NBA-ийн комиссар Адам Силвер тус багт ногдуулсан түүхэн шийтгэл нь франчайзын ирээдүйд байнгын хохирол учруулахгүй гэдгийг мэдэгдлээ.
NBA-ийн засаглалын зөвлөлийн уулзалтын үеэр Лос Анжелес Клипперс багийн төлөөлөл оролцоогүй өнжлөө. Багийн эзэн Стив Балмер нэг жилийн хугацаатай эрхээ хасуулах шийтгэлээ эхлүүлээд байгаа бол бизнесийн үйл ажиллагаа хариуцсан ерөнхийлөгч Гиллиан Зукер мөн адил түдгэлзүүлэгдсэн байна. Энэ нь NBA-ийн цалингийн цэсийг тойрч, Кавай Леонардын төлөөх ивээн тэтгэлгийн гэрээг зохицуулсан хэмээн буруутгагдаж, 30 сая ам.доллараар торгуулж, таван удаагийн драфтын эхний тойргийн эрхээ алдсан түүхэн шийтгэлийн нэг хэсэг юм.
Комиссар Адам Силвер энэхүү шийтгэл нь эцсийн шийдвэр гэдгийг онцлохын зэрэгцээ, ирээдүйд гарч ирэх аливаа шинэ мэдээлэлд үндэслэн ажиллах боломжтойг үгүйсгэсэнгүй. Тэрээр энэхүү хориг арга хэмжээ нь бусад багуудыг ийм төрлийн зөрчил гаргахаас сэргийлэх зорилготой бөгөөд багийн хөгжөөн дэмжигчдэд хэтэрхий хүнд цохилт өгөхгүй байхыг зорьсон гэж тайлбарлав.
Леонардын хувьд 700,000 ам.долларын торгууль хүлээж, улмаар Торонто Рэпторс баг руу солигдсон билээ. Стив Балмер өнгөрсөн ням гарагт уг шийтгэлийг хүлээн зөвшөөрсөн мэдэгдэл хийсэн нь түүнийг NBA-ийн сайн харилцаанд эргэн орох эхний алхам болж байна. Одоогоор Лос Анжелес Клипперс баг АНУ-ын Хууль зүйн яамны шалгалтад өртөөд байгаа бөгөөд комиссар Силвер нэг жилийн хугацаа дуусахад Балмерыг багийн эзний хувиар эргэн ирэх бүрэн боломжтой гэж үзэж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
NEW YORK — As the NBA’s owners and high-ranking executives met this week for the league’s latest Board of Governors meeting, the LA Clippers were missing. Steve Ballmer, the team’s owner, just began his one-year ban that was set down by the league this month.
The Clippers’ president of business operations, Gillian Zucker, is suspended, too. That left the franchise without a presence for the past two days during the NBA’s regularly scheduled confab.
It is one of the consequences of the punishment the NBA levied on the Clippers two weeks ago after it found that the franchise circumvented its salary cap by facilitating four off-the-books sponsorship deals for star player Kawhi Leonard. The Clippers were docked five first-round picks and fined $30 million. Ballmer and Zucker are gone for the next year, and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank received a six-month suspension.
It was the largest penalty in league history, matching the five first-round picks the Minnesota Timberwolves lost a quarter-century ago in their cap circumvention discipline but drawing a heftier fine. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday that the penalty is “final” for the Clippers, but the league has left open the possibility of receiving and acting upon any new information. And while there have been no discussions to this point about returning any first-round picks to the Clippers, the NBA did return two of the five it took from the Timberwolves after Minnesota circumvented its rules in 2000.
Pablo Torre reflects on the NBA’s historic ruling in the Kawhi Leonard case
The NBA relied on precedent in doling out its discipline to the Clippers, Silver said, but wanted to walk a line where it did not overly deflate the team’s fanbase.
“I don’t think in any way we’ve done permanent damage to this franchise, but there’s no question this is a setback for the team,” he said. “As I said, the ultimate goal in terms of these types of sanctions is to ensure that other teams don’t engage in this type of behavior in the future, so there has to be something beyond suspensions and financial consequences, and that has to go to regular competition.”
Silver, in his first public comments since the NBA released the findings of its investigation, said the NBA took time at its Board of Governors meeting to reiterate that everyone must abide by the league’s rules. The Clippers, the league found, had helped set up multimillion-dollar endorsement deals for Leonard with Aspiration, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics and Lockton Companies — all team business partners.
Those contracts led to widely disparate penalties for the Clippers and for Leonard. While the Clippers must now reckon with a front office waylaid by the loss of its three top officials and the loss of five future picks, Leonard was fined just $700,000. The NBA said that Leonard pressured the Clippers through his uncle Dennis Robertson for off-court income but declined to punish him further. He has since been officially traded to the Toronto Raptors and is set to receive a contract extension worth more than $100 million.
The league reached a deal with the National Basketball Players Association to close the investigation and penalize the Clippers, and in the process cut off any chance for the franchise to appeal that discipline. Silver declined to go into the league’s negotiations with the players’ union to reach that accord, and instead commended the NBPA’s new executive director.
“I don’t think it would be appropriate to take you through the back-and-forth with the playersassociation,” Silver said. “I did meet directly with Kawhi recently. I think we all agree it’s time to move forward here. I think David Kelly represented his player well and the interest of the players association. All I can say is I think we reached a fair outcome for everyone.”
Although the results of the league’s investigation were revealed 13 days ago, the process reached a denouement Sunday night when Ballmer publicly accepted the penalties that resulted from it after the franchise initially pushed back against the NBA. The day the NBA released its report, the Clippers said that the investigation had been a “witch hunt” and said they intended to explore legal options to fight it. They also said that it had only introduced Leonard to team sponsors, and that those kinds of events were “proper and commonplace” in the NBA. Silver said Tuesday that “we know around the lines there’s been slippage over the years, but nothing of this nature that I’m aware of.”
Ballmer did not accept culpability Sunday when he accepted the NBA’s punishment, or admit to any of the wrongdoing alleged by the league and the Wachtell Lipton law firm that led the investigation.
The Clippers are now being investigated by the Department of Justice, with an inquiry led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, according to a New York Times report. Daktronics acting chief financial officer Howard Atkins said this month that the Securities and Exchange Commission has reached out to the company for information about its deal with Leonard.
Ballmer’s statement, however, is the first step for him returning to Silver and the NBA’s good graces.
“In terms of Steve’s statement, putting aside the precise words he chose to use, most importantly he indicated a willingness to accept the league’s decision in this case and the accompanying sanctions,” Silver said. “That initially I was most focused on, which is markedly different than the initial statements that came out of his organization. I think there will be ample time to have additional conversations with him over the next year. Also, this is not information that I’m sharing from a direct conversation with the Clippers organization. Again, there are other inquiries that have nothing to do with the NBA that the Clippers and Steve Ballmer are now dealing with.
“My assumption is, in some cases, he has to choose his words carefully in terms of what he is saying. Aside from that, I appreciate the fact that he has stood down, that he did apologize and is accepting responsibility. Our plan is to move forward. Every reason to believe that, at the end of the year period, he’ll return to be an owner in good standing.”
