Adam Silver is keeping his distance from the Clippers’ ongoing scandal, but the NBA commissioner made it clear the league is determined to find answers. Speaking at the Front Office Sports conference, Silver said he had no prior knowledge of Kawhi Leonard’s controversial Aspiration deal and vowed that the investigation will reveal the truth.
“I don’t know anything about Kawhi’s deal. Show, no-show; we’ll certainly find out,” said Silver to Mike Vorkunov. “We will get to the bottom of it. I’m a lawyer. I believe in due process. I believe in fairness. We will begin with a presumption of innocence, not a presumption of guilt. We will follow the facts.”
Interestingly, Silver revealed that the top complaint he’s been getting is from owners who want less strict investment rules. That might change now with this current scandal.
“Up until now, the greatest complaints have come from a combination of players and owners who don’t like the fact that the league has placed limitations on companies that they can both be investing in because it feels unfair,” said Silver. “Historically, that’s been a complaint.”
Silver hasn’t said a lot about the league’s biggest scandal right now. During the recent NBA Board of Governors meeting, he announced a full investigation during a public statement, where he revealed having no prior knowledge of Aspiration at all.
Of course, Silver doesn’t yet have all the details, and it seems he’s chosen to take a more indirect approach to his response. Without any insight into the parties involved, he’s tasked an outside law firm to handle the case, and he will only take action after they conclude their thorough investigation.
As it stands, no concrete evidence has been provided to prove the Clippers’ guilt, but the details of the case don’t paint them in a good light. For starters, there’s the amount of Kawhi’s contract with Aspiration, which was set for nearly $50 million. It also included a clause that allowed him to “opt out” of any obligations.
Aspiration was partially supported by Steve Ballmer himself, who initially invested $50 million before making another $10 million payment. That’s not to mention the $1.9 million investment made by Clippers co-owner Dennis Wong, who put in $1.99 million months earlier.
Consider those details with the fact that Leonard and his camp are known to have made illegal requests before, and it adds up to paint a very damning picture for the Clippers. Too many things are off here, and rival executives are calling on the league to “bring the hammer down.”
With potential punishments ranging from fines and the rescinding of draft picks to the voiding of Kawhi’s contract, the stakes are high for the Clippers. While the burden of proof is ultimately on the NBA here, they have the control to decide how severely the Clippers get punished, if at all.
From the looks of it, Adam Silver was completely ignorant of the whole ordeal, and he’s not about to take the word of some journalist before he goes against the NBA’s richest team owner. It could take weeks or months to get the full story, but we shouldn’t expect a ruling until all the facts have been gathered.
Between an extensive paper trail, the testimony of former Aspiration employees, and a timeline that matches up all too well, the circumstantial evidence is stacking up against the Clippers, and each new piece of information further narrows what little plausible deniability they have left.
In the end, the case against the Clippers will come down to how much the NBA can actually prove. Silver has promised to dig deep, but until the league hands down its verdict, the cloud of suspicion will only get darker. Whether the punishment is light or severe, this investigation is already changing how the Clippers are viewed, and the fallout could reshape how every team in the NBA does business going forward.
