abris33 | Nuggets

267 | 2 hours ago

Probably not a good sign for Kawhi then if the NBA is saying “No really. You want to wait”

ThinkSoftware | Hawks

104 | an hour ago

Kawhi tried to flee the country but was stopped at the airport

The_MadStork | NYK

29 | an hour ago

He got stopped at the Canadian border when they found seeds in his bag

ejabno | Hornets

7 | 39 minutes ago

He had to be deported by a border agent who greeted him with “two twos my word croskii”

notwhomyouthunk | Supersonics

5 | an hour ago

if he’d have just planted those trees, this would all have gone away

guzzler_bennett_jr

1 | 30 minutes ago

this is the thanks he gets for answering the “do you have any firearms or explosives or acorns or saplings?” question truthfully…

Character_Bug_1862

1 | 23 minutes ago

Coulda played for the Hawks but they found that powder in my socks

secretlypooping | 76ers

5 | an hour ago

How’d you do it, Frank? How’d you pass the bar in Louisiana?

OdeToTheMets628 | Knicks

2 | an hour ago

What was his answer to that question? I can’t remember lol. Just studied his ass off?

thelastofmike | WAS

1 | 21 minutes ago

Yeah, he just studied really hard for a couple of weeks.

theyoloGod | Tampa Bay Raptors

0 | an hour ago

He did flee. Now they’re trying to extradite him back

Carcrusher3 | Trail Blazers

22 | an hour ago

The NBA is most likely just covering their ass to prevent another Heat Hornets situation.

LarBrd33

1 | 30 minutes ago

They can’t close the book on this without first talking with the owners at Tuesdays board of governors meeting because either way there’s going to be people upset and they need to make sure they are as buttoned up as possible and everyone is on the same page before they go public.

Proof: clippers get punished and they need to make sure there’s no room for appeals and the other owners accept the punishment as sufficient

No proof: they need to make sure they are prepared to explain to the angry owners and public how the conspiracy theories were wrong

LukeBron | MIA

13 | an hour ago

I really wish they’d have extended such grace and decency to us when they and the Hornets forgot to disclose Terry’s investigations.

nowhathappenedwas | NBA

19 | an hour ago

The NBA wasn’t actively investigating Rozier at the time. The FBI was, and it’s not at all clear what the NBA or the Hornets knew about the FBI investigation at the time of the trade.

LukeBron | MIA

1 | an hour ago

The suspicious activity occurred March 2023, 10 months before the trade. The Sportsbook alerted the NBA directly almost immediately.

Adam Silver is quoted as saying the NBA had been working with law enforcement “since then” (direct quote). So, at an absolute bare minimum, the NBA was aware and working with law enforcement to investigate the suspicious betting activity. Is it possible the Hornets weren’t aware of the FBI investigation? Technically yes, but I find it unlikely. It is however completely impossible that the NBA was not aware of law enforcement investigations and escalations as they collaborated directly with those investigations.

nowhathappenedwas | NBA

7 | 44 minutes ago

From what we know, the gambling apps informed both the NBA and regulators of the suspicious bets in March 2023. The NBA investigated Rozier – including collecting his phone and interviewing him – and found insufficient evidence of wrongdoing to punish him.

The Rozier indictment – which came 2 and half years later – doesn’t cite any texts to/from Rozier. It relies on texts between the gamblers, who the NBA never had the ability to collect information from. So there’s no reason to believe (as of now) that the NBA’s investigation missed anything it could have found.

Rozier was traded in January 2024. We do not know whether the FBI was investigating him at that point or, if they were, whether the league knew.

In January 2025 – a year after the trade – the WSJ reported that the FBI was investigating Rozier. The NBA said it was “now aware of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York related to this matter and have been cooperating with that investigation.”

There are two possible scenarios here:

At the time of the trade, the league had cleared Rozier and was unaware of any ongoing investigation of Rozier.
At the time of the trade, the league was aware of an ongoing investigation of Rozier.

Under scenario 2, the league should have told Miami. But scenario 1 is a much closer call.

LukeBron | MIA

-5 | 39 minutes ago

I do love a good AI summary

nowhathappenedwas | NBA

11 | 34 minutes ago

That’s not an AI summary, and I feel bad for people who are so illiterate that they think any proper prose is AI.

It’s from a comment I posted 8 months ago.

LukeBron | MIA

1 | 29 minutes ago

Calling me illiterate for expecting a multi paragraph comment, m-dash’d in a way consistent with multiple LLM models, that was posted barely seconds after my comment was written is harsh, unnecessary and against the rules of the sub around personal insults.

nowhathappenedwas | NBA

1 | 8 minutes ago

AI didn’t invent em dashes. They’re extremely common in my profession and have been forever.

nWo5lyfe | Spurs

1 | 40 minutes ago

Fui vs nba investigation

Thornton__Melon | Rockets

5 | an hour ago

But it could be a small punishment - handful of games. I just don’t see the NBA bringing hammer down on Ballmer, it’ll be a slap on the wrist at worst.

2001_TheSweep | Lakers

7 | an hour ago

The only other situation where this happened ended with the players contract getting terminated. No way you go through with this deal structured as it is if there’s even a slight chance of that happening

Spectro-X | Raptors

10 | an hour ago

If there is a suspension, the Raptors could live with that. But if his contract is voided everything gets murky because we wouldn’t have cap space to sign him with anymore (and would still have Ingram’s contract on the books)

Deli-ishfoodtruck

4 | an hour ago

Just do a wink wink nod nod that if he signs a partial mle we will find another way to get him paid.

What’s the worst thet can happen. Double down.

The_MadStork | NYK

6 | an hour ago

This is it. The NBA can fine or dock picks from the Clippers anytime. They’re only pausing the deal because there’s a chance Kawhi’s contract gets terminated

ymsoldier420 | Raptors

-5 | an hour ago

The only problem here is that the fraudulent contract is already over and done with. Not to mention Kawhi didn’t take a discount to circumvent the cap like Smith/T-Wolves; Kawhi just got paid a sweetener to choose the clippers which is quite different in nature.

2001_TheSweep | Lakers

4 | an hour ago

It’s not over with, he’s in the final year of his clipper contract still.

He asked for all of that and more from the Raptors first. Not only did they refuse but they also informed the league that he was making illegal demands according to the cba. He was going to go to the team that was willing to give him extra under the table, ergo, why he ended up with the Clippers.

ymsoldier420 | Raptors

1 | 44 minutes ago

Is his current contract not an extension after the fact? Maybe I am mistaken but was the original deal not just the 3 year 150 mill, which was the max he could get anywhere other then toronto at the time? Toronto could have given him an extra year but the clippers paid him 28 million through the aspiration to come their way. That contact was then extended 4 more years in 2021 which is the contract he is now playing on.

2001_TheSweep | Lakers

2 | 34 minutes ago

An extension of a contract that should have been nullified because they circumvented the CBA. Think about that for a second.

ymsoldier420 | Raptors

1 | 5 minutes ago

Oh I agree, but that was also 6 years ago. All time fucking fumble by Silver and the NBA as this should have been dealt with ages ago.

The only thing I disagree with is extensions are essentially new contracts in my mind, the original contract has nothing to do with the extension contract outside of the fact the original team has a year to negotiate with the player before other teams can (legally).

I do apologize though as I was under the understanding that the aspiration shenanigans only applied to the original contract but another poster mentioned that there were shenanigans with the extension as well. I misunderstood the situation completely.

Bixby33 | Raptors

4 | an hour ago

Thats the first Clippers deal. The third (2nd extension) one he got paid a sub-max and Aspiration topped him up.

ymsoldier420 | Raptors

1 | 42 minutes ago

I thought aspiration was used to pay him more to go to clips because the raps had the ability to pay an extra 4th year at the time, clippers (and anyone else) were limited to 3x$150 and in order to surpass that the clippers used aspiration. Did they use aspiration again after the original contract and aspiration payout of 28 mill?

Bixby33 | Raptors

4 | 39 minutes ago

There’s so much its hard to keep straight, but Aspiration was deffo used in 2022 to pay Kawhi.

ymsoldier420 | Raptors

1 | 19 minutes ago

My apologies then I was mistaken as I was completely unaware that this happened twice, thought it was just the original contract shenanigans.

ThunderBobMajerle | Suns

4 | an hour ago

What is the small infraction then that gets a small punishment? I don’t see the middle ground either they say he did pay him (huge punishment) or he didn’t (no punishment)

randotd152

3 | an hour ago

If found guilty the punishment will not be small. I don’t see that as a reasonable outcome here.

This is going to be either absolutely nothing, or something serious like a voided contract and one year suspension.

North_Atlantic_Sea

1 | 36 minutes ago

This is specific to Kawhi though, not Ballmer.

I actually think NBA stressing to the Raptors that they will be liable for Kawhis punishment if they trade for him means that the league thinks it will be more than a slap on the wrist (lengthy suspension, contract voided, whatever)

veringo | Nuggets

2 | an hour ago

But Reddit keeps telling me the investigation is a sham, Silver is the worst commissioner in the history of any sport, and there will be no punishment.

Uhhhjayyy1

2 | an hour ago

It seems cap circumvention leans more towards a team salary cap issue. Kawhi could easily say that his agent made him sign endorsement deals without knowledge of it hence he fired Uncle Dennis after the scandal had gone out. It is more likely they nail the hammer at the Clippers and Uncle Dennis becomes the fall guy on behalf of Kawhi

nowhathappenedwas | NBA

7 | an hour ago

It’s remarkable how many Raptors fans have developed this opinion in the last 24 hours.

Cap circumvention is a violation for both the team and the player. That’s what it says in the CBA, and that’s how it’s worked in practice (Joe Smith having his contract voided).

Uhhhjayyy1

-2 | an hour ago

Yet there isn’t concrete evidence Kawhi was directly involved hence why he “fired Uncle Dennis”. He can easily say he wasn’t involved in the logistics of any deal that was structured by his uncle

nowhathappenedwas | NBA

2 | an hour ago

“It was all my uncle’s fault” is not an actual defense, even if it were true (which it’s almost certainly not).

From the CBA:

Upon a finding of a violation of Section 1 above by the System Arbitrator, but only following the conclusion of any appeal to the Appeals Panel, the Commissioner shall be authorized to: … void any Player Contract, or any Renegotiation, Extension, or amendment of a Player Contract, between any player and any Team when both the player (or any person or entity acting with authority on behalf of such player) and the Team (or Team Affiliate) are found to have committed such violation

randotd152

4 | an hour ago

That’s not how it works though. Kawhi doesn’t just get to say “my agent made me sign it” and the league goes all “well oh ok our bad you’re totally good to go then”.

Kawhi is an adult who signed a contract. A contract that handed him $50M for literally doing absolutely nothing. At the end of the day, Kawhi alone is responsible for signing that contract. Not his agent, not the Clippers, not his uncle, not anybody else. Entirely possible he was fed bad advice from all directions, but he’s still the name on the legal agreement.

braddeus | Heat

-3 | an hour ago

This is my perspective too — I don’t understand how a punishment for Kawhi even stands. The union will relentlessly fight anything he gets, because at the end of the day he took endorsement money from an organization that also somehow supposedly swindled one of the richest men on earth, and he has the same claim to ignorance Ballmer does. Unless Uncle Dennis sent a moronic email saying, “yes, Kawhi accepts the Aspiration money to circumvent the cap hahahaha”

Domainsetter

4 | an hour ago

Suspension for conduct detrimental to the league but who knows

nowhathappenedwas | NBA

4 | an hour ago

This is my perspective too — I don’t understand how a punishment for Kawhi even stands.

The CBA explicitly gives the league the right to void the contract.

And reporting over the last 7 years suggests there will be ample evidence that Kawhi requested CBA-violating perks from multiple teams.

braddeus | Heat

1 | an hour ago

I’m obviously not arguing the league doesn’t have that power, but if the evidence you’re suggesting isn’t airtight the union will be happy to drag it out forever.

The_Living_L | Raptors

2 | an hour ago

I think the raptors just thought it would be over by now, it’s better to just wait, I personally don’t think anything crazy is going to happen punishment wise

LarBrd33

1 | 35 minutes ago

It really could mean anything. Either they found some real evidence and will punish or they disproved pablo’s conspiracy theories and will not punish, but either way they have a board of governors meeting Tuesday and probably want to discuss it with the owners what their findings and plan is before they publicly wrap this up.

wtm696

1 | 5 minutes ago

not convinced at the time” sounds like they saw something but ignored it?

TheHottestBunch

81 | an hour ago

I think it is pretty clear a punishment of some kind if coming. Otherwise the NBA would not be holding up the trade like this.

TiredMillennialDad | Magic

51 | an hour ago

Nba isn’t holding it up.

They are just saying, hey, if you want to trade for a scumbag, that’s on you, we still reserve the right to suspend him.

cornballerburns | Heat

23 | an hour ago

Exactly like they did with Miami and Rozier

Edit: just realized I posted my sarcastic reply under the wrong comment

Thami15 | Heat

9 | an hour ago

Not exactly the same, lol. Everyone and their mom knows what Kawhi and the Clippers are being investigated for

cornballerburns | Heat

-6 | an hour ago

Was a sarcastic comment bud

Joethetoolguy

0 | an hour ago

Yeah but in that case the trading team had known that rozier was a risk and didn’t share that with other teams. Everyone knows about this investigation.

no_good_names_avail | Raptors

5 | an hour ago

Agreed but clearly we’re missing something. Like this was no secret across the board. What has changed since the trade was made to give the Raptors such concern? The only thing that makes sense is SOME indication that things are more likely to go wrong than they were initially lead to believe.

At least that’s the only thing that makes any sense to me assuming the Raptors/Clippers aren’t completely incompetent.

zs15 | Bucks

3 | an hour ago

Yeah, I also feel like we’re missing something.

Why, when the trade was speculated/publically negotiated/then announced and analyzed for five days, are we getting this news 2-3 weeks later? Not that it’s unheard of that we get new revelations about a trade when it gets submitted, but this type of break is genuinely odd.

Also, why the fuck is the league still dragging this out? There is no way they are still investigating this.

BomberManeuver

4 | an hour ago

You can’t just say the league isn’t investigating because you don’t know. These types of investigations can take a while. If they wanted to sweep it under the rug, they would have done it already. Whatever happened here has the potential to be something completely new in terms of scandal. I can understand why it’s taking so long because who knows the fall out of all of this. Raptors made a poor choice going after Kawhi when this wasn’t cleared up.

Domainsetter

2 | an hour ago

Lowe said on his pod it was 48-72 hours before yesterday that this started to gain traction. So considering that’s when everyone started to get to Vegas one wonders if the NBA is going to have punishment doled out.

Mobile-Entertainer60 | Thunder

3 | an hour ago

I seriously doubt there’s a suspension, because that’s not one of the punishments laid out in the CBA for this infraction. If they suspended Kawhi, the NBAPA would appeal on his behalf and probably win. The much, much bigger threat is that if Kawhi gets his contract canceled, it means he’s a free agent and the Raptors are FUBAR. It screws Kawhi, too, because nobody can pay him $50M without Bird rights, but the Raptors lose BI, Dick and picks for absolutely nothing. I think there’s a very low chance the NBA does this, but the Raptors have no urgency to finalize this deal now as opposed to in a month or two when the NBA finally makes a ruling so it’s in their interests to wait.

IzzaKnife | Raptors

1 | 24 minutes ago

Why would his contract get cancelled? The one in question expired in 2024 he earned the current contract. The PA would go even more crazy fighting for that than a suspension.

Mobile-Entertainer60 | Thunder

1 | 11 minutes ago

Here is the relevant section of the CBA for determining penalties. You can see that it clearly states in the Penalties section “void any Player Contract, or any Renegotiation, Extension, or amendment of a Player Contract between any player and any Team”. It doesn’t say “if I escape detection before I sign a new contract, I’m in the clear.” This is the risk that is spooking the Raptors, and for good reason.

Kodak333 | Hawks

1 | 24 minutes ago

How is he a scumbag?

randotd152

1 | an hour ago

I don’t necessarily think the NBA is hinting at that. Merely letting the Raptors know it’s a possibility on the table should the accusations be found true.

That said, given the public evidence, it looks really damning for Kawhi and the Raptors would be fools to take on that risk before the investigation results are out.

Oozeinator | Raptors

36 | an hour ago

Seems like the Raps/Clips pressured Silver to hurry up, got told they aren’t done, didn’t like the answer, and Silver said, “You can finalize it now if you want but you’re taking on any kawhi-side punishment” and the Raps/Clips said, “fine, we’ll wait”.

The statements are the franchises telling their fans why it isn’t finalized.

Domainsetter

10 | an hour ago

That’s the likely scenario.

I do think a suspension is coming. Contract void is unlikely.

Oozeinator | Raptors

2 | an hour ago

Here’s hoping for exactly 11 games.

carlosspicywiener576 | Raptors

6 | an hour ago

Can we agree to hold Kawhi out of about 15-20 games spread out throughout the year? We could call it “suspension management”

bmmfg12 | Knicks

1 | 10 minutes ago

Only suspended on back to backs

sewsgup

35 | an hour ago

The Athletic also said

The NBA informed the teams before they agreed to the trade that the investigation could cause issues with any deal involving Leonard, according to league sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the league’s probe is ongoing. Yet when the terms of the deal between the Clippers and Raptors were widely reported on June 30, it forced the league — and commissioner Adam Silver, most of all — to decide how to handle this unprecedented situation.

The decision was made, league sources say, to ignore the public pressure that came from the trade being publicized and follow through on the stance that had been shared from the start. Had the specifics of the Clippers-Raptors trade been kept quiet until the league’s Aspiration investigation was complete, the NBA could have avoided the chaos that came with the Thursday announcements from both teams.

given Beck is placing this as the Raptors suddenly getting cold feet, and The Athletic is sourcing someone from the league sounding mad about the trade leaking in advance. still wondering which team leaked it. maybe it was the Clippers to celebrate a genuinely great return for Kawhi? maybe the Raptors to mastermind a way to get Kawhi back in person, in Toronto, for Lowry’s retirement ceremony?

SatisfactionLife2801

14 | an hour ago

I still don’t understand how leaking it changes the situation if both teams were informed about the potential issues due to the investigation

HokageEzio | Knicks

9 | an hour ago

maybe the Raptors to mastermind a way to get Kawhi back in person, in Toronto, for Lowry’s retirement ceremony?

Alright I know we joke that he’s getting RICO charges. But you realize Kawhi is actually a free man allowed to leave the country, right?

OverallMistake8198 | Raptors

4 | an hour ago

What the fuck do you mean we used this as a way to mastermind Kawhi back in to Toronto for Lowrys retirement presser?

He didn’t have players closer to him at the presser.

Adam Silver is a fucking loser though in the end because he didn’t want to investigate until after the All Star Break given it was in LA.

This whole situation could have been over now if they weren’t slow to act & now all potential targets for us are now with other teams, we’d be forced to take back guys we just moved & our whole approach will be different.

Gross incompetence from the league letting it play out & if it was that much of a concern they shouldn’t have let us engage in negotiations.

SuperVaderMinion | MIN

1 | 17 minutes ago

It’s pretty clear they’ve been investigating him well before the All Star Game, it’s just taken a long ass time.

Maybe that’s lawyers getting their billable hours or this Aspiration scheme being genuinely massive, or both.

barkinginthestreet

0 | an hour ago

I suspect the Raps realized they paid full price for a distressed asset and just decided to back out. Wonder if their ownership transition played a part.

nowhathappenedwas | NBA

2 | an hour ago

The Raptors are complete morons if they didn’t price the risk into the trade.

barkinginthestreet

0 | 37 minutes ago

Yep. Or maybe Tanenbaum approved the deal initially and was willing to take the risk and the new governor, whoever it will be, is not.

Van_der_Sar

-2 | an hour ago

Mybe I’m wrong but it sounds to me like Clippers or Kwahi aren’t getting much of a punishment. I think the league is mad about it because from the trade it seemed like nothing is gonna happen with the investigation. So it’s sort of being swept under the rug.

The league wants to be upfront with the investigation that it was unbiased and then teams can do the trade, and not without any prior info.

HokageEzio | Knicks

3 | an hour ago

To me this sounds like the Clippers and Kawhi are getting punished and the league was trying to warn the Raptors that they’ll be in the crossfire if he’s on the team.

motherseffinjones | Raptors

15 | an hour ago

The GM of the raptors use to work for the league office I was very confident they did their due diligence. What pisses me off is the league sat on all this for 300 plus days let the clippers draft 5th in a strong ass draft and they fucked over the raptors more than any other team lmao. What a fucking joke

SuperVaderMinion | MIN

1 | 14 minutes ago

You could have just not traded for the guy who doesn’t play games and was under investigation for taking massive amounts of money under the table.

repoman042

1 | an hour ago

Their former owner is the chairman of the board of governors to clarify

LHamiltonPP | Pelicans

8 | an hour ago

I wish someone would give more details, like what did the Raptors think would happen if Kawhi was punished? How would they not be assuming risk?

Did the league give them the impression that they could rescind the trade? That’s hard to believe.

I get cold feet but how can you even begin to negotiate a trade if you’re not aware of the risks involved, much less finalize a deal?

AccomplishedBake8351

15 | an hour ago

I think they were just not believing that kawhi would face any punishment

Lqtor | Supersonics

16 | an hour ago

Which tbf is basically what everyone believed until like 48 hours ago

AccomplishedBake8351

1 | an hour ago

I still kinda believe it lol maybe a nominal 6 -7 game punishment to get some Gen Alpha engagement

Domainsetter

2 | an hour ago

Grange (Raptors writer) said multiple times yesterday the Raptors were fine with acceptable risk before agreeing to the trade. A short/medium length suspension is that to me.

xixbia

6 | an hour ago

My guess is they assumed a suspension was possible, but voiding the contract was off the table.

Now there might be a concern that his contract will be terminated, at which point obviously the Raptors don’t want to send any assets to the Clippers.

Domainsetter

4 | an hour ago

Bingo. Lewenberg (Raptors reporter) said that even if he gets suspended 20-25 games the sense is they’d still do the trade.

It’s the voiding AFTER the trade which concerned them at least imo.

No_Detective_1139 | Pistons

4 | an hour ago

If this ends up becoming a bigger punishment for the Raptors than the Clippers it would be so ironic.

LilSwampGod | Raptors

1 | an hour ago

Darko is gonna burn the Intuit Dome to the ground if that happens lol

Powerglove2000 | Raptors

5 | an hour ago

Well, can’t say the NBA isn’t entertaining.

Dinobot2_ | Raptors

4 | 37 minutes ago

So based on this it seems like the Raptors were told the same thing twice, but the first time the Raptors didn’t take it seriously. Kind of reflects poorly on the Raptors.

Rube18 | Timberwolves

3 | an hour ago

Let the trade go through and then immediately take all the picks that the Clippers get from it. They got Kawhi by breaking the rules so don’t let them get assets for an asset illegally acquired.

thy_armageddon | Knicks

2 | an hour ago

This all seems to just be performative nonsense for the audience.

HokageEzio | Knicks

7 | an hour ago

How? This is basically the league saying trade for a guy who might be getting a big punishment at your own risk.

FeeNegative9488

1 | an hour ago

Because they already told the Raptors that

HokageEzio | Knicks

5 | an hour ago

How is it performative to give them a second nudge saying “hey are you sure you want to do this”?

We would never know this happened if the trade didn’t leak and Toronto backed out.

CazOnReddit | Raptors

4 | an hour ago

“What do you, the people at home, think of this? Sauce us a follow @ NBA, and make sure to smash that like button!”

The_Living_L | Raptors

2 | 44 minutes ago

This all just reads as both the raptors and clippers finishing the trade and hoping putting the trade out would get them to rush the process, even windhorst said today, both sides thought this would be done by now, it’s not, so they will wait

Now with the trade being out there on hold, players futures being put into question, it does make them rush things because more is at stake. People are actively talking about it again too.

Domainsetter

2 | an hour ago

If there’s discipline it’s going to the Clippers.

Raptors were at risk of having his contract voided but not now if it does since he’s still Clipper property.

shaq_zak | Magic

1 | an hour ago

It always read like Raptors getting cold feet to me. Absolutely incompetent by the league office that it’s even dragged out this long though.

saltywetlol

4 | an hour ago

Pretty sure Raptors want Kawhi, but not if his contract gets voided. They would be giving up draft capital for no reason. I think the Raptors are willing to take a Kawhi suspension, but the question once again is how long?

If it was a 1 year suspension, they have good reason to decline.

shaq_zak | Magic

1 | an hour ago

I mean why would you trade for him until you know for sure?

LilSwampGod | Raptors

1 | an hour ago

I think the operating assumption until 48 hours ago was that Kawhi’s punishment was going to be a minimal/acceptable loss on the Raptors side but all of the sudden the NBA said to hold up, they’re finally gonna be done investigating.

shaq_zak | Magic

0 | 38 minutes ago

You know what they say about assumptions

LilSwampGod | Raptors

1 | 20 minutes ago

I think the NBA should have just outright said to the Raptors when the trade talks were initiated that a void contract or a full season suspension is a possible outcome and if that happens the team holding the contract gets punished. They probably didn’t say that until 2 days ago.

tonydanzatapdances | Raptors

1 | 44 minutes ago

The trade isn’t official yet, what are you confused about

saltywetlol

0 | 43 minutes ago

It’s the same thing as medicals. You reach a deal and it’s official pending both players passing their medical checks. Exp: Mark Williams

The Raptors only agreed if Kawhi can play. League is like hold up, maybe he won’t.

This concept isn’t hard.

shaq_zak | Magic

1 | 30 minutes ago

Except the part where it’s nothing like a medical at all and nowhere have i read the Raptors only agreed if he would play. Why would there not be a punishment for a players who tried multiple times to convince teams to pay him outside of the cap?

saltywetlol

1 | 20 minutes ago

Yes, because the Raptors FO and League office will release to the public all their contracts and agreements for you to read. /s

shaq_zak | Magic

1 | 13 minutes ago

Lol you’re the one speaking on behalf of the raptors org?? “The raptors only agreed if Kawhi can play”. All I’m saying is that is still pending investigation so is probably unknown. So that is a very big ‘IF’ to agree to a trade.

rumblegod | Thunder

1 | an hour ago

hurry it up who cares

big_old_glute_fold

1 | an hour ago

The league should let the trade go through but instead of suspending Leonard they should suspend Ingram and Dick plus give the raptors their picks back.

It’s the only fair solution.

Delicious_Rule_7324

1 | an hour ago

What i feel will happen. Clips forfeit picks and are fined. Uncle Dennis gets thrown under the bus to take the fall like ohtani’s translater

nemo2023 | Pistons

1 | an hour ago

Whatever Kawai did, it was in another country, so…

blueyarnent

0 | an hour ago

The timing is weird. 9 Days after the trade is announced, NBA puts the trade on ice pending investigation. Torre’s reporting about this came out 10 months ago and a whole season has been played through.

If the NBA wanted this to go away, why would they shine fresh light on it? NBA has opened the floodgates of speculation making this move, while simultaneously dialling up pressure on the league itself to actually do something.

This is a trade with contractual terms that both Raps and Clips have to agree to. No picks will be stripped from the deal, without Clips getting final say that they want to continue to move forward with the deal.

If Clips owner is having second thoughts on the trade, and is using this mechanism to kill the trade: why have the GM tender, negotiate, and finalize the trade at all?

Never seen anything like this in sports. It’s very weird.

Kawhi wants his Bird rights, and that is the driving force to extend. Without them, he likely plays out his year and becomes a UFA next summer.

HokageEzio | Knicks

5 | an hour ago

The NBA didn’t put anything on ice. All they did was strongly advise Toronto of what making the trade official could mean, so Toronto backed out.

Both teams have to get on a call with the league office to make a trade official. Toronto hung up the phone last minute.

blueyarnent

1 | 26 minutes ago

On ice meaning frozen in this context, not dead.

The hang up is over Bird Rights getting waived. Likely the sticking point for Kawhi and his reps on extending with Clips or Raps. They want his Bird Rights guaranteed as a requirement to extend. NBA has not made it clear that they will not be waived (Smith-T-Wolves Penalty in similar circumstance). Raps in effect cannot guarantee Bird Rights will be upheld until NBA decides outcome of their investigation.

BuckSleezy | Supersonics

0 | an hour ago

Why would the raptors care about the Clips FO doing shady things? As long as Kawhi doesn’t demand the same treatment seems like it’s not their problem.

cleo22270 [OP] | Heat

1 | 43 minutes ago

If there’s a real chance Kawhi’s contract gets voided, then Toronto would be left holding the bag if the deal went through before a decision.

CallmeKahn

-1 | an hour ago

The NBA has gotten so God damn lazy. They’ve been on this for what now, a year?

HokageEzio | Knicks

4 | an hour ago

It’s not an NBA investigation, it’s a third party investigation.

CallmeKahn

-4 | an hour ago

Sorry, but you’d think they’d ask for progress. So still lazy as fuck.

HokageEzio | Knicks

6 | an hour ago

He did, privately and publicly. You guys just don’t actually listen or read his interviews.

“Yes, ultimately we’re paying their bills, but they are doing the work independent of the league office, and my instruction to them is we can’t be investigating forever, but at some point, we have to wrap it up. But at the same time, the most important thing is that we get it right.

“I think it’s clear they’re far along. I think those reports are reading all the time from people who are being interviewed by them, and I think they understand that you can keep going on and on. But I think we’re close to the point now where I think we need to wrap this up because you also need finality. Their team has to understand what the situation is they’re going to be operating under, and so do the other 29 teams.”

CallmeKahn

-2 | an hour ago

Yeah, that was six weeks ago. Lazy fucks.

HokageEzio | Knicks

4 | an hour ago

It’s like talking to toddlers on here.

CallmeKahn

0 | 43 minutes ago

Doesn’t change the facts. If those bother you, I’m sorry.

IrohTheUncle | Lakers

1 | an hour ago

You think they didn’t?

msizzle344 | Heat

0 | an hour ago

How the fuck does the NBA pause this trade when the raptors agreed a deal in principle and did their due diligence beforehand? The NBA let the Rozier deal go through even though the Miami heat had no idea he was being investigated while the nba and hornets did. We got a fucking shitty second round pick back for being defrauded. This is complete fucking bullshit, that the league now decides to do the right thing and let Miami get hosed?? The Raptors knew this possibility could exist and DID THE TRADE ANYWAY.

HokageEzio | Knicks

10 | an hour ago

The NBA didn’t pause anything. In order for a trade to be official both sides have to get on a call with the league office. This is Toronto essentially hanging up the phone before making things official.

The Raptors knew this possibility could exist and DID THE TRADE ANYWAY.

No, they didn’t. That’s the point.

OverallMistake8198 | Raptors

3 | an hour ago

Difference is that Rozier was being investigated by the federal government. This is a third party investigation that everyone knows about.

msizzle344 | Heat

1 | an hour ago

Rozier was investigated the same way and cleared by the nba despite also being federally investigated. If anything, being federally investigated is more reason to cancel a trade than being investigated by the league itself.

OverallMistake8198 | Raptors

4 | an hour ago

Was the league aware of the investigation though? Usually the FBI doesn’t inform employers that they are investigating someone lol.

Objective_Claim_2236 | Bucks

2 | an hour ago

I say this with kindness in my heart… You got the Wade and Shaq ring. The Lebron Heatles rings. Jimmy carried you guys to the finals. You just got the best player in Bucks history for the final few years of his prime. No one feels bad for Miami. No one. None of us even remember this incident you brought up. Please enjoy your lack of state income tax, and your lack of property tax that’s coming. Your beaches and beautiful women. And Giannis. And don’t complain about basketball things ever again. Respectfully.

Howard Beck: “What I have learned today, according to sources is that the Raptors and NBA did have that conversation [about the investigation]. The Raptors did do their due diligence. They just simply were not convinced at that time to pause [the deal] then. “