The NBA fined the Clippers a million yuan + confiscated the draft pick + cancelled the 100 million yuan contract for small cards? Famous reporter: It s still far from this

The Athletic reporter and former ESPN contributor Pablo Torre recently broke the news on the podcast program PTFO that an anonymous employee of Aspiration told him that there is a yin and yang contract between Clippers star Kawhi Leonard (hereinafter referred to as Xiao Ka) and team boss Ballmer to evade the NBA salary cap, and he used the posting endorsement contract to get an extra $28 million (4 years). According to an exclusive report by Boston Sports Journal, Xiaoka also received a secret surcharge agreement worth $20 million, which will be paid in shares of Aspiration co-founder Joe Thunberg, who has pleaded guilty and pleaded guilty to fraudulent investors $248 million. In addition, Ballmer once purchased $50 million worth of stock for investment at a premium of $11 per share.

The Athletic reporter Jason Lloyd wrote an article talking about the above incident, saying that the possibility of the league's heavy punishment of the Clippers is not very high because relevant direct evidence is difficult to collect.

The specific details are as follows:

If the NBA can collect enough evidence to prove that Ballmer did evade the NBA salary cap on the contract of the Little Card, then league president Xiao Hua had no choice but to impose a heavy fine on the Clippers - a fine of millions of dollars, a loss of some draft picks, and even cancel the contract that Little Card has over $100 million (100.3 million) for the remaining two years.

But we are still far from that goal. Although Pablo Torre recently revealed some evidence on the podcast show Pablo Torre Finds Out, we may never be there (hard punishment from the Clippers).

This week, the league announced that it will investigate Ka and the Clippers again. This is at least the second time the league has examined the Clippers' business behavior, after which the league found no violations in its 2019 investigation. Pablo Torre certainly did his part in opening up new paths of exploration. However, after hearing that there is a new investigation by (the league), my first reaction is simple: "Who will listen to that evidence? Will Ballmer be brought to a jury composed of his peers? (Imagine Lacob and Dolan were sitting on the jury table together). "

The most striking question is what kind of burden of proof need to be achieved before taking action against Ballmer? What is the threshold for evidence? This is not a court. This is Xiao Hua's court. Article 13 of the Labor and Capital Agreement clearly stipulates that violations regarding the evasion of the wage cap "can be proved through direct or indirect evidence, including but not limited to: when a player contract or any of its provisions cannot be reasonably interpreted without a specific act, the contract itself can be used as evidence." This clause seems to provide sufficient room for investigation for Xiao Hua - as long as he decides to take action. Because the evidence currently found in Torre is completely within the category of indirect evidence.

Sports leagues often lack the ability to handle such investigations. These investigations are either carried out by employees within the alliance or operated by those nominal "third-party investigation agencies" that are closely related to the alliance and are not truly independent at all. The core of the alliance's thorough investigation is the $28 million contract revealed by Pablo Torre - the now-banked Aspiration company did not seem to require any services after signing the contract with Xiaoka. Pablo Torre's investigation found that Ballmer had invested $50 million in Aspiration in September 2021. Less than two weeks later, the Clippers announced a $300 million partnership with the same company.

It is not uncommon for players to establish partnerships with team sponsors. Stephen Curry has served as the brand ambassador of Chase Center since 2016, and the company is the owner of the Warriors' home naming rights.

But the amount of $7 million paid to the small card per year is obviously too high, and the Clippers and/or the small card may find it difficult to explain it properly - especially Pablo Torre reports that the small card has not provided any services to the company. Although Ballmer gave his own statement in an exclusive interview with ESPN program yesterday, the matter is still full of doubts and is definitely worthy of the league's investigation.

However, Ballmer directly told the investigators: "I have invested in a optimistic company. How can I predict how the other party will use the funds?" Is this statement tenable? Obviously there are many loopholes. Now the question is how to prove that he is lying.

Balmer told ESPN that the Clippers introduced the Clippers to Aspiration in November 2021 (this move is legal according to NBA rules), and it has been three months since the Clippers' early renewal of the contract with the Clippers. Pablo Torre's investigation shows that the agreement between Xiaoka and Aspiration was actually signed in April 2022.

Balmer said that the Clippers have recently cooperated with the investigations of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission and have submitted all written documents and text messages with Aspiration executives. "We have sorted out these materials long ago because they are part of the filing documents submitted to the Ministry of Justice and the SEC," Ballmer told ESPN, "We even found the email that initially introduced the two parties to know each other. It was early November, and the specific date is unclear. So where does the so-called evasion start? It has not happened at all, and it cannot happen."

If you want to impose penalties on Ballmer and the Clippers, it is far from enough to apply a disgruntled work permit for several disgruntled employees of the financial department of the company, a company co-founder Thunberg pleaded guilty to two felony counts of telecom fraud last month, and could face up to 40 years in prison. The credibility of these witnesses is questionable.

What is even more difficult to justify is that Caine Jr. was confirmed to miss the 2021-22 season with a partial tear of the ACL at that time. Why do the Clippers still need to provide additional benefits to attract him? If the evidence found this week can be traced back to the time when the Clippers signed the first small card in 2019, the logic of the whole thing would be self-consistent. But the controversial period happened exactly after Kazuki played for the Clippers for two seasons.

Investigators may need to prove that Ballmer, knowing that Ka's will miss the entire season due to a serious knee injury, deliberately set up an exclusive account and allocated funds for him - although he had already agreed to pay the player's four-year, $176 million contract. The practical difficulty of this proof may be far beyond what is seen on the surface. The court has now opened, and the respected Judge Adam Xiao Hua stands up.

Related content:

TA reporter revealed that Ballmer & small card signed a Yin-Yang contract to avoid the salary cap. The small card got an extra 28 million out of thin air

small card suspected of Yin-Yang contract! Shams: The league has learned about the Clippers and will conduct an investigation

more than 28 million! US media: Xiaoka has 20 million shares in the additional agreement between the company involved

🚨Famous reporter: The NBA has hired a law firm to investigate Xiaoka's endorsement agreement, the latter is suspected of evading the salary cap

source:7 m