The ongoing fiasco involving Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers has sparked a surge in internet detectives. If the Clippers indeed circumvented the salary cap, they would become the first team since the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2000 to do so. At the time, the Timberwolves had urged they weren’t the only team committing shady business.
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Circumventing the salary cap is suspected to be a big problem for the NBA. The entire point of a salary cap is to ensure each team has the same financial chance to build a championship-calibre team, unlike the MLB, where a salary cap doesn’t exist. Without a salary cap, big-market teams have a greater advantage since they have more money at their disposal.
Now, the Timberwolves had an under-the-table agreement with Joe Smith, which had him signing a three one-year deals for the minimum until the franchise acquired his bird rights, at which time they promised to offer him a significantly more lucrative contract.
Fortunately, former NBA commissioner David Stern sniffed out their plan and reigned down punishment on the franchise. The league went on to fine the Timberwolves $3.5 million and stripped them of their next five first-round picks. As for Smith, his contract with the team became null and void.
Timberwolves general manager Kevin McHale also received a one-year suspension without pay. McHale wasn’t even aware of what was in the contracts. He earnestly accepted the punishment, however. That said, McHale also ensured to shine more light on the world of shady NBA negotiations.
“I had the eerie sense that this was heading down a dark road,” McHale said to the media in 2000. “There are eight to 10 teams that do this all the time. They’re just good at it. We’re bad.”
Those words were just as shocking at the time as they are today. McHale never went in-depth on the possible teams that were also circumventing the salary cap. It raises the question, if McHale was indeed telling the truth, how prevalent is this practice in the NBA?
The practice is said to have come to a halt after the league wanted to ‘send a message’ following the Timberwolves scandal. Many teams are hoping they do the same with the Clippers if found guilty.
“I can say I’ve spoken to four [owners] who think that it’s absurd that this is something that the NBA would potentially not punish proportionally to the evidence,” revealed Pablo Torre, who originally broke the story.
Now, an apt punishment would be ideal if the Clippers are found guilty. However, the court of law remains fiercely independent from the court of public opinion. So, to assume anything at this point would be a mistake.
Adam Silver has been a relatively mild-mannered commissioner in comparison to David Stern. So it will be interesting to see what route he chooses to take should the Clippers be found guilty after the conclusion of the NBA investigation.
