Shams: NBA Finally Punishes the Clippers (& Slaps Wrist of Kawhi)

[Roy H.]

I didn't think Silver had it in him.  That's the right decision.  it seems like a 100% chance that this goes to arbitration, and my guess is that the arbitrator will reduce the penalty, because they always do.

The Kawhi punishment is a bit of a joke, but ultimately it is the teams and the agents that need to play by the financial rules. Still, I wonder if there will be something in the next CBA about stuff like this.

Ya part of the reason for gong all-out with a 5 first round pick penalty is giving some wiggle room for having it reduced to say 3 first round picks after arbitration and still having it bite.

Minnesota was penalized 5 first round picks in 2000 for the Joe Smith tampering violation. I don't see why this will be reduced. In anything, Kawhi should have faced a two year ban for his part. The team and agent wouldn't have been part of these extra deals if Kawhi did not demanded it.

The Twolves had two of those picks restored, which is something an arbitrator would consider.

[ozgod]

Interesting decision to blast the Clippers from orbit while doing pretty much nothing to Kawhi.  I would have thought both would be held liable for an agreement both entered willingly.  Guess not.

Unfortunately I don't think there's an NBA rule that Kawhi violated, other than the $700k that they fined him, which was basically what the Clippers gave him in freebies (flights, hotel stays, etc) which they said was part of his compensation so they fined him for it. The burden of complying with the salary cap rules as outlined in the CBA rests with the team, so the hammer came down hard on them for facilitating these deals. Uncle Dennis was punished for "acting as an uncertified player representative to solicit illegal benefits", which the CBA prohibits. Uncle Dennis never hid the fact that he wanted under the table money for Kawhi so he got dinged for that - the NBA wants to send a message that any player agent needs to be certified by the NBPA.

Speaking of the NBPA, I'm sure they would have sued if Kawhi had had his contract torn up, and they probably would have won, because a) Kawhi is a basketball player, he signed a contract to play basketball, and tearing his contract up when there's no clear smoking gun that he was complicit would be seen as a restraint of trade;  b) Kawhi has plausible deniability by suing Uncle Dennis saying "Uncle Dennis was doing all this shady stuff and I didn't know about it" (whether the documents and paper trail bore this out I do not know but according to Shams they were unable to find evidence that he knew about Uncle Dennis's scams); and c) because as mentioned before, the team bears the legal responsibility for compliance. In fact, if Uncle Dennis and Kawhi had approached all the sponsors on their own and gotten $$$ out of that the team would probably have been in the clear, and Uncle Dennis would have been the fall guy. So it would have been a tough sell legally to tear up Kawhi's contract, so they chose Uncle Dennis as the scapegoat on the player side of the ledger.

Personally I'm sure Kawhi must have known at some level, but being able to prove culpability, to the point where you can win that legal battle in court vs the NBPA, would be another story. Easier all round to punish the Clippers, since their culpability was clear and documented, and Uncle Dennis, for the same reason, and more politically acceptable to the league. Let's be honest, they want Kawhi on the court, not on the sidelines. But it's a warning to everyone else to get their act together, because I'm sure there's plenty of shady deals going on all around the league.

And yes, to someone else's point earlier, the return on investment for Kawhi - the investment being over $200m in salary, $30m in fines, suspension of your owner and leadership for a year, and ultimately 10 draft picks, for a guy who played less than half the game and didn't deliver any championships - is without a doubt now the worst in the history of the league 

[Birdman]

Kawhi should got suspended. A 700K fine is nothing to him as he made over 300 million. He got off easy

[Neurotic Guy]

What are your predictions of what will happen to the Clips roster between now and the 2027-28 season? 

[DefenseWinsChamps]

They are not allowed punish Kawhi.

The rules are setup in a way where they are only allowed to hold the teams accountable. There are no repercussions for players for violating these rules. The league were not able to punish Kawhi.

They need to change the rules so that in future incidents like this they are actually able to punish the player. Right now they are not.

How is that correct? They punish players all the time? There is even precedent to punish players in situations like these.

[slamtheking]

What are your predictions of what will happen to the Clips roster between now and the 2027-28 season?

they have no incentive to tank but no real method for improving their team.  the current roster has some mediocre role players (even after the Toronto deal goes through there's no real stars on that roster) that may be tradable at the deadline for maybe a late first rounder or some second rounders.  They may gain some traction if they can clear enough of their roster to be a dumping ground for other teams looking to unload overpaid and underproductive players while taking on draft picks for their efforts.

Ultimately, they'll struggle to be a play-in team this season and going forward will likely be a lottery team without the ability to cash in on their poor record for a good draft pick.  hoping that it has a positive impact on the 28 pick we could get from them but I suspect that it won't work out to our benefit as much as would hope

[Neurotic Guy]

What are your predictions of what will happen to the Clips roster between now and the 2027-28 season?

they have no incentive to tank but no real method for improving their team.  the current roster has some mediocre role players (even after the Toronto deal goes through there's no real stars on that roster) that may be tradable at the deadline for maybe a late first rounder or some second rounders.  They may gain some traction if they can clear enough of their roster to be a dumping ground for other teams looking to unload overpaid and underproductive players while taking on draft picks for their efforts.

Ultimately, they'll struggle to be a play-in team this season and going forward will likely be a lottery team without the ability to cash in on their poor record for a good draft pick.  hoping that it has a positive impact on the 28 pick we could get from them but I suspect that it won't work out to our benefit as much as would hope

At this point it?s only about what is more, or most, likely to happen. Anything can happen of course.  In terms of free agency, will any of the Clips better players opt to play elsewhere if they are FAs next off-season?  Will other free agents opt for LAC if offers elsewhere are in the same ballpark?  No one can look at this team in the context of their next contract and think it will be a competitive team.  Will the Clips opt to overpay a couple of lower tier FAs (my assumption is that upper tier FAs will have other suitors who will pay top dollar)? 

Trading players for picks does nothing in all likelihood to move their 2027-28 needle in the positive direction.

[tonydelk]

While nothing is guaranteed all this did was help the Celtics.  The Clippers don't have any avenue to become a contender and don't have the picks to rebuild.  Even if they got top young players there are still growing pains.  If the 28 pick is not in the lottery then they get their pick outright in 29.  This is a very appealing piece of draft capital which is great for the C's.  After this upcoming season this pick along with an expiring PG13 will be the great foundation to trade for another star.  I don't see the C's using this pick.  I can definitely see them trading it for the next disgruntled player to pair with Tatum.  All this does is help.  Picks are never guaranteed but any team that wants to move off of a top player will absolutely want this pick. 

[Neurotic Guy]

While nothing is guaranteed all this did was help the Celtics.  The Clippers don't have any avenue to become a contender and don't have the picks to rebuild.  Even if they got top young players there are still growing pains.  If the 28 pick is not in the lottery then they get their pick outright in 29.  This is a very appealing piece of draft capital which is great for the C's.  After this upcoming season this pick along with an expiring PG13 will be the great foundation to trade for another star.  I don't see the C's using this pick.  I can definitely see them trading it for the next disgruntled player to pair with Tatum.  All this does is help.  Picks are never guaranteed but any team that wants to move off of a top player will absolutely want this pick.

I didn?t realize that the pick rolls over to 2029 if not a lottery pick in 2028.  If that happens do we actually get the pick given that the Clips 2029 pick is forfeited?

[Who]

They are not allowed punish Kawhi.

The rules are setup in a way where they are only allowed to hold the teams accountable. There are no repercussions for players for violating these rules. The league were not able to punish Kawhi.

They need to change the rules so that in future incidents like this they are actually able to punish the player. Right now they are not.

How is that correct? They punish players all the time? There is even precedent to punish players in situations like these.

Is there? I don't think there is. I am not familiar with any punishments for similar offenses at this.

------------

How is this correct? It is the way the rules were written. They were written to hold teams accountable for any circumvention of the cap. There is no rules to hold players accountable for circumventing the cap. Nor are there any rules to hold players accountable for trying (as opposed to succeeding) to circumvent the cap -- for example Uncle Dennis asking for perks outside of the contract which it was clear for all to see when Kawhi was a free agent at the time as it was reported heavily that he was asking for this and that from Toronto and other teams who were trying to get Kawhi. This is not new information. This is information we had back in 2019 or 2020 whenever it was.

There are no rules for players.
There are only rules for teams.

That is why LA Clippers are punished and Kawhi is not punished.

If this was only about the $700k in perks / moneys Uncle Dennis got, LA Clippers would not have lost 5 first round picks. The LA Clippers are being punished for trying to funnel money to Kawhi through 3rd parties. Kawhi has received no punishment for this. There are no rules against players about this activity. Only teams.

----------

Go back to the Joe Smith one. T'Wolves were punished heavily. Joe Smith received no punishment / no suspension / no fines. His contract was cancelled but that was because the entire written contract was outside the salary cap rules. They couldn't keep it. It was impossible. 

Kawhi's contract on the other hand is within cap rules. It is a max deal. That can still be maintained.

It is the money from (1) 3rd parties (2) money / perks given by LAC to Uncle Dennis that are violate the cap. So they chose to leave Kawhi's contract alone. Repay the perks and all is well. No punishment for the player for 3rd party money. Only punishment for the team.

----------

They need to rewrite the rules.

Players must be held accountable otherwise there is no reason for players to follow the rules. If you are not going to get punished for it, why not try your luck and see if you can get extras beyond your NBA cap contract. 

They need rules for a player even attempting this. Kawhi and Uncle Dennis should have been punished back in 2019 / 2020 for trying to circumvent the rules (for perks / moneys for Uncle Dennis / Kawhi's family) because we all knew that is what they were doing. This is not new information. The 3rd party moneys is new info.

[Neurotic Guy]

While nothing is guaranteed all this did was help the Celtics.  The Clippers don't have any avenue to become a contender and don't have the picks to rebuild.  Even if they got top young players there are still growing pains.  If the 28 pick is not in the lottery then they get their pick outright in 29.  This is a very appealing piece of draft capital which is great for the C's.  After this upcoming season this pick along with an expiring PG13 will be the great foundation to trade for another star.  I don't see the C's using this pick.  I can definitely see them trading it for the next disgruntled player to pair with Tatum.  All this does is help.  Picks are never guaranteed but any team that wants to move off of a top player will absolutely want this pick.

I didn?t realize that the pick rolls over to 2029 if not a lottery pick in 2028.  If that happens do we actually get the pick given that the Clips 2029 pick is forfeited?

The 2028 does not roll over to 2029 if not a lottery pick.

[Vermont Green]

I believe that PHI will get the LAC 2028 pick outright, no conditions.  That is settled (I believe).

The complications relate to the BOS trade with PHI.  If the LAC 2028 pick is in the lottery and better then wherever PHI own pick ends up, it becomes a pick swap between PHI and BOS where BOS gets the LAC lottery pick (or potentially the PHI pick if better), with the SAS pick (after that swap with BOS) going to PHI.

If LAC and PHI are not in the lottery, BOS gets the LAC non-lottery pick outright and gets to keep whatever is left after the SAS swap.

Bottom line to me is that the 2028 LAC pick will increase in value due to this, not decrease in value.  Worst case, LAC is no better or no worse in 2027-28 than they would have been.  I can't imagine a scenario where the LAC team is better for this.  They were looking like a team headed for the lottery before and even more so now. 

[Donoghus]

New Clippers logo

[aefgogreen]

New Clippers logo

TP - because it's funny.  Also, I'm a fan of simple, clean logos.

[Amonkey]

My question is what does Clippers as an organization do for the next 5 years? Will the GM stay on and would any other GM want to take on this task? Would they overpay for young talent in hope they become better? Do they invest in veteran players just to keep them afloat? It's not like you are going to have young talent to develop if you are terrible for the next 5 years, so do they just tread water and if so, how are you keeping the fans engaged?

By the way, Clippers for sure will sue and I think the 5 picks will probably go down to 3 and perhaps be non-consecutive to give them a little more of a chance.