Clippers-Kawhi saga a victory for athlete empowerment, a uncommon rebuke of NBA possession

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The NBA’s announcement on Wednesday of extreme penalties in opposition to the Los Angeles Clippers and proprietor Steve Ballmer for circumventing the wage cap jogged my memory of a defining league dialogue of the previous 15 years: athlete empowerment.

Aside from LeBron James, former Clippers star Kawhi Leonard – a central determine the wage cap circumvention controversy – stands out as the face of this motion. But if the $700,000 wonderful that Leonard confronted, compared to the harsher penalties Ballmer and different Clippers executives obtained are any indication, we should always have widened our gaze a very long time in the past.

Instead of defining NBA labor and energy via the gamers, we should always have outlined it via possession.

The disparity in punishment for Leonard in comparison with what the Clippers and Ballmer face is a victory for the supposedly waning athlete empowerment period, and it’s a uncommon rebuke of the NBA’s possession class. What occurred to Ballmer’s Clippers and former Clippers proprietor Donald Sterling are actually an apples and oranges comparability, and but we’ve to return to the NBA’s wresting away of the franchise from Sterling to see a punishment so extreme – and so justified.

“The NBA’s collectively bargained system for determining player compensation is a fundamental component of the basketball competition that the league oversees for the benefit of the teams and players and ultimately the fans,” commissioner Adam Silver stated. “I am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers’ institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct. The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations.”

Ballmer was fined $30 million and suspended from all unit and league actions for a yr. The Clippers will forfeit their first-round draft picks from 2029 to 2033. Further, Gillian Zucker, Clippers president of enterprise operations, is suspended with out pay for one yr, and Lawrence Frank, president of basketball operations, is suspended with out pay for six months.

It’s necessary to evaluate how we bought right here. Critics of the league usually complained about James’ numerous strikes to South Beach, Los Angeles and different locales, together with energy strikes just like the one which linked Leonard and Paul George as a crosstown rival to the Lakers. The narrative, in fact, is that these strikes affected the league’s “competitive balance.”

Discussions about aggressive stability ought to have at all times been centered on possession and the willingness to spend on a winner. The second apron on the luxurious tax, designed to punish house owners who wish to spend on a successful unit, makes little sense to the gamers who need to earn more money, or the followers who wish to see their unit contend for a title yearly.

The NBA needed to punish Ballmer “for knowingly seeking to help Mr. Leonard obtain off-court income opportunities” as a result of circumventing the wage cap is a betrayal of belief in opposition to the house owners. Silver was left with no different selection.

It was a troublesome transfer for Silver and the NBA, make no slip-up about it.

“Is Steve Ballmer the perfect owner?” former TV host Charlie Rose requested Silver in a 2015 interview. “Yes, he’s the perfect owner,” Silver responded.

Owner Steve Ballmer of the Los Angeles Clippers (left) congratulates Kawhi Leonard (proper) after his 55-point showdown to victory 112-99 in opposition to the Detroit Pistons at Intuit Dome on Dec. 28, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif.Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images

Ballmer’s acquisition of the Clippers represented a altering of the guard – a shift from the “mom and pop” possession teams to a billionaire tech class with a great deal of cash and a need to spend. Golden State’s rise to NBA prominence – and its present digs – are reflective of bold possession.

In 2010, the identical yr James made “The Decision” to hitch the Miami Heat, Joe Lacob purchased the Warriors, who since have received 4 NBA titles. Moving the Warriors from Oakland to San Francisco can be consultant of the affect of “tech bros,” and the title of the world Golden State used to action in, Oracle, ties again to the Ellison household, who’ve a watch on controlling important items of media infrastructure.

Some of the (rhetorical) questions weren’t as clear then as they’re now. What will the ethics of capitalistic billionaires imply for his or her million-dollar workforce and the followers who love them? What will occur when cities inform house owners to finance their very own stadiums? How will the rising tide of personal fairness reshape how the NBA does enterprise?

As it seems, fairness was Ballmer and the Clippers’ undoing. A yr in the past, the NBA opened an investigation right into a $28 million fairness and endorsement contract between Leonard and Aspiration Fund Adviser LLC, a inexperienced banking firm that later filed for chapter. Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced to 14 years in jail after pleading responsible to fraud to the tune of $248 million.

The NBA’s possession class has been shaken altogether in current months, whether or not it was Mark Walter’s seemingly hurried sale of his majority stake within the Los Angeles Lakers to Bob Iger, former chief govt of the Walt Disney Company, and Josh Kushner — who has ties to the present presidential administration — to the dramatic cost-cutting practices of Portland Trail Blazers proprietor Tom Dundon.

Dundon’s refusal to contribute to area upgrades is reflective of the chasm that may exist between possession and taxpaying followers.

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These tales mirror the necessity for sound decision-making and transparency, which make the function of journalists exceedingly necessary. It was former ESPN host and persona Pablo Torre who broke the information on the Clippers’ cap circumvention, and as of yesterday, promised to dive into Walter’s dealings. Walter can be the proprietor of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But as somebody who has been an advocate of the athlete empowerment period, and having seen a few of the house owners’ efforts within the boardroom and all through media to discredit gamers, it’s good to see the pendulum shift again into the gamers’ palms, even when for a second.

I perceive that working-class people and taxpaying residents have much more in widespread with athletes than they do house owners, even when we put billionaires on pedestals. Billionaires, a lot of whom have obtained their wealth via controversial and even unethical means, should have some pushback on what have largely been unmitigated strikes.

If Silver’s reluctance became retribution in opposition to maybe the NBA’s “perfect owner,” then possibly there’s hope for possession to be held accountable in different areas.

Ken J. Makin is a contract author and the host of the Makin’ A Difference podcast. Before and after commentating, he’s excited about his spouse and his sons.