NBA-ийн мөрдөн шалгалтын тайлангаар Клипперсийн гүйцэтгэх захирал Гиллиан Зукер тоглогчийн гэрээний дүрмийг зөрчин санхүүгийн нууц хэлэлцээрүүдийг зохион байгуулсан нь тогтоогдсон байна.
NBA-ийн хуулийн зөвлөхүүдийн бараг нэг жилийн турш явуулсан мөрдөн шалгалтын дүнгээр Кавай Леонардын чөлөөт агент байх үеийн гэрээтэй холбоотой ноцтой зөрчлүүд илэрчээ. Тайланд дурдсанаар, багийн ерөнхийлөгч Гиллиан Зукер нь Леонард болон түүний авга ах Деннис Робертсон нарын шаардлагын дагуу лигийн цалингийн дээд хязгаараас гадуурх ивээн тэтгэгчийн гэрээнүүдийг зуучилж, хуурамч цахим шуудангууд ашиглан үйл явцыг нуун дарагдуулсан байна.
Энэхүү зөрчлийн улмаас NBA-ээс Лос Анжелес Клипперс багт лигийн түүхэн дэх хамгийн хатуу шийтгэлүүдийн нэгийг оногдууллаа. Тус баг 30 сая ам.долларын торгууль төлж, драфтын эхний тойргийн таван эрхээ хураалгахаар болсон бол багийн эзэн Стив Балмер нэг жилийн хугацаатай, Гиллиан Зукер нэг жилийн цалингүй, Лоуренс Франк зургаан сарын хугацаатай тус тус эрхээ хасуулжээ.
Мөрдөн шалгалтын явцад Зукер нь мэдүүлэг өгөхдөө бодит нотлох баримтуудтай зөрчилдөх худал мэдээлэл өгсөн болох нь тогтоогдсон байна. Багийн зүгээс уг асуудлыг эсэргүүцэж, буруугүй гэдгээ мэдэгдсэн хэдий ч лигийн тайланд Зукерыг Boingo, Daktronics, Lockton болон Aspiration зэрэг компаниудтай хийсэн Леонардын ивээн тэтгэгчийн гэрээнүүдийг санаачлан, зохион байгуулсан гол хүн гэж онцолжээ.
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By the time Kawhi Leonard and his uncle, Dennis Robertson, asked for financial benefits outside the NBA’s salary cap during his free agency in 2019, the LA Clippers were familiar with the script.
In 2015, the Clippers, in an attempt to keep center DeAndre Jordan — one of that summer’s top free agents — presented him with an opportunity to earn extra cash as a spokesperson for Lexus. The idea, according to a source who was present for the planning, came from newly hired team president Gillian Zucker, an auto-racing executive and former Triple A baseball assistant general manager.
The Clippers were fined $250,000, the matter was internally chalked up to ignorance about the rules and the story quickly faded.
It was, as it turns out, a first rehearsal.
The results of a nearly year-long investigation by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz at the behest of the NBA were released Wednesday and revealed Zucker was again at the center of plans to funnel money to a star player outside of the league’s agreed-upon rules. This time, the accusations were so severe that the league issued a series of penalties among the heaviest its ever given.
The Kawhi Saga: What the NBA’s investigation into the Clippers revealed
Mike Vorkunov and Jeshua Kidd
The report accuses Zucker of being a dishonest witness whose own accounts contradicted physical evidence. It treats her, along with Leonard and Robertson, as the scandal’s central figures. The findings mention her name 56 times — with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank being mentioned a combined 52 times.
The Clippers, both through a team statement and one from an attorney, denied wrongdoing.
Zucker was suspended by the NBA one year without pay. Ballmer was also issued a one-year ban, while Frank was issued a six-month suspension. The team has been ordered to surrender five first-round draft picks and pay a $30 million fine.
In stating that Ballmer, Frank and Zucker were the three people most responsible for the rule-breaking, the league labeled Zucker as the conduit for sponsorship deals outside the rules for Leonard, including with Boingo, Daktronics, Lockton, an insurance brokerage, and, eventually, Aspiration.
“Ms. Zucker was the point person on all four deals between these companies and the Clippers, and directly initiated, facilitated, and induced each of Mr. Leonard’s endorsement agreements with those companies,” it reads. “Ms. Zucker acted on Mr. Robertson’s demands to help Mr. Leonard achieve lucrative endorsement opportunities, and when interviewed, she made misleading and false statements to investigators about her and the Clippers’ role in doing so.”
Zucker was Ballmer’s first big hire as he tried to rebuild the organization after purchasing it from Donald Sterling. She was largely unknown in NBA circles, but quickly established herself within the team as one of Ballmer’s fiercest employees.
“I am extremely happy to add a leader like Gillian to our team,” Ballmer said in a 2014 statement. “Her clear and creative business vision, innovative approach to marketing and experience working in the Los Angeles sports market make her the perfect fit to lead the Clippers during this transcendent time.”
A person who worked with Zucker at the Clippers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal, said Zucker was a fierce Ballmer loyalist willing to go to great lengths to keep the Clippers owner happy, and seemed unconcerned about the repercussions. The Athletic reached out to Zucker and the Clippers and did not immediately receive a response.
In a 2014 interview with ESPN, Zucker laid out grand plans for the Clippers. Asked where the organization would be in five years, the sky was clearly the limit in her mind.
“We have every opportunity for the Clippers to become not just the most recognized team in Los Angeles or the nation, but one of the most respected, successful and renowned team brands in the world,” she said. “We have a fantastic coach, players and staff that are dedicated to making this happen. I believe that the Clippers brand means something powerful, and people all over want to be inspired by the success story of the Clippers.”
Five years later, according to the NBA’s report, Zucker and the Clippers were feeling pressure from Leonard’s uncle about his nephew’s off-court earnings. The investigation found that Zucker and the Clippers helped craft endorsement deals between Leonard and multiple companies — including three prior to the deal with Aspiration.
According to the findings, Zucker wrote fake “introductory” emails in an effort to show that these businesses had requested to meet with Leonard while, in reality, the league’s report concluded that the Clippers initiated the partnerships as a way to boost Leonard’s earnings. One of those companies, the report says, had Zucker’s husband as the chair of its board of directors at the time.
The deal with Daktronics, the report said, was more explicit, with the scoreboard company being told that the team wanted a “spend back” deal where the Clippers would secure their services if Daktronics agreed to other business with the team.
“Ms. Zucker thereafter suggested to a Daktronics senior executive that this ‘spend back’ could be accomplished through an endorsement agreement between Daktronics and Mr. Leonard,” the report states. “Daktronics believed that failing to enter into a commercial relationship with Mr. Leonard could jeopardize its ability to win the bid for the Intuit Dome.”
Wednesday, Daktronics chief financial officer said on an earnings call that the NBA and the Securities and Exchange Commission reached out to the company for information regarding Leonard and the Clippers.
“This is the largest punishment in the history of the NBA.”
The report also concluded that Zucker “initiated and facilitated” the endorsement deal with Aspiration and its co-founder, Joe Sanberg, a deal that was first reported on by the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast. She, like in the previous deals, appeared to write introduction emails that made it appear that the businesses initiated contact about the player.
“This ‘introduction’ came nine days after Ms. Zucker told Mr. Sanberg that she would call a business agent to help him structure an agreement with Mr. Leonard; eight days after Ms. Zucker conveyed to the agent financial terms for the deal; and one day after Ms. Zucker gave ‘input’ on the deal’s term sheet,” the report states. “Based on this series of events, and based on the record related to Boingo, Daktronics, and Lockton, investigators find that the November 5 ‘introduction’ email from Ms. Zucker was drafted solely for record-making purposes and was not a genuine communication intended to kick off a dealmaking process for Mr. Leonard that was by this time already well underway.”
The investigators strongly concluded that Zucker lied about her and team’s involvement, singling out the team’s top business executive in the process.
“Mr. Ballmer and Ms. Zucker told investigators the same: that the Clippers’ sole involvement in Mr. Leonard’s relationship with Aspiration was an introductory email. Based on the foregoing evidence, investigators find these statements to be inaccurate (at best) with respect to Mr. Ballmer and clearly false with respect to Ms. Zucker,” the report says. “The Clippers suggested to Aspiration that they enter into an endorsement agreement with Mr. Leonard, asked a business agent to help structure the agreement, conveyed proposed deal terms to that agent, provided input on the proposed deal, and remained in communication about the agreement thereafter with both Aspiration and Mr. Leonard’s representatives.”
