He didn’t aspire to sign for the max

Pretty sure at the time the max 3 year extension was around 161m for 3 years. So he took roughly $3.5m discount. This was after getting knee surgery again in the off season after having to leave the playoffs after just playing two games.

The aspiration contract happened a couple years before this.

Whether he got a max deal or not is irrelevant. Funneling money to a player through outside companies is cap circumvention in both cases.

What would be the tax impact if he took it?

But he did receive a max for 2019-2025, right? I don’t know that the two are related tbh. The $28M was to get him to sign in the first place, no?

This is true, but it was also considered a market rate deal at the time because of his injuries.

Kawhi didn’t take enough of a pay cut for them to get another top 25- 30 player. He did what a lot of players do when they want to help existing teammates stay is take a haircut discount

Hey, signing for a lower amount so they have more salary cap available and getting deals to make up the difference is still circumventing the salary cap.

you can’t compare different years max. A lot of stars would take a shorter contract to hit FA earlier. Was that 3 year max the max he could’ve gotten on a 3 year max deal is more helpful than comparing it to a 4 year max.

It’s over bro

Surely a team paying a player more than the maximum negotiable salary is still cap circumvention regardless since they can attract a player they might not otherwise be able to secure in an actually competitive market.

He’s a fun guy. *Kawhi Laugh*

Kawhi didn’t sign a max extension who is arguing that but, even this extension wasn’t well received by Clips fan because he was injured in postseason that year.

And this extension is why we know those guys were cheating.

Some fans seem to be under the impression that Kawhi was signed on a max contract with the Clippers, so the current situation was not an instance of cap circumvention.

I don’t understand this. Even if he had been signed on a max, why would receiving money under the table not be illegal (violate NBA rules)?

Isn’t receiving money under the table always illegal whether or not you’re on a max?

Tell that to Aspiration!

Well, with how few games be ended up playing, he still basically won the deal.

Suck a dixk you shill

Is this a joke? Do you understand how the apron works?

Here’s the thing: it really doesn’t matter. Let’s say Kawhi signed for the absolute max money he possibly could every opportunity he got since initially signing with the Clippers. That doesn’t somehow mean receiving additional money from sponsors in a manner like Kawhi did is not cap circumvention.

They both started at the same max amount (35% of salary cap), Kawhi just didn’t get the maximum raises and opted not to take the fourth year. The Clippers had already ended their agreement with Aspiration because Aspiration defaulted on payments to them so I think Kawhi knew he wasn’t likely to get the rest of that money from his endorsement deal.

Oh ok. It’s all good! Nothing to see here everybody!

Well damn I was definitely under the impression he was on a Max and felt that this was more of an unfair incentive to choose a team rather than full blown cap space manipulation for an unfair advantage. Learning that he didnt sign for the max amount makes this so much worse. Sharpening my pitchfork to join the rest of yall now.

Even if he did sign the max it can still be cap circumvention. Can attract him to sign very well by going “hey we’ll pay you way more money than any team can offer by cheating through this fake endorsement deal.”

Kawhi wanted to show some gratefulness and give back to the community.

So he took less and made it up with sponsorships?

I for one would like to deeply apologize to the Clippers organization and their billionaire overlord for possibly assuming what I believed to be credible evidence of potential wrongdoing or chicanery. Clearly I was mistaken. I’ll learn from this and try to be better and more skeptical of “news” moving forward. Thank you.

SHOW SOME RESPECT TO SILVER, HE DOES A GREAT JOB FOR THE LEAGUE

Lemme know when the tears start flowing

Where’s the GUN?

No gun. No smoking gun. Case closed.

Why should I trust you?