[News] Clippers Paying Kawhi Under the Table

[Insomniacal Fan]

No. What I am saying is that both can be applied individually (i.e. the contract can be void AND he can get fined). In this instance, I wouldn't be surprised if the NBA sees both as being such (i.e. "Not only are we going to void Kawhi's contract, but we are also going to fine him x dollars")...

Ok, what I’m wondering about is logistically how they would assess the fine if Kawhi doesn’t have an active NBA contract. My understanding is that normally a fine comes from a player’s paycheck. If a contract is voided, no paycheck, so how is the NBA going to get the money?

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Ok, what I’m wondering about is logistically how they would assess the fine if Kawhi doesn’t have an active NBA contract. My understanding is that normally a fine comes from a player’s paycheck. If a contract is voided, no paycheck, so how is the NBA going to get the money?

I'm not going to spell it all out for here right now because you will be able to answer your question by conducting a simple Google search, but the NBA is definitely NOT restricted to only a player's paycheck when collecting a fine...

 

[Insomniacal Fan]

I'm not going to spell it all out for here right now because you will be able to answer your question by conducting a simple Google search, but the NBA is definitely NOT restricted to only a player's paycheck when collecting a fine...

Well, in this day and age, we all have personalized search results, so maybe your Google is different than my Google. As far as I can tell, the NBA has never reclaimed a fine from a player with no active contract. So feel free to spell it out if you have anything.

If the NBA asks Kawhi to return $50 million dollars (in order to be allowed to sign a new NBA contract), I'm thinking Kawhi just says "no."

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

You think he'd be that verbose, do you?

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Well, in this day and age, we all have personalized search results, so maybe your Google is different than my Google. As far as I can tell, the NBA has never reclaimed a fine from a player with no active contract. So feel free to spell it out if you have anything.

If the NBA asks Kawhi to return $50 million dollars (in order to be allowed to sign a new NBA contract), I'm thinking Kawhi just says "no."

I mean, now you're kind of talking about something different...Yes, the NBA has never reclaimed a fine from a player with no active contract. But, that was not your initial question. You simply asked if it can be done. And based on what I see and read, yes, it can.

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1968315881202520480

(He’s also potentially going to be banned from playing for them)

 

[Capt. Factorial]

(He’s also potentially going to be banned from playing for them)

There's an article in the Athletic today by Hollinger talking about this. (Link)

In part, he talks about some issues surrounding a possible nullification of Kawhi's contract. For one, if such a thing were to happen soon, and Kawhi were not to be suspended, then there would be a crazy late-fall free-for-all in the market with teams going after him for effectively the min salary (because nobody really has money left). Another thing is that it would kind of let the Clippers off the hook. Right now they have two years and $100M invested in a guy who only managed 37 games last year. Seems like a lot of teams in the league don't want to see the Clippers get all that cap space back and would rather see the $7M salary (with stock options, $12M??) from the circumvention actually applied to the Clippers' cap and watch them spiral deeper into the Tax over it. The bigger punishment might be to not void the contract in the first place.

I kind of see his point. I say, make the Clippers keep Kawhi, hit them with a "death penalty" in terms of draft picks, and see if there's a legal way in the CBA to put that circumvention money against their cap. Make this hurt, for as long as possible, and set the franchise back a decade. No mercy.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

In other news, our esteemed commissioner is promising to really, truly, honestly get to the bottom of all of this! (Link)

The commissioner also clarified his prior comments in which he said he’d never heard of the company Aspiration before.

“If I said I never heard of it, I meant in the context of the accusations here. I mean, I certainly was aware of the brand,” Silver said. That comment came after Torre posted on X that he obtained a copy of Aspiration’s $300 million “Founding Sponsorship Agreement” that said the agreement must be approved by the NBA before its enforcement.

LOL

LMFAO

 

[pdxKingsFan]

They are saying they won't conclude the investigation before the ASB.

Also the 2026 NBA All Star Game will be held at the Intuit Dome.

Yeah so. yeah.

 

[hrdboild]

They are saying they won't conclude the investigation before the ASB.

Also the 2026 NBA All Star Game will be held at the Intuit Dome.

Yeah so. yeah.

I might have to revise my prediction. If Adam Silver now has to get dragged through the mud for the next 5 months as little pieces of the puzzle get uncovered and made public one at a time and then host the biggest NBA event of the year at ground central for the whole fiasco he may be sufficiently exasperated by what Steve Ballmer has put him through by February to actually bring down the hammer.

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1968620445537559011

Pablo really said “here’s your paper trail, Adam”

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1968691144067367327

This seems like an obvious lie, but... how do you reckon they intend to prove that he didn't get scammed? And, if they can't prove it, how are they supposed to punish him?

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1968706088838062213

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1968691144067367327

This seems like an obvious lie, but... how do you reckon they intend to prove that he didn't get scammed? And, if they can't prove it, how are they supposed to punish him?

I’d say they could be punished by taking their picks away but the Clippers already traded most of their picks in various deals to appease Kawhi.

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1968699266110534021