Around the NBA: Week 18 (2/16 - 2/22)

[Kryptonic]

$500m fine to Ballmer, loss of three 1sts and void Kawhi's current contract and ban him for a year.

remind me never to upset you... lol

[Split T]

I don’t see how they ban Kawhi for a year…I’d need to see how the cap circumvention rules are worded, but I’m sure it’s targeted more towards teams instead of players.

[Superbone]

$500m fine to Ballmer, loss of three 1sts and void Kawhi's current contract and ban him for a year.

Yes, Kawhi agreed to this stuff so he should be punished as well.

[ShelC]

His uncle was the one making the ridiculous demands but you can't punish him and there's no way Kawhi didn't know about any of this stuff.

[Split T]

He obviously knew, but I’m curious what the rules say…it’s the organization that is more to blame for skirting the rules. What obligation does the player have to follow them is my question.

Joe Smith wasn’t suspended when Minny did shady things. Players don’t get punished when teams contact them outside free agency windows(see Drew Eubanks). I just don’t think there’s much precedent to levy a punishment as severe as 1 year suspension. Void the contract if it was signed illegally, but we’re talking about his previous contract that this all happened on. I would support saying he is ineligible to play for the clippers, so essentially suspend him and force LA to trade him. I could even get behind voiding the contract, but that will kinda help LAC to clear space for what is obviously a rebuild coming.

[The Bobster]

He obviously knew, but I’m curious what the rules say…it’s the organization that is more to blame for skirting the rules. What obligation does the player have to follow them is my question.

Joe Smith wasn’t suspended when Minny did shady things. Players don’t get punished when teams contact them outside free agency windows(see Drew Eubanks). I just don’t think there’s much precedent to levy a punishment as severe as 1 year suspension. Void the contract if it was signed illegally, but we’re talking about his previous contract that this all happened on. I would support saying he is ineligible to play for the clippers, so essentially suspend him and force LA to trade him. I could even get behind voiding the contract, but that will kinda help LAC to clear space for what is obviously a rebuild coming.

If you void his contract the Clippers have nothing to trade. That would make him an unrestricted free agent and there would be a feeding frenzy of teams offering him the veteran minimum since salary cap space has pretty much dried up around the league for this season by this point. I don't think Leonard has clean hands though, players know that accepting money on the side in a shady deal is circumventing the cap. I wouldn't have a problem with the league voiding his contract and then suspending him for the remainder of the year (and the clippers get the boom lowered on them like it was on the Timberwolves - huge fine and loss of draft picks).

[The Bobster]

His uncle was the one making the ridiculous demands but you can't punish him and there's no way Kawhi didn't know about any of this stuff.

Making ridiculous demands and signing a contract that you know is in violation of the salary cap are two entirely different things though.

[The Bobster]

The wolves had how many 1sts stripped for their shenanigans with Joe Smith back in the day? I think it was originally 5, but was cut to 3. I feel like that’s the most likely punishment. Restricting the clippers ability to spend money hurts them, but also hurts the players and there’s no reason to punish players(not named Kawhi). Maybe you restrict the from receiving any luxury tax revenue for a number of years.

They’ve traded a lot of their picks, so I don’t even know how many the league could take away. Can they take away the picks they just traded for? lol

Also, what do you do with Kawhi? I think the clippers organization should take the brunt of the blame, but do you void Kawhi’s deal? The current deal isn’t even the one that had shenanigans attached to it I believe. Can you let his deal stand but make him ineligible to play for the Clippers, essentially forcing them to trade him?

Will be fascinating to see what happens.

Leonard's current deal is based off the bird rights of his previous deal, so it could be justified that way. If you void his contract I dount the CLippers would have any rights to trade since he would be an unrestricted free agent.

The Clippers have 1st round picks in 2027, 2029, 2031, 2032,and 2033 so there are plenty to take away as long as the draft still exists.

Also, I think the NBA and Players Association should ban Leonard's uncle from acting as his agent or advisor if they find that he influenced Leonard into signing the contract.

[The Bobster]

What an idiot.

Parity would go out the window! I'm glad we can spend but the poor small market teams would be screwed. OKC could have never gotten to where they are.

Teams would still have to fit rookie contracts under the cap. The players union might be against eliminating the draft and rookie salary scale because it would mean rookie contracts would probably eat up more of the cap, leaving less money for veterans.

The draft also benefits locations that would have more trouble luring players to play for them because they're seen as less attractive places to play - places like Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, Minneapolis and Milwaukee.

[Split T]

The wolves had how many 1sts stripped for their shenanigans with Joe Smith back in the day? I think it was originally 5, but was cut to 3. I feel like that’s the most likely punishment. Restricting the clippers ability to spend money hurts them, but also hurts the players and there’s no reason to punish players(not named Kawhi). Maybe you restrict the from receiving any luxury tax revenue for a number of years.

They’ve traded a lot of their picks, so I don’t even know how many the league could take away. Can they take away the picks they just traded for? lol

Also, what do you do with Kawhi? I think the clippers organization should take the brunt of the blame, but do you void Kawhi’s deal? The current deal isn’t even the one that had shenanigans attached to it I believe. Can you let his deal stand but make him ineligible to play for the Clippers, essentially forcing them to trade him?

Will be fascinating to see what happens.

Leonard's current deal is based off the bird rights of his previous deal, so it could be justified that way. If you void his contract I dount the CLippers would have any rights to trade since he would be an unrestricted free agent.

The Clippers have 1st round picks in 2027, 2029, 2031, 2032,and 2033 so there are plenty to take away as long as the draft still exists.

Also, I think the NBA and Players Association should ban Leonard's uncle from acting as his agent or advisor if they find that he influenced Leonard into signing the contract.

I didn’t realize they had so many picks. And ya when I said force them to trade him it would be if they didn’t void the contract…make LAC be on the hook for it, but suspend him from ever playing for the clippers…so they’d have to trade him and really have no leverage in said trade…

[SunsRIt]

The wolves had how many 1sts stripped for their shenanigans with Joe Smith back in the day? I think it was originally 5, but was cut to 3. I feel like that’s the most likely punishment. Restricting the clippers ability to spend money hurts them, but also hurts the players and there’s no reason to punish players(not named Kawhi). Maybe you restrict the from receiving any luxury tax revenue for a number of years.

They’ve traded a lot of their picks, so I don’t even know how many the league could take away. Can they take away the picks they just traded for? lol

Also, what do you do with Kawhi? I think the clippers organization should take the brunt of the blame, but do you void Kawhi’s deal? The current deal isn’t even the one that had shenanigans attached to it I believe. Can you let his deal stand but make him ineligible to play for the Clippers, essentially forcing them to trade him?

Will be fascinating to see what happens.

Leonard's current deal is based off the bird rights of his previous deal, so it could be justified that way. If you void his contract I dount the CLippers would have any rights to trade since he would be an unrestricted free agent.

The Clippers have 1st round picks in 2027, 2029, 2031, 2032,and 2033 so there are plenty to take away as long as the draft still exists.

Also, I think the NBA and Players Association should ban Leonard's uncle from acting as his agent or advisor if they find that he influenced Leonard into signing the contract.

I didn’t realize they had so many picks. And ya when I said force them to trade him it would be if they didn’t void the contract…make LAC be on the hook for it, but suspend him from ever playing for the clippers…so they’d have to trade him and really have no leverage in said trade…

Making them trade him means they get something in return. They should get nothing.

[Split T]

They’re not going to get anything when other teams know he can’t play for LAC. This way you force them to take on bad money. The clippers won’t care if you void the deal, they are trying to clear space anyways and that clears 50 million in one swoop for free.

[Mori Chu]

The problem is, you have to make the punishment harsh enough that it was not worth it for them to do this. If you fine them $10m, or suspend Kawhi for a month, who cares? They still got several good years of play out of Kawhi; if you told them this would happen, they'd probably happily do it again. You have to really come down on them so they regret it, just like they did to Minny to make sure they never pulled a Joe Smith ever again.

[Wally_West]

[Kryptonic]

Is this where we learn that his wife is really his aunt?