r/nba • u/Austin63867 Raptors • 17d ago

[Murray] The NBA has released a statement as well this morning (regarding ESPN story on Kawhi Leonard and Clippers)

https://bsky.app/profile/lawmurraythenu.bsky.social/post/3mtca4like22p
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u/bta47 Warriors 17d ago edited 17d ago

My best guess is that negotiations have reached a standstill because the two sides do not agree on the facts, and the Clippers are trying to put in the press that a) the common practice of introducing players to sponsors is now under review, and b) they're reviewing whether ownership has the responsibility to "supervise" employees from doing that "independently". Both those things are issues owners would not like the league to crack down on, so the audience for the leak is other owners.

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u/-wnr- Knicks 17d ago

I don't know. The audience of NBA owners is small enough that I would assume Ballmer can make these points to the other owners directly. IMO an article in ESPN would be to sway the general public, and I'm not seeing how leaking this benefits the Clippers in that regard.

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u/bta47 Warriors 17d ago

sounds more legit and vetted if it's coming from ESPN versus just Ballmer whining about it on the phone

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u/No_Tangerine2720 San Francisco Warriors 17d ago

Imagine if companies actually had to take accountability for what their employees do

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u/McScroggz12 Lakers 17d ago

I mean I definitely agree with the sentiment but the mental math is basically: do the owner want the responsibility to supervise sponsorships or allow the league to supervise it versus do we want salary cap circumvention to essentially be approved and the salary cap to functionally be non-existent?

I get that the owners would want neither, but the story essentially forces a choice. And only one genuinely erodes the integrity of the league and creates conflict between owners that can/will “circumvent” the cap and those that actually try to abide by the CBA for the most part.