The punishment the NBA handed down to the Los Angeles Clippers for circumventing the league salary cap through no-show sponsorship deals signed by Kawhi Leonard is unprecedented in American professional sports.
The Clippers were stripped of five future first-round NBA Draft picks, received one-year suspensions for owner Steve Ballmer and president of business operations Gillian Zucker, and a six-month suspension for president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank. In addition, the Clippers and Ballmer were fined $30 million.
While the draft-pick penalty mirrors the initial penalty for the Minnesota Timberwolves when they developed a scheme to sign Joe Smith in 2000, two of those picks were eventually restored. And the $3.5 million fine is no comparison, even with inflation, to the monetary penalty for the Clippers.
But for David Samson, it still wasn't enough.
Appearing on The Dan Le Batard Show, the former Miami Marlins executive said the severity of the salary cap circumvention called for even harsher punishment, perhaps up to and including firing the executives in question and forcing Ballmer to sell the team.
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The Clippers were stripped of five future first-round NBA Draft picks, received one-year suspensions for owner Steve Ballmer and president of business operations Gillian Zucker, and a six-month suspension for president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank. In addition, the Clippers and Ballmer were fined $30 million.
While the draft-pick penalty mirrors the initial penalty for the Minnesota Timberwolves when they developed a scheme to sign Joe Smith in 2000, two of those picks were eventually restored. And the $3.5 million fine is no comparison, even with inflation, to the monetary penalty for the Clippers.
But for David Samson, it still wasn't enough.
Appearing on The Dan Le Batard Show, the former Miami Marlins executive said the severity of the salary cap circumvention called for even harsher punishment, perhaps up to and including firing the executives in question and forcing Ballmer to sell the team.
#show #picks
2 days ago
