it all surrounds LA's 2nd favourite team and a star pretty much aging out of being that marketable anyway. I think they suspend Ballmer from basketball activities, maybe move the all-star game, and they could actually aim to void Kawhi's contract. I wouldn't have thought that when this news first broke but it just looks worse and worse.

This isn't Jontay Porter who they can make an example out of. Going after Ballmer is totally different. The league can't do nothing but it's very unlikely they throw the book at him either. We likely get a punishment that Ballmer agrees to where both sides salvage this as best they can.

[DelAbbot]

I disagree that Silver will be lenient.

In fact, Silver will be forced to punish Ballmer harshly - by the other owners. Think about it, what do the owners hate the most? Paying the players. This example of paying an exuberant amount to a star player (Kawhi), under the table, to circumvent the salary cap (which owners love), will lead to more payments to star players in the future - it causes owners to compete (between themselves) even more for the services of star players. I bet the current non-Ballmer owners are fuming at this.

[DelAbbot]

One thing I find fascinating is how many posters think "because Ballmer is one of the richest owners, so Silver will appease him".

I think that's wrong. Silver answers to all 30 team owners - regardless of how much each owner is worth (they bought their NBA team already). Ballmer's behaviour hurts all 29 other owners. Silver will not appease the few (Ballmer) to hurt the many (29 other owners).

[SFour]

Raptors came to terms with Kawhi leaving for his home town.

Now that we know he left for some shady money deal, I don't think he has any legacy left here in Toronto.
Dude should get booed if he ever returns.

still doesn't deserve to get booed, he played in the Bucks/Warriors series with an injury.

Kawhi has more than enough money, this under the table stuff is to please the people around him (Uncle Dennis). If you want to boo Uncle Dennis then that makes alot more sense.

[ForeverTFC]

One thing I find fascinating is how many posters think "because Ballmer is one of the richest owners, so Silver will appease him".

I think that's wrong. Silver answers to all 30 team owners - regardless of how much each owner is worth (they bought their NBA team already). Ballmer's behaviour hurts all 29 other owners. Silver will not appease the few (Ballmer) to hurt the many (29 other owners).

The owners clearly don't care all that much about this. It seems that the punishment is not up to Silver's discretion here and is codified in the CBA. For a first offense, the penalties are:
• Fine up to $4.5 million for a first offense; up to $5.5 million for a second or later offense
• Forfeit one first-round draft pick
• Void the offending player contract, extension, or other tainted transaction

That's extremely lenient and hurts the player more than the team. If all this costs is $4.5m and a first round pick, there are many scenarios in the NBA where the cost-benefit analysis says is worth it to engage in cap circumvention - for example signing or re-signing a star. So we can only deduce that the owners aren't all that concerned with cap circumvention here, or at the very least prefer to hash it out among themselves and leave the league office out of it.

[artsncrafts]

Raptors came to terms with Kawhi leaving for his home town.

Now that we know he left for some shady money deal, I don't think he has any legacy left here in Toronto.
Dude should get booed if he ever returns.

still doesn't deserve to get booed, he played in the Bucks/Warriors series with an injury.

Kawhi has more than enough money, this under the table stuff is to please the people around him (Uncle Dennis). If you want to boo Uncle Dennis then that makes alot more sense.

This is a bit silly. "My uncle wanted all this shady illegal stuff, not me!"

[kalel123]

Raptors came to terms with Kawhi leaving for his home town.

Now that we know he left for some shady money deal, I don't think he has any legacy left here in Toronto.
Dude should get booed if he ever returns.

Nah. He never cheated us while he was here. He left as unrestricted FA. I don't think what he chose to do as UFA has any bearing on his legacy here because he gave it his all and we won the championship. I mean, if you actually saw him carrying the team through the playoffs and barely able to walk by end of it, I don't think there should be any doubt there.

We always had a feeling there was something shady going on in the way he chose Clippers so I don't think any of this is surprising. Only thing surprising was they were dumb enough to leave all that in writing and for him to literally do nothing for $28M. I still don't know if league will do anything of significance to punish Clippers but this gets swept under the rug much more easily if he just took time to do some photo ops or some short video shoots during media day or some ****. Literally takes minutes and didn't even bother.

[Coco Costanza]

Raptors came to terms with Kawhi leaving for his home town.

Now that we know he left for some shady money deal, I don't think he has any legacy left here in Toronto.
Dude should get booed if he ever returns.

still doesn't deserve to get booed, he played in the Bucks/Warriors series with an injury.

Come on, why are we acting like he was doing it for the team's benefit, it was important for him to play to boost his reputation after forcing his way out of San Antonio. He was a free agent. This was him vindicating himself.

[brownbobcat]

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Reading this, I'm more bullish that the NBA will actually come down on them. It's basically a textbook case. When the only termination clause is leaving the Clippers and the services rendered are zero, it's obviously compensation for basketball services. They weren't being subtle. And they were compensating him above the market value of Leo Dicaprio and Robert Downey Jr.

This company going under and this all becoming public is the perfect opportunity for the league to look tough on this - even if it's not much different from deals happening elsewhere. The excess of it, the sloppiness, and it all surrounds LA's 2nd favourite team and a star pretty much aging out of being that marketable anyway. I think they suspend Ballmer from basketball activities, maybe move the all-star game, and they could actually aim to void Kawhi's contract. I wouldn't have thought that when this news first broke but it just looks worse and worse.

Not a lawyer, but that last 'and' between (i) and (ii) could be contentious.

The Clippers could theoretically argue that it meets criteria (i) but not (ii)

[PushDaRock]

One thing I find fascinating is how many posters think "because Ballmer is one of the richest owners, so Silver will appease him".

I think that's wrong. Silver answers to all 30 team owners - regardless of how much each owner is worth (they bought their NBA team already). Ballmer's behaviour hurts all 29 other owners. Silver will not appease the few (Ballmer) to hurt the many (29 other owners).

The owners clearly don't care all that much about this. It seems that the punishment is not up to Silver's discretion here and is codified in the CBA. For a first offense, the penalties are:
• Fine up to $4.5 million for a first offense; up to $5.5 million for a second or later offense
• Forfeit one first-round draft pick
• Void the offending player contract, extension, or other tainted transaction

That's extremely lenient and hurts the player more than the team. If all this costs is $4.5m and a first round pick, there are many scenarios in the NBA where the cost-benefit analysis says is worth it to engage in cap circumvention - for example signing or re-signing a star. So we can only deduce that the owners aren't all that concerned with cap circumvention here, or at the very least prefer to hash it out among themselves and leave the league office out of it.

Technically he is already out of the 2021 extension he signed so not sure how they punish him in this situation unless they find some shenanigans involved with the 2024 extension which is very possible too lol

[brownbobcat]

One thing I find fascinating is how many posters think "because Ballmer is one of the richest owners, so Silver will appease him".

I think that's wrong. Silver answers to all 30 team owners - regardless of how much each owner is worth (they bought their NBA team already). Ballmer's behaviour hurts all 29 other owners. Silver will not appease the few (Ballmer) to hurt the many (29 other owners).

Ballmer is not just "one of the richest", he's also worth more than the valuation of all NBA teams combined.

[kalel123]

Raptors came to terms with Kawhi leaving for his home town.

Now that we know he left for some shady money deal, I don't think he has any legacy left here in Toronto.
Dude should get booed if he ever returns.

still doesn't deserve to get booed, he played in the Bucks/Warriors series with an injury.

Come on, why are we acting like he was doing it for the team's benefit, it was important for him to play to boost his reputation after forcing his way out of San Antonio. He was a free agent. This was him vindicating himself.

It was mutually beneficial. Would be kinda naive to think anybody in NBA is doing what they do for team's benefit. They are all out for themselves.

[Clay Davis]

Anything less than six draft picks would mean the COMMISSIONER HAS NO RIZZ / L RIZZ.

[Tofubeque]

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Spoiler:

Reading this, I'm more bullish that the NBA will actually come down on them. It's basically a textbook case. When the only termination clause is leaving the Clippers and the services rendered are zero, it's obviously compensation for basketball services. They weren't being subtle. And they were compensating him above the market value of Leo Dicaprio and Robert Downey Jr.

This company going under and this all becoming public is the perfect opportunity for the league to look tough on this - even if it's not much different from deals happening elsewhere. The excess of it, the sloppiness, and it all surrounds LA's 2nd favourite team and a star pretty much aging out of being that marketable anyway. I think they suspend Ballmer from basketball activities, maybe move the all-star game, and they could actually aim to void Kawhi's contract. I wouldn't have thought that when this news first broke but it just looks worse and worse.

Not a lawyer, but that last 'and' between (i) and (ii) could be contentious.

The Clippers could theoretically argue that it meets criteria (i) but not (ii)

That ‘and’ gave me pause too, but remember that Kawhi did extend for less aav and duration than his max each time, most recently by $70 million total. ‘Substantially’ isn’t a defined term but the league could definitely say that’s substantially less than his market.

Also the “can be inferred when:” jumps out at me, because it means these circumstances are all the league really needs to rule on the violation. They don’t need a hard copy of Ballmer laying out the scheme - the standards are more lax than prosecuting a crime for instance.

[___Rand___]

It was obvious to anyone who was paying even the least bit of attention, that the Kawhi signing was greased by under the table payments from Ballmer to Kawhi and family. I’m sure there’s more deals involving Kawhi that clearly violated NBA rules.

This is just the first one that’s been exposed. Stay tuned for more.

If it comes out. This came of light only because that company went under and is being sued for Fraud.

[nestea]

That son of a bitch... knew some shady stuff happened to help him go there.

Silver will act spineless as usual and do nothing about this.

Lol

[WuTang_CMB]

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