Adam Silver on the Kawhi trade: “I’m hopeful that it will wrap up this summer… I want to clarify, The league did not pause the trade. The parties to the trade made a decision not to go forward given that the investigation remained open.”
Boo this man. BOOOOOO
Man, I remember when Silver became the commissioner and immediately put his chest out anf kicked out the last Clippers owner. I assume it’s the same guy.
Looks similar…sounds a bit different tho
Easiest decision ever, and his rep has dined on that ever since.
Which he only did because the other owners were okay with it. Donald Sterling would still own the clippers if he was more well liked.
Hell nfl owners say racist shit all the time and no one demands they sell the team.
Makes you think that sterling was a racist but also rude to rich people. Being rude to rich people forced the sale more so than the racism. The racism was just the perfect excuse.
This guy is the Doc Rivers of the NBA
I would have sworn Doc Rivers was the Doc Rivers of the NBA
I get the frustration, but I’d imagine if he just gave out a punishment it would just be an immediate lawsuit. I don’t think Pablo’s investigation can be used as the basis of a punishment. I’d rather it be done properly once.
Sterling’s wife sold the team. If Sterling held out he could have made it hell for the league because no owner would agree to giving the commissioner power to remove an owner
It can be circumstantial, but the case still goes to arbitration if im reading it right. I don’t imagine the Clippers will have any documentation that suggests Kawai was being paid by Aspiration at their behest.
The CBA gives the commissioner a ton of leeway on this and says “such an agreement with a sponsor or business partner or third party may be inferred where (i) such compensation from the sponsor or business partner or third party is substantially in excess of fair market value”
The league can punish if “a violation of Section 2(a) or(b) above may be proven by direct or circumstantial evidence, including, but not limited to, evidence that a Player Contract cannot be rationally explained in absence of conduct violative of Section 2.”
Pablo met that threshold with his reporting and the league has way more ability to compel the Clippers to cooperate. This should be over but Silver won’t push.
I actually think the language you quoted makes it harder to punish him. It’s because the language states:
>player contract cannot be rationally explained in absence of conduct violative of section 2.
This actually muddies the waters. His contract I thought was a max contract and he was clearly deserving of it. So you can totally rationally explain his NBA contract without violative conduct. The paragraph is assuming that the NBA contract wasn’t at fair market value and the team used outside measures for cap circumvention.
But in this instance the NBA contract was exactly what you’d expect.
I think the other difficult fact pattern is that there is documentation that the aspiration marketing team tried to craft campaigns around Kawhi but found him so uninteresting and boring that their ideas didn’t stick. So they treated it as something real but a failure.
Silver can literally do whatever he wants.
Tom Brady and the NFL went through all this 10 years ago. The NFL suspended him on complete made up BS, and Tom and the players union sued. Brady originally won but lost to the NFL on federal appeal. The gist of the ruling was “NFL commissioner is a god and can do whatever he wants for any reason that isn’t illegal/discriminatory”.
It would go exactly the same for the NBA. The Pablo investigation is way more than enough to suspend Kawhi permanently if he wanted.
The reason they’re going through this whole 3rd party dog and pony show is to appease Ballmer. If an independent entity comes to same conclusion, Ballmer can’t really complain about Pablo being a hack.
It’s not a court of law. The Clippers are already “guilty” if Silver believes the evidence in front of him is credible according to NBA bylaws. He has that power. He won’t punish his richest owner (who did him a solid with the whole Sterling thing). He’s not getting his ducks in a row; he’s killing time while people have nothing to talk about. I think he waits until football season starts to announce that nothing will be done. Major media won’t care after a few days.
Imagine punishing Clippers, only to get dragged into a court by Balmer!
His lawyers will say, “Mr. Balmer makes a lot of investments. Not all his investments pan out. And he doesn’t preside over the company and micro-manage every deal.”
“Have you found any clause in his Aspiration investment which said he’d get his his money back if Kawhi wasn’t signed by Aspiration?”
“Have you proof that Mr. Balmer directed the owners to sign Kawhi to a marketing deal?”
“Have you seen any communication where Kawhi was promised this Aspiration deal as part of signing with the Clippers?”
Silver has to do his research before taking action. Remember, there was plenty of proof (in public) about Sterling’s racism. And he threw an owner out because of it. He earned some major currency with the players for that.
Stern would’ve found a way to get the league to wiggle out of that scenario, and whitewash Sterling (community service, outreach programmes, photos in black community etc.) into remaining.
Now, the Rozier scandal (his trade to Miami, failure to inform them about this) was a black mark against him, but he should still have people backing him.
P.S.- if the league finds a similar deal for Kawhi, it’ll further strengthen their case. Give it time.
I would also like to remind everyone that unlike Roger Goodell, Adam Silver is a trained lawyer and who I believe represented the NBA before being hired by it. He understands that a case like this must be absolutely air tight, otherwise it could turn into a disaster. Remember the dumb way that Goodell handled the various Patriots scandals?
He understands that a case like this must be absolutely air tight, otherwise it could turn into a disaster.
No it doesn’t, not from any kind of legal perspective. The current rules allow the league/commissioner a substantial amount of leeway to punish a team based on, and I quote, “circumstantial evidence” of cap circumvention. There is a legit mountain of circumstantial evidence in this case, everyone knows the Clippers/Ballmer paid Kawhi extra money under the table via a bogus sponsorship.
If Silver went to all the other owners and asked if they felt the Clippers should be punished for cap circumvention and a majority said yes, he could do it tomorrow and there would be nothing anyone could do about it. He would be doing what the majority of owners want so there wouldn’t be blowback there, some players that have their own undiscovered under the table deals would probably panic but the rest wouldn’t care, fans would probably be happy he actually did something rather than sweeping another scandal under the rug for the sake of sucking up to money.
The only one that would be clearly upset is Ballmer, but he wouldn’t have any recourse in either the league rules nor certainly any legal standing. He could sell the team in protest I guess. Plus maybe Kawhi who could be fined, suspended, or have his contract voided
So many people dont understand what circumstantial evidence means. DNA is circumstantial yet strong evidence. Anything NOT a direct account of the crime being commited is circumstantial evidence. The quality of the circumstantial evidence is how much inference it has. DNA on a murder weapon is on the low end of inference typically. DNA in the area of a murder that you would expect the accused to be is on high end of inference. Many crimes have no direct evidence as there is no witnesses and no recording.
Regardless, the nba has hired a third party to complete the investigation so it is largely out of the nbas hands until that party finishes it. I dont know why everyone is getting so mad when there hasn’t even been a ruling yet.
Remember the dumb way that Goodell handled the various Patriots scandals?
How’d that work out for Goodell? Oh? He got his way and nothing happened to him?
If you’re booing him and not the team governors & owners, well then Adam Silver is doing his job perfectly.
He is being left out to dry by his bosses. This might cost him this job. I hope for his sake his bosses have something else lined up for him.
The commissioner is working for the owners and not the other way around.
Paying players under the table is ok in Adam Silvers NBA
He invited this pressure on himself. I’ve not experienced a year since he’s become the Commish where there’s been this much negative attention on his performance. He’s just not making the right calls at the moment. The EuroNBA is going to be a flop and that will be the end for him.
This guy sucks
Everybody boo this man! BOOOOOO
…the schlongs of all the owners. Just like Goodell. He doesn’t give a fuck about the game or the league as long as the owners are happy with the cash flow
Stern passed the torch to the wrong person
It would make Adam Silver’s day to punish the Raptors over Balmer
Getting shafted on both transactions. Wild.
Vancouver Grizzlies fan here.
Get in here guys!
Shareef Abdur-Rahiiiiiiiim
Just like not signing Ohtani just to watch him clinch a World Series on our own grass <2 years later.
We really paid out the karmic ass for that Raptors title.
I’ll never forgive Adam Silver for being an absolute bitch about the Masai vs. Alameda police situation.
Balmer is his homie. At worst just a slap on the wrist for him
Its more like Ballmer could buy the entire NBA if he had the chance.
He might actually to fire Adam Silver if Adam tries to punish him.
actually crazy to even think about it
He’s mad that the Raptor is also bald
Everyone calls him “fierce”
Adam just gets “creepy and mildly alarming I need an adult”
More like a crucifix and a wooden stake
Silver will love it if Raptors get Kawhi Leonard with a 2 year suspension, lose 5 draft picks, and no punishment to Balmer. Just exagerating but fuck man
Isnt he reptilian? He should like the Raptors
This doesn’t make any sense at all. There’s no universe where the Raptors are punished.
Finding Chemo needs to be fired.
Holy shit 💀
Lmao Reddit can be such a dark place for humour
It makes you wonder how many people who have the talent and whit of Dave Chappelle, Robin Williams, etc, are just at their accounting job getting upvotes on reddit instead of working.
Seriously. I could never be creative like that lmao
In terms of comedians there’s also a performance aspect to it, which I’m gonna lean on reddit stereotypes and suggest speaking in front of a crowd or being charismatic in any way would be the failure point.
my mum looked better after 4 rounds of chemo
My dad looked better when he had a bad reaction to his and needed to be resuscitated. Being ass at running a sports league wrecks a motherfucker.
Yeah she did
Alright man, have a good night. This is absolutely insane and my queue to go sleep. Later y’all ✌🏾
Cue
Damn
Go to sleep bro
Thats foul DAMN 😭
Finding Chemo is absolutely insane.
I will never be able to see him again without thinking of this comment and laughing. Thank you so much for this, you’ve made him so much more benign
A thing I noticed is almost all of the Big 4 sports commissioners are lawyers. Goodell is the only one that didn’t practice law.
America is run by lawyers and MBAs unfortunately.
DAMN that’s crazy lmao
Fire won’t do it, you need a wooden stake
LMFAO
I’d throw a tomato at him for his poor performance as commissioner. Buffoon
At least he’s hot and charismatic tho.
The ghoul skinwalker is?
You say ghoul skin walker I say he’s a grade A piece of ass.
Different strokes for different folks I guess.
If he wore a hat he’d look exactly like the villain in who framed Roger rabbit
He already called the guy a grade A piece of ass, you’re just being repetitive now.
You aren’t attracted to a pale bag of bones sans spine?
I’d throw a snowball at him
Deflecting the blame for not finishing up a year long investigation?
Not really deflecting blame. Just clarifying why the trade is currently stalled
Needing to specifically “clarify” that it’s not the league that stopped it, is deflecting
I mean, the Raptors made the decision to not go forward with it because it’s a huge risk.
A week after announcing the trade to the league. They were definitely told something behind closed doors that changed their minds
I’m assuming they (the Raptors) felt like the only punishment that would come down would be against the Clippers and the owners for circumventing the salary cap. So the NBA probably reached out a bit later to remind them that Kawhi, himself, could ALSO be punished for this (without any knowledge of the investigation at the moment) and that’s why they paused the trade.
Yeah because they were led to believe otherwise BY THE NBA
Uhhh when did the NBA lead anyone to believe he couldn’t be suspended if traded?
Their endless stall tactics and the fact that a podcaster was the one started the investigation and not them? There have been tampering allegations with Kawhi since 2019
No they weren’t though. They were informed before they agreed
No this is just what raptors fans wanted to believe lol
It’s not deflecting if its the whole truth lmao. People can bitch all they want about him shafting the raps but plain and simple the raps have autonomy. They are trying to acquire a player who has an active investigation into him, and there are obvious consequences for that. They made the choice to put a hold on the trade, the league did nothing aside from saying it is possible the player they want to acquire will face a possibly large punishment.
I think “deflection” is the wrong word, but I believe I get the intent of what they were insinuating – if there is an investigation going on regarding any player, you’d think the league would step in and suspend any transactions that include said player until the investigation is completed.
In this case, Silver’s explicitly saying that they didn’t tamper with this transaction as opposed to the Raptors hesitating pending the outcome of the investigation; it’s taking a backseat to everything rather than dictating when they have the authority to do so and it’s a similar reason why Heat fans have been upset that a similar stance wasn’t taken in the case with Terry Rozier.
I think in light of what happened with Rozier, the NBA decided to make it clear that the Raptors would bear any punishment levied on Kawhi specifically.
On its face, it’s a step in the direction of transparency. But realistically, the NBA should have been forthcoming in advance of free agency levying a preliminary disclosure regarding Kawhi’s situation and the warnings for interested parties (Raptors).
This approach would have been a detriment to the Clippers essentially keep Kawhi and Clippers attached which could have helped speed up the resolution. Instead they waited for another party to get involved and then made an announcement which ultimately is to the benefit of the clippers.
Is it a deflection if it’s true? There was a lot of confusion about that when the Raptors made their announcement
Wrap up this summer is crazy
This summer in 2056
Ill be 40 by then lol
good God you’re 10?!
Adam Silver, more like Adam Arsenic
Def got that heavy metal energy.
Yeah let’s just make the Raptors rot and miss on free agent and trade opportunities then bail out Ballmer
Wouldn’t bailing out balmer help the raptors because the trade would go through
this shouldve been dealt with months ago
I didn’t realize the league forced the raptors to trade for a guy under investigation lmao
The league had no issue with us going for it over a month ago when the Raptors and Clippers started talking. League office changed their tone.
You think we were supposed to go for “LaMelo Ball” instead of Kawhi?
Your comment doesn’t really make sense to me.
This league is a fucking joke.
But it’s profitable as hell
He also went on to say how much he loves the color red and that the sun should be destroyed
Oh wow, I’m so relieved it wasn’t the league who paused the trade. What a load off my mind!
David Stern would have resolved this already
David Stern sucked dude, people have lionized this dude and I dont really get it
They’re kids. They don’t remember. I do hate Silver more at this point I think, but it might be recency bias because boy howdy did I hate David Stern.
Stern was equally as bad and was an asshole about it. I used to think he hated the fans.
Stern for all his faults was not a pushover. He’d have dealt with this specific issue much better.
Stern was way more attuned to fan perception of the league, which was good and bad. We only remember the good and not when he made players wear suits.
It’s fair to say he never would have let this drag on this long though.
Exactly, Stern swept the whole referee betting scandal under the rug. Scott Foster remained a referee
It’s the difference in attitude. Stern was just your classic hardass, the type of guy who’ll just grin if you call him out. Silver is a legitimate weasel who’s always looking to put his spin on things, the type of guy that will slap you and pretend it was the wind. Stern would admire Kissinger’s position/status, Silver admires Kissinger as a person.
Stern had balls and ruled with an iron fist. He wasn’t fan friendly but he didn’t put up with half the nonsense Silver is willing to deal with.
Brother he oversaw the worst scandal the NBA has ever had, blamed it on one guy when it was absolutely obvious there were multiple people involved, and then just moved on. There was NOTHING “iron fist” about how he handled that scandal. Again you all have decided on a version of stern I certainly didn’t experience. Have you been watching the NBA since the 90s?
Took 3 months to get the Joe Smith hammer brought down and down HARD
I mean the evidence was right there pretty cut and dry lmao
god the people on this sub are braindamaged
I’m honestly hoping it’s bot comments at this point so I can still believe in humanity and their ability to form thought
they really think silver can end the investigation right now if he wanted
Of course he could
The Raptors and Lakers already reported Kawhi’s camp breaking the CBA 7 years ago. The league did not care.
I will be popping champaigne the day this man finally leaves his position
I love how you think the next guy will be better. He works for the owners. He’ll be replaced when he stops doing what they want and be replaced by someone who will. And 10X more.
I don’t believe in ghosts but he might actually be one
Don’t really see why everyone’s so mad about this. Just don’t trade for a dude who is under investigation
Or maybe the league should tell teams beforehand that Kawhi is off as the investigation is still ongoing.
They let the Raptors and Clippers go too deep into this.
This is where I land as well; they could have clearly communicated with all 30 teams months ago instead of letting teams come to trade terms then waiting until they called it in to make the consequences fully known.
The investigation happening was extremely public. Are we under the impression the teams are just run by children? Why would they even think to warn teams lmao
It’s not up to the league to make sure teams don’t do dumb shit lol
Okay, we’ll trade for all the other superstars that want to play here.
Oh, wait…
How is that the league’s problem? Or anyone but the raptor’s for that matter?
The problem is that this potentially fucks the Raps free agency and entire offseason. Before the trade it was “both sides did their due diligence” and after it, all this shit goes down. Not a great look and imo, this should have been handled last season.
Adam silver is such a pussy
Adam silver looks more evil every press conference
Like a cheap live action rendition of a cartoon villian.
“We didn’t pause the trade, just the investigation. But we hit unpause now”
The NBA really said it’s not us, ask your parents.
Where is Pablo Torre when you need him?
This guy is an absolute joke.
Spineless plankton looking fuck.
He sounds dead inside
Why is this taken as a bad comment?
I don’t like Adam Silver, never have. Kicking out a racist owner for one of the richest men on the planet wasn’t a valiant decision. Every commissioner is going to suck because they want to make the billionaire owners happy and dilute sport to a highlight reel instead of a chess game.
But what he is saying here is not bad leadership. The NBA said they were conducting an investigation. They never said they concluded it and as a team that’s trading for a guy in that situation I should’ve known impending consequences.
Yall clown Joe Dumars for not knowing cap rules that nobody knew here but shit on Silver for something we all knew since last year.
Its terrible leadership. They let both teams agree to trading a player that adam should have let known was off limits until the investigation was over.
Silver started off popular but fuck has he been sucking monkey balls since then.
There is nothing more Adam Silver than coming out and making a completely incorrect statement. You paused it and then came out and stated you didn’t, as if we’re that stupid
the league never paused it
Oh yeah, this is the Raptors fault now. Thanks Adam. Glad you were CC’d on the trade.
This is embarrassing
This…summer…BLOOD CLAT
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Adam Silver offering up a sliver of information.
Cough cough Bullshit Cough Cough
Is he worse than Stern?
Dude has been awful for the nba. He’s gonna be the death of the nba.
Ohhhhhh brother this guy stinks!!!!!
They will stall this out for 2-3 more years until everybody looses interest.
He’s scared shitless to punish the newer, richest owner in the league.
So finish the damn investigation!!! Pablo already laid it out
Just get the shit over with.
No one likes him
It is summer Adam
THEN FINISH THE FUCKING INVESTIGATION OR AT LEAST GIVE THE TEAMS SOME SORT OF TIMETABLE HERE
It’s unbelievable he still has a job
except for the fact that he made the circumstances (raptors suffering the consequences for LACs crimes)
Idk shit about basketball, saw this on r / popular. But this dude is a Bond supervillain wtf.
It’s time for a new Commissioner.
Silver is a pathetic commissioner who has damaged the NBA
“I didn’t pause the trade, I just turned it into a time bomb so they would voluntarily pause it”
The raps gonna get their pick back or atleast add protections
he doesn’t give a fuck as long as he and the owners are making money
What a loser
The french fry in the onion ring bag really fucked this up.
Does the NBA not realize they’re being overbilled?
Worst commissioner in history of the big 4
Adam silvers legacy is going to be flopping letting balmer walk all over him and ruining the league’s reputation by not punishing the refs/getting in bed with gambling. yeesh.
Should send him to go visit a wild bison I seen recently.
It’s gonna be a looooong summer then…
At least he didn’t COVER IT UP LIKE HE DID WITH TERRY. GIVE US OUR FRP BACK YOU BALD BITCH
“If only I were somehow involved in the decision or could have any impact on the speed of the investigation.”
Everyone wants the investigation to conclude.
The Raps and Clips moved prematurely, it’s as simple as that.
Silver has fault overall for not investigating the Clippers’ shenanigans and the improper asks from Kawhi’s team years ago.
I don’t think outside of Reddit ppl care too much about the Kawhi situation
If the trade ends up not happening do the Raptors awkwardly welcome back Ingram (and Dick)? Or do they trade him somewhere else for pennies on the dollar?
Dudes be like “subway sucks”
My brother in Christ you made the sandwich
BOO tomato tomato! 🍅
Mark Tatum I’m gonna need you to start warming up. This guy is cooked!
why is pretending like he has no influence over this?
That’s an odd distinction for him to draw.
The Raps want assurance that they won’t experience any consequences for what the Clips did, and the League is moving at an imperceptible pace on providing that, because they’re scared of what will happen if they do anything. They can’t let it slide, but they also can’t afford to punish anyone. They need to just strip the Clips of some distant future picks and end the tension.
That’s pretty dam brutal. I think Kawhi will get a 1 year suspension and clippers destroyed
Who’s worst him or the WNBA person?
This is what happens when you hire high priced lawyers that bill by the hour.
Claude could have solved this in 5 minutes
like usa summer or Australia summer
He’s such a piece of shit liar
do your fucking job dude
Oh shit! Were we supposed to investigate something?
Wasn’t it reported they still want to do the trade? So are they not going forward or was it paused?
Steve Ballmer is Adam Silver’s father.
He makes David Stern seem like an honorable dude.
Yeah when you’re the richest owner in sports you kinda get to do whatever the fuck you want lmao idk why people thought they’d penalize balmer he already tried this under the table shit back with Deandre Jordan
“I want to emphasize that I didn’t do anything to hold anyone accountable for their actions. These teams just assume because there’s an overwhelming amount of evidence I might do something and paused the trade. Idiots. There’s no way I’d do anything unless I’m forced by my other masters.”
I wish Pablo would find out a deal whereby Adam got the biggest bag from Ballmer, bigger than you or I could easily imagine, to let the Clippers off easy.
So many words to say fucking nothing.
Never seen people’s opinions of an administrator fall so hard. What an absolute boob this guy is.