Video summary
The NBA has officially concluded its investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers' salary cap circumvention scheme, resulting in severe penalties that fundamentally alter the franchise's future. Commissioner Adam Silver and the league have ruled that the team forfeited five first-round draft picks from 2029 through 2033, alongside a massive $30 million fine for owner Steve Ballmer and one-year suspensions for General Manager Lawrence Frank and basketball operations head Gillian Zucker. Kawhi Leonard was required to pay restitution of $700,000 regarding improper benefits provided by his uncle, Dennis Robertson, who has been banned from all league business dealings. While the NBA confirmed that Leonard entered his contract in good faith without knowledge of the cap violation, the organization faced a compliance and monitoring program overseen by league offices for five years, effectively placing them under house arrest financially and operationally.
In response to these findings, the Clippers organization has vehemently rejected the NBA's conclusions, labeling the investigation as biased and predetermined. They have announced their intention to fight the penalties through every available avenue, including arbitration, though they acknowledge there is no formal appeal process for teams in this specific context. The narrative presented by the team suggests that while they cooperated fully during the inquiry, the league failed to meet its own standards of fairness and accuracy. This legal battle could drag on for years, potentially until 2029 when the first forfeited pick becomes relevant, but the immediate impact is a decade-long depletion of draft capital that will make it nearly impossible for the franchise to compete at a championship level in the near future.
The fallout extends beyond just the Clippers, raising significant questions about the integrity of team building and the willingness of other players to sign with organizations facing such scrutiny. The video highlights a stark comparison between this scandal and previous infractions like that of the Minnesota Timberwolves, noting that losing five consecutive first-round picks is akin to a "death penalty" in the NBA. Unlike the Warriors' recent trade involving Luka Dončić and Anthony Davis, which involved generational talent, the Clippers lost their future potential by sacrificing a decade of draft assets for a single conference finals appearance. This situation forces fans to reconsider their loyalty, as the team may be relegated to building from the middle with limited resources for the next eight years, potentially affecting how players like Kawhi Leonard are received upon his return to Los Angeles.
Ultimately, this scandal serves as a massive wake-up call for the league regarding the enforcement of salary cap rules and the need for independent verification of complex financial maneuvers. The fact that an independent reporter was required to uncover the scheme after a year of silence from the NBA highlights potential gaps in oversight that could have allowed other teams to operate with impunity. While the Clippers' owner, Steve Ballmer, is being criticized for his role in the situation, the video suggests that the culture of doing whatever it takes to sign top talent often leads to such gray areas. As the league moves forward with stricter monitoring, the incident underscores the high stakes involved in maintaining competitive balance and the severe consequences that come from circumventing the rules designed to ensure fairness across all franchises.
Read the full video transcript
The NBA investigated the Clippers
potential salary cap circumvention for a
year and we finally found out that it
was real. I mean, Pablo told us that a
year ago, but the NBA had to do their
due diligence and everything, right? Um,
and we finally we finally get to see
what the NBA decide to do and they they
basically put the hammer down on the
Clippers where I I don't know what's
next for Clippers. I I tweeted just five
first round picks because that's what
it's going to equate to for us as NBA
fans who are thinking about team
building and stuff like that. and
Clipper fan in my mention says, "Is it
okay to switch teams at this point?" You
know what I mean? If your team, Matter
of fact, let's let's read through let's
read through what Shamsani reported it
reported on this random Wednesday
afternoon. Breaking the NBA has ruled on
the LA Clippers and their salary cap
circumvention investigations on Kawhi
Leonard after Yelon Probe stripping a
franchise of five first round picks.
five issuing a $30 million fine to Steve
Bomber, which is a ton of money, but for
Steve Bomber, that's like
five a $5 bill. And the suspension for
Bomber, Lawrence Frank and Gileian
Zucker, who is like the basketball ops
guy or something like that. Kawhi
Leonard will have to pay 700,000
restitution for improper benefits by the
Clippers for his uncle and former
business rep Dennis Robertson. Shout out
to Uncle Dennis. Or maybe not. Shout out
to Uncle Dennis. Maybe not. Shout out to
Uncle Dennis, but it's just a name that
you've heard for a decade now about
Uncle Dennis asking for crazy stuff. And
the Clippers were the team that said,
"All right, Unk, we'll give it to you."
And now it's going to cost them
everything. No contract void suspension
for Kawhai. So that's good. He'll be a
rapper next season, it seems. And Uncle
Dennis, who was fired by Leonard in
June, is being banned by the NBA for all
business dealings. So we won't be
hearing Uncle Dennis's name maybe ever
again when it comes to dealings. This is
the way it's going to look like. Per the
NBA, the Clippers shall forfeit five
first round picks, one in each of 29,
30, 31, 32, and 33. That is everything,
y'all. I'm letting you know that is
everything. Steve Bomber suspens
suspended from all league and team
activities for one year for knowingly
seeking to help obtain offc court income
opportunities. Uh Gillian Zucker
suspended one year without pay for being
primarily and directly copable cop for
everything. Lawrence Frank is being
suspended without pay for six months for
his involvement within everything. and
then the Clippers organization and
personnel are subject to a compliance
and monitoring program overseen by the
league offices for a period of five
years. They they got five first round
picks taken away from them. Their owner
can't be in the arena for a whole year
and all the other guys that are working
got six months and one year and then
they're on house arrest. The NBA is
looking at every piece of every dollar
that the Clippers are going to spend for
the next five years is is getting
monitored by by the NBA. Lastly, um, not
lastly, oh my god, because one minute
before I hit record, some more happened.
But second to last, I guess, Kawhi
Leonard had this statement through his
new agent, Harrison Gains. Harrison,
Harrison, you actually got a pretty
solid job to be to be the agent after
the agent that did the [ __ ] up stuff.
It's probably easy job. You probably got
light anyway. Uh, integrity and respect
for this game are fundamental to who I
am. I accept all full responsibility for
laps and judgment by people within my
inner circle. Regret uh the distraction
this situation has caused to the fans of
my family. I entered into my contract
with the Clippers as well as my as as
the agreement and question in good
faith. Fully committed to fulfilling my
obligations with no knowledge of any
intent on anyone's part to circumvent
the salary cap. For 50 years, my
priority has been giving everything to
my family, the game, and those I share
the court with. As I return to Toronto,
I am focused on what I can control.
closing this chapter and moving forward
with a clean slate. So, Kawhi Lyn said,
"Hey,
I ain't had nothing to do with this,
bro. Uncle Uncle Dennis was wild." You
feel me? I did my part. I showed up for
them two meetings that they paid me $20
million for. Uncle Dennis was doing some
extra. I had nothing to do with that.
So, don't you can't you can't throw
nothing at me. And it feels like the NBA
under investigation maybe agrees that
Kawhi Linda did nothing wrong. And it
was Uncle Dennis and the Clippers. Now,
this is new to me. Let's see exactly
what Sharine is tweeting here. The
statement from the Clippers. We
veheently reject the NBA's findings
which are a result of a heavily biased
investigation seeking to justify a
predetermined narrative rather than the
facts and evidence with the Oh, they
spin back. Hold on. We about to have a
fight. This going to court, baby. With
the when the league told us privately
differs from what it announced today
publicly.
Okay. Um, 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. 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. Yes. I mean, we you could you
could have just guessed that the
Clippers are going to say, "No, we
didn't do this. We need we need another
investigation. Another investigation.
Another investigation." Because even if
they did do this, they can't just accept
the fact that the NBA's taking five
first round picks away. Dude, this is
actually insane. And and you know, I've
been keeping up with the story just like
everybody else in NBA fan because it's
been a while since we've had a cheating
scandal and that's what this is is a
cheating scandal within the NBA. And you
know, every article I I read that was
outside of Pablo because Pablo is very
very um important to all of this. This
goes unnoticed completely if Pablo Tore
doesn't go under the weeds and under the
hood to find this out, which is kind of
a scary thing. And I hope that that is a
wakeup call for for the NBA's offices
because the Clippers got caught. Who
knows what else the hell is going on
before this, right? So maybe a wakeup
call for them. But Pablo was one that
was bringing out the receipts and
receipts. But everybody else that I was
reading that was keeping up with the
story was saying, "Hey man, based on
what we're seeing, there may not be a
smoking gun," which is like, you know,
the the big piece of evidence to confirm
that all of this happened. And because
the NBA did put a heavy smackdown on
five first round picks, it let us
believe that there was a smoking gun
that they eventually found. But the
Clippers are saying no. And of course,
they're going to go this operation
period. I mean, the first part of this
when it comes to the team building
aspect doesn't hit until 2029, right?
So, in theory, we have potentially two
and a half years for the Clippers to
fight this in court or so on. I don't
know if the NBA courts are the same as
the normal judicial courts when they say
um innocent without innocent. No, no,
no. With unreasonable doubt. That's what
they say. I I did take one criminal
justice class for about a couple months.
Um without a reasonable doubt. I don't
know if that is the same here. The
Clippers are saying we did nothing wrong
and we cooperated. So, I guess time will
tell. Let's take a step back, though.
I've said it many times before, and I'll
say it again. If I was in the shoes of
Steve Bomber and Lawrence Frank all
those years back, uh, going into the
2019 2020 season, I would do exactly
what they did, not the cap circumvent
stuff. I'm not a cheater, but the as far
as having Kawhi Leonard come off a year
where he was great obviously and led a
team to a finals and he had one of the
three best shots in the history of the
sport and he was the best player in the
world, a Terminator for two months. He
said, "I want to come to the Clippers
under circumstances and some of them
circumstances got them in this
situation." And then Paul George who was
coming off a top three MVP season, a DPO
season. Both of those guys want to come
to our team in Los Angeles. They want to
come to Los Angeles and it's not the
Lakers. It's gonna cost us five first
round picks. I'm doing it. It's gonna
cost us Shay. I'm doing it. Now, nobody
thought anybody that thought Shay was
going to be a two-time MVP and one of
the greatest players ever after his
rookie season, they're probably lying to
you. I was the biggest Shay fan. You go
watch the archives. I not in a million
years that I think he was going to be
the best player in the league one day,
you know. Um, but you know, putting
yourself in that 2019 mass again, that
is something that I would be willing to
do because of where those players were.
And it was what Shay and Galinari. I
feel like I'm forgetting another player
in that trade. I don't want to
disrespect Gallinari cuz he that 2019 20
Gallinari when he got to OKC that was
one of my favorite teams ever by the way
cuz Chris Paul you know beating the odds
whatever Gallari was amaz amazing after
anyway and that was a Clippers team that
was just going against the Warriors and
they had one of the biggest comebacks in
playoffs history but that is something
you do I think 99 out of 100 times it's
five first round picks she gears
Alexander Galinari but now because of
this capir convention the Kawhi Leonard
Paul George era netted them as the
Clippers one conference miners
appearance and it's going to cost them
10 first round picks.
10.
I you could argue that this is like the
now with all with all of this encompass
this is the worst that was the worst
trade in the history of the sport.
Maybe the worst trade in the history of
any sport. I I I'm not huge into
football, but I know that Deshun Watson
stuff is crazy, you know, especially
after the money they gave him. Um, but
10 years of draft capital, a decade of
draft capital for a conference finals
appearance.
I mean, we we just had one of the
craziest trades of all time just what
two years ago with the Luca Dantis,
Anthony Davis. Which one is the wor
which one is the worst trade?
You give up generational talent and Luca
Dantis for an aging big fella that you
trade away a year later or do you give
up a decade worth of draft picks
and a future two-time MVP, maybe more
than two time MVP
for Converse Titans appearance? Y'all
had a debate in the comment section. I
damn near want to go to Clippers trade
is worse, bro. Y'all know how good Shay
is. You do. You've been watching the
NBA. Um,
it's just insane times. And again, like
I said, I hope this is a wakeup call for
the NBA because this league is so
precious. It is not without its flaws,
do not get me wrong, but it is so
precious. And having someone be able to
do this under your nose and it happen to
take an independent reporter to find it
out is a is a scary thing. And I'm
hoping that that encourages the NBA to
look under every transaction, to look at
under every sponsorship deal from here
on out because we can't afford for a
team to circumvent the cap and it ends
up working out for the Clippers. It
didn't work out. They got Kawhai. It was
fun. Kyle S appearance, but can you
imagine if next year's champion
circumvented the cap like that? That
just changed the whole integrity of the
championship. It changed the whole
season. Now again, because the Clippers
weren't that successful, it sucks, but
it ain't the worst thing of all time.
The Clippers on house arrest. Every team
should just be on house arrest. Let's be
honest. Let's look at every single Oh,
no. They they going to come after me.
Never mind. Don't look at every single
deal. Don't look at every single deal.
Um it's just it's just it's just wow. I
think that's the only way I can describe
it. It's just wow. And there there is no
let's be honest, there is no there is no
silver lining um with this, right? 10
years of no draft picks basically. Like,
but
hey, Ken Waggley got a lot on his
shoulders, bro. And it's not his fault,
right? It's not his fault. But if you're
trying to tell me the Clippers are going
to miss 10 year, five year, five more
years worth of draft picks. Luckily, the
Zubots trade worked out for them when
they got number five. And I don't know.
I like Katon a lot. Shout out to the
guy. He's a really good good kid and I'm
rooting for him definitely.
But if he doesn't work out and you're
trying to tell me we don't have draft
picks to to get younger to get we don't
have draft picks to acquire guys that
are the Clippers. They're not they're
not a folding type of team. But this is
the type of thing that would fold an
organization normally. It would fold an
organization and it's not going to
because it's the NBA and you know it's
always going to be money here in the
NBA. But my goodness,
I don't I don't know.
I don't know what you do next. I I don't
know. Again, that fam after all this, I
tweeted five first round picks because
it's a lot. And I'm not saying it's a
lot in the sense that it's overkill
because it's not, but it is a lot of
total picks. And they asked Kenny,
"Is switching teams okay?" And listen,
you nobody nobody should have to ask
someone else, could they switch teams?
Should they switch teams? This is an
internal thing. Me personally, I'm not a
switching teams type of guy. But I'm if
if you were a Clippers fan for the last
decade or whatever and something like
this happened where genuinely your team
is out of the hunt for at least the next
uh at least the next eight years,
I don't think it's I don't think it's
crazy to cons reconsider things.
They don't have their own I'm sorry. OKC
has a pick swap rights in 20 uh 27. So
you OKC is going to be very good.
They're probably a one seed. So you you
I mean you're going to have a 29th
overall pick. So maybe you win something
there. And 2028 they didn't have they
don't own their first round pick at all.
And then it's 2930 31 32 33.
The Clippers are going to have to try to
continue to build from the middle and
just try to be a 40 win team every
single season. That's the only thing
they can do. and hope that a Keem
Waggler or they head on restricted free
agency in 2030 or you know because
Darius Garland, Brandon Ingram, Keem
Waggler is it's just not going to be I
mean we we love us some Jordan Miller we
love us some some Kobe Sanders but it's
just not going to be enough to to do any
anything in the NBA
and now we're going to have a first
round draft pick for five years whereas
29 pitchers means that there's one
there's one kid that's going to get
drafted 30th but it's going to be in the
second round and that's going to change
his money. So, the Clippers are not only
hurting themselves, they're hurting some
kid in 2029 as the 30th overall pick in
the draft. And I'm I'm trolling, but
it's also true. And not that it matters.
I'm just If there's one guy that should
be vindic vindicated, um it's Pablo.
Obviously, you got to give the credit to
Pablo if you're neutral because he did
all he put in all the hours. He put in
all the time. And when things kind of
died cuz the original report from Pablo
was huge, right? He was all over the
place with this and it went viral and
everybody's looking at it and then it
died down because the NBA said we're
going to do our own piece and then you
see all the reports, oh the NBA
struggling to find a smoking gun. You
seeing all this and I remember I'm just
seeing Clippers fans be like, hey bro,
Pablo been lying for a whole year. He
just hate the Clippers and now the NBA
said no. Pablo was right. So he's got to
feel vindicated. I know. I think he won
an award for his his reporting around
all of this. So, um, Mark Cuban, Mark
Cuban came to defense of Steve Balmer
that said there's there's there's no way
the CLIPPERS THERE'S NO WAY THE CLIPPERS
did this. Steve Balmer is TOO SMART OF A
GUY to to get caught doing this. Well,
his ass got caught. So, uh, losers to
the situation. Clippers fans in general,
I'm so sorry. It's not your fault. It's
not your fault, but you just happen to
wear the hat. Steve Balmer, loser. Um,
you know what's so funny? Winner. Kawhi
Leonard. K. They went through all this
trouble for Kawhai for him to say, "Fuck
y'all deuces. I'm going back to the
six." And he just get he just gets to go
to Toronto and compete for a
championship by the Clippers are going
to spend eight more years of doing
nothing.
Oh man, man. Man, what a time in the
NBA, bro. Y'all recognize how ridiculous
it is that we are in the beginning of
September and a big new piece of news
like this. This is supposed to be the
dead of the offseason. Like, nah, people
are getting in trouble left and right,
y'all. Oh, Serge just came out. See,
that's why I'm happy at in the video.
There is no appeal arbitration process
for the Clippers to pursue with the NBA.
It is not a right that the teams have.
The NBA could have pursued arbitration,
but it accepted the fines and
punishment. So, the Clippers said they
going to fight. Nah, you can't fight
back. You gonna take these hands. You
just got you got to take the loss. You
got to take the loss. And people already
tweeted me that I got to rebuild the
Clippers under this circumstance. Hey,
I'm not doing that [ __ ] I'm sorry.
Matter of fact, I will. I feel I will. I
will. I will. I will. Yeah, man. Um,
people are are comparing it to Joe
Smith. Joe Smith was another salary cap
circumvention story. The NBA, I think,
took four first round picks initially,
then gave them two back. And that's what
the Minnesota Timberwolves and and for
what it's worth, the Minnesota
Timberwolves were poorly ran during that
time and after that, too. But it took
them a very long time to recover from
getting two first round picks taken away
from them.
It's five. And and based on the way this
is this is feeling, I don't know if
they're going to get two first round
picks back like the Minnesota
Timberwolves did. This is truly truly
the death penalty because I remember
when I asked um I asked Terry
Hallebertton something um about
you know do te do teams remember some of
the the the play do players remember
some of the bad things teams have done?
So for example I think I actually used
the Clippers as an example. The Clippers
did this whole presentation for Blake
Griffin. He signed an extension. They
had him up there with [ __ ] Gandhi and
Barack Obama and it's like Blake Griffin
Gandhi Barack Obama and MLK. you could
be this next one, right? And then six
months later, they trade him to the
Detroit Pistons. And I obviously
remember that moment where Blake Griffin
runs right past, you know, the team and
everything. They're trying to shake his
hands. He said, "Fuck that. He going he
going to go to the locker room." And I
asked Tyrese, like, "Do players remember
that?" Like, would that hurt the
Clippers because teams or players
remember that the team did him dirty?
And Tyrese just said, "As long as
there's money, there's going to be
people willing to go." And I think
that's pretty interesting. But I wonder
if that shifts if there's there's money
involved, but there's no future
involved. You feel me? So, in the
hypothetical world where the Clippers in
2030, uh, let's say 2029 open up two max
spots again, they could do Kawhal and
Paul George 2.0. Oh my god, this is
going to go crazy. Are players still
willing to do that knowing that there's
no a 30 pick, there's no 31 pick,
there's no 32 pick, there's no 33 pick,
there's no 35, you know, do they do they
do they still think about signing
knowing that the avenue for the team to
get better outside of signing me is
almost none? Do players care about that
type of thing? I don't know. Right. But
this is this is truly a death sentence
where the next time the Clippers are
going to be a competitive championship
level team. I might be in my I'm going
to be in my mid30s. I'm be in my mid I'm
going be in my mid I may not have a head
of hair. No. Oh no no I'm not I'm not
wishing that on myself. But
I wonder what the response to Kawhi
Leonard when he comes back. Obviously
he's going to play one game in LA
because he's um Eastern Conference
player now. I'm sure he's going to get
booed, but to what extent? Um,
this is this is just super wild. And I
feel like there's so many angles that I
can't think of, but obviously these
videos are always super reactionary.
Just my first first initial thoughts to
everything. Kawhi Leonard gets out. Only
thing that happens is that his uncle
can't work within the league anymore.
I'm sure he doesn't care about that. I'm
sure he just doesn't care about that.
Um,
29 30 31 32 33 picks. My goodness.
Tough times. Tough times. Hey, let me
know what you think about it all. Um,
Adam Silver put that hammer down. Matter
of fact, let me just get I'm just saying