Nearly a year ago, the NBA hired an independent law firm to investigate potential salary-cap circumvention by the Los Angeles Clippers involving star forward Kawhi Leonard.
As the one-year mark nears, veteran sports host Dan Le Batard believes the delayed investigation is being slow-rolled intentionally by other owners who are worried about the fallout from potentially punishing the Clippers.
The league launched its investigation after well-sourced reporting by investigative podcaster Pablo Torre from within Aspiration, the sustainability firm allegedly at the center of the dealings. Torre’s reporting shows that Steve Ballmer, his minority owner, and team officials may have used a “no-show” endorsement deal between Leonard and Aspiration to circumvent the salary cap and pay Leonard beyond his NBA contract. Attorneys have reportedly spoken with Leonard, Clippers officials, and even Torre himself, in a wide-ranging probe into some of the most explosive allegations in the history of the NBA.
Ballmer has denied any wrongdoing since the start of the investigation.
More recently, a trade that would send Leonard to the Toronto Raptors was put on hold while the investigation wrapped up, drawing even further scrutiny to the league’s interminable Aspiration probe.
In Tuesday’s episode of The Dan Le Batard Show, the host revealed reporting suggesting other NBA owners are “afraid” of Ballmer and how he might attempt to undermine the league’s legal authority if it tries to bring the hammer down over the allegedly improper deal between Leonard and Aspiration.
“I’ve been sort of confused by why it’s taking so long, and the reason it’s taking so long is because the owners are afraid of Steve Ballmer’s money,” he said.
“And they’re afraid that the entire construct of what it is that they built, the salary cap illusion of, ‘we’re all in partnership on equity,’ is going to fall apart if you punish him so much … that he then takes to court, ‘Hey you don’t have the right as the commissioner of the league to do all of this stuff to me just because you say.’ And I am alarmed that people with this kind of money are this kind of afraid of Steve Ballmer’s money. Because these are not un-wealthy people.”
According to a Forbes investigation last year, Ballmer is not only the richest NBA owner, but the richest owner in all of American sports, with a net worth tens of billions of dollars greater than any other.
Le Batard’s sources seem to believe Ballmer would have a greater appetite, perhaps even than the league itself, for a protracted legal battle over the legitimacy of the salary cap and collective bargaining agreement as governing documents over NBA teams’ financial operations.
“What is he going to do with the money that makes them afraid? And what he can do is, like, ‘The salary cap’s a sham, I don’t have to respect this. Why do I have to respect this?'” Le Batard suggested.
“And now you’ve got people being deposed, and a commissioner, like, ‘What do you mean you get to make all the rules on something I own?’ Yeah, it’s collectively bargained; let’s try to see what comes up in court. You guys all want to come to court to me? The answer’s no. The answer is they’re afraid of what he can do publicly to them with his money.”
Of course, Le Batard himself has a vested interest in the accuracy and legacy of Torre’s Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting. Le Batard’s company, Meadowlark Media, houses Pablo Torre Finds Out. And if Ballmer and the Clippers got feisty toward the journalists who uncovered the scandal in the first place, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time a billionaire made a news outlet sweat.
Le Batard referred to the Aspiration scandal as an “open-and-shut case” that Torre has “proven,” though some believe Torre fell just short of a true “smoking gun,” such as a recording or written evidence confirming Ballmer gave direct instructions to Aspiration about the shape of Leonard’s deal.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.