Adam Silver: Kawhi Leonard/Clippers investigation still ongoing

INGLEWOOD — NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke for about 30 minutes during Saturday’s All-Star Weekend media day, addressing potential league expansion, the NBA’s tanking problem, the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement negotiations and more.

But here in Southern California, the topic of a potential NBA salary cap scandal involving a reportedly secret $28 million endorsement deal between Clippers star Kawhi Leonard and Aspiration, a company tied to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, has been percolating since first reported by podcaster Pablo Torre in September.

Torre’s investigation suggested the arrangement, which allegedly involved “hush money” for no-show endorsement deals via now-bankrupt Aspiration, was means for the Clippers to circumvent league rules.

When asked about the league probe as to whether the Clippers illegally skirted the salary cap, Silver deflected the question, saying the league had yet to come to a decision on potential punishment, if any, on the Clippers.

“I haven’t come to any decisions whatsoever yet on the Clippers matter,” Silver said. “From everything I’ve been told, the Clippers have been fully cooperative. But as I said, I’m not involved day to day of the investigation, and I think, as I’ve said before, it’s enormously complex.”

Silver firmly stated that the investigation and its findings were not purposely delayed while the Clippers host this All-Star Weekend. Wachtell Lipton, the white-shoe Manhattan law firm conducting the investigation, has no deadline from the league to produce its findings.

Silver continued later in his press conference, when asked about punishment for salary cap circumvention:

“I am completely beholden to the (league) constitution and the CBA. I believe in the rule of law. You know, I have broad powers in certain areas, but those are broad powers that are granted to me by those very documents. And I think it’s in a way, I think it’s what makes sports so special that you establish these rules and people are and teams are required to follow.”

EXPANSION

Silver said although he did not want to string along cities such as Seattle or Las Vegas and act as if he’s making promises for the cities’ respective expansion franchise hopes, he did believe the league is currently on the path toward adding teams in the near future.

He said the NBA wanted to get through securing the new collective bargaining agreement, which was agreed to during the offseason, and that now the league can turn its focus to expansion.

“My sense is at the March board of governors meeting, we’ll be having further discussions around expansion process,” Silver said. “We won’t be voting at the March meeting, but we will likely come out of those meetings ready, prepared to take a next step in terms of potentially talking to interested parties. … It doesn’t have to be a two-team expansion, frankly, doesn’t have to be any number of teams.”

Silver added that current NBA franchises relocating would not be on the table.

TANKING

Earlier this week, the NBA fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and fined the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for roster-related decisions that the league deemed detrimental to winning. Silver said everything is on the table when it comes to finding a way to have fair competition season-long without the product on the court regressing, even agreeing to use the term “tanking” during his press conference.

He added that the competition committee would view the draft lottery process as an opportunity to change the incentive structure of the league and how to reward winning and losing.

“Are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory?” Silver said. “Yes, is my view, and which was what led to those, to those fines, and not just those fines, but to my statement that we’re going to be looking more closely at the totality of all the circumstances this season in terms of teams behavior and very intentionally, wanted teams to be on notice.”

PREDICTION MARKETS

The NBA is “paying an enormous amount of attention” to the rise of prediction markets, particularly after Milwaukee superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo sparked concern with his investment in Kalshi. Silver didn’t find fault with Antetokounmpo – whose shares are a “minuscule” position, according to Silver – but he acknowledged the looming specter of the gambling industry without suggesting a solution.

“It concerns me in the totality of all this betting that we need a better handle, no pun intended, on all the different activity that’s happening out there,” Silver said.

Silver also admitted the overwhelming size of this task, given that roughly 80 countries allow betting on the NBA while billions more are wagered illegally.

WNBA

Silver said collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the WNBA player’s association has reached an “unfortunate” stalemate between the teams and the players, especially considering how the ongoing commercial and public profile of women’s basketball continues to rise.

“I’ve been through so many cycles of collective bargaining, and often things tend to get done at the 11th hour,” Silver said. “We’re getting awfully close to the 11th hour when it comes to bargaining. I’m encouraged. There has been more back and forth over the past few weeks.”

News services contributed to this story.