The dominant NBA offseason storyline has been the Kawhi Leonard’s alleged no-show job scandal. While the investigation into it is progressing at its own pace, many have started wondering whether the allegations would be proven true. And if so, when will those involved face its repercussions, or will they at all.
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Pablo Torre Finds Out uncovered the scandal, providing heaps of evidence that the Los Angeles Clippers used Leonard’s deal with the tree-planting company, Aspiration, to circumvent the salary cap. Every new piece of evidence discovered and shared by Torre have added more weight into the allegations.
Naturally, there is intrigue about the punishment that should be handed out by the league if all of this is proven true, whether to the Clippers, team owner Steve Ballmer or Leonard himself. Gilbert Arenas was interviewed by popular YouTube channel VladTV on the matter… And, let’s just say that he’s skeptical. “Let’s be honest,” he began.
“To get around a salary cap in a business where you’re capping off million and billionaires from spending money that they wanna spend: ‘I wanna pay you, but I can’t because these broke boys are complaining. So I gotta figure out how to get you to this team.’ Ya think he would be the only one guilty of it?” Asked Arenas.
“The commissioner works for the owners,” Arenas added. “So how many of these other owners would be guilty of the same thing?”
Of course, money equals power. But then, the league has not always sat idly by while one of its 30 owners gets out of line. For instance, Ballmer’s predecessor, Donald Sterling, was forced to sell after recordings of his racist conversations were leaked.
Obviously, racism is much worse than spending extra money on a player. But Arenas seemed too dismissive of what this is all about.
If the Clippers did indeed circumvent the cap, then they cheated. Leonard may not have signed with the Clippers in the first place if they hadn’t gone above and beyond what league bylaws stipulate.
The Raptors and the Lakers and anyone else who were interested in Leonard should have a gripe, as should all other owners because the league’s competitive balance was shifted. The rules are in place for a reason, and if you don’t enforce them, then they’re meaningless.
Arenas implied that other owners won’t want Ballmer and the Clippers to be punished because they’re engaged in some of the same unscrupulous activities. It’s probably true. But even if that’s the case, if you’re dumb enough to get caught, then you need to be punished so that the whole charade can continue.
Arenas also correctly said that NBA commissioner Adam Silver works for the owners. But he made a strange leap to say that’s why Ballmer wouldn’t be punished.
Silver doesn’t just work for Ballmer, he works for the other 29, too. Ballmer is the league’s richest owner, and if he’s allowed to get away with this, then Silver would be abdicating his responsibility to the rest of them.
Time will tell if Arenas is right or not. But if Torre’s evidence is as strong as it seems to be, it’s difficult to imagine all this being pushed under the rug.
It’s been too big a story for too long. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. And if Silver wants to retain any credibility, he needs to act.
