AROUND the NBA:

[SleepingHero]

How many games will Embiid and LBJ play? And how many of them together?

Embiid will play 39 games. LBJ 58. 

They'll play 17 games together.

[BoredAssistant]

Jmo and late to this but AI leading that Sixers team to the finals was more impressive than anything Westbrook did. It was hard to watch Westbrook play.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Federal prosecutors digging into Mark Walter’s business empire are focused on four entities that served as intermediaries between insurance companies he controlled and businesses that he also controlled, according to people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating whether Walter, the chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, who owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and various other businesses, or his companies committed fraud by concealing financial connections while borrowing billions of dollars from insurers he controls. The main entities investigators have narrowed in on, the people said, are ABS Capital, a Miami outfit founded by two former Guggenheim executives; Amistad Financial, an investment company that owns Equi Trust, a life insurer once controlled by Guggenheim and Walter; Bradford Allen, a Chicago-based commercial real-estate broker with long ties to Guggenheim; and Hudson Trading, another Chicago firm. Selling the Lakers freed up other assets and collateral that Walter had pledged to finance the team purchase last year, which might help the insurance remediation move more quickly, The Wall Street Journal reported. The surprise offer wasn’t part of the initial plan to become compliant with regulators, and the group continues to look for other fundraising options.

Wall Street Journal

[omahen]

Looks like NBA is setting a very dangerous practice by giving Clippers a pass. They didn't really circumvent the salary cap, as Kawhi was paid max. However, any max player could now more or less freely demand additional payments beyond the max deal and sign with a team offering most. Not sure owners will be happy about that. It could also lead to max players rather hit an FA market as they would have more negotiating power for those extra deals and "who offers more" competitions.

I understand these kind of things are very difficult to prove, but to say that there is no proof after everything that was presented, come as a very strong (or weak, if you prefer) statement.

[Chicagojk]

Looks like NBA is setting a very dangerous practice by giving Clippers a pass. They didn't really circumvent the salary cap, as Kawhi was paid max. However, any max player could now more or less freely demand additional payments beyond the max deal and sign with a team offering most. Not sure owners will be happy about that. It could also lead to max players rather hit an FA market as they would have more negotiating power for those extra deals and "who offers more" competitions.

I understand these kind of things are very difficult to prove, but to say that there is no proof after everything that was presented, come as a very strong (or weak, if you prefer) statement.

The NBA is disputing it a little bit, but I think the end result is always going to be a slap on a wrist for Bahlmer and a slightly harder slap on the wrist for Leonard.    I disagree.   Although with Bahlmer's money and power, it is going to tough if he is willing to fight every point.    Either way, the NBA will come off very bad imo.

They better hope they have everything though.  I wouldn't shock me if Pablo has one more thing ready to go realizing the outcome was always going to be less than ideal.

[F Gump]

I don't agree with either of you guys on the LAC/Kawhi situation. Neither does ESPN reporting.

ESPN's update on facts (not emotion) in play:  https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/4963...hi-leonard

From what they say, the NBA is apparently heading in the very direction I have been talking about. There is nothing in the rules that prohibits a player from striking a deal with an entity that does biz with either the NBA team or owner.  IN FACT, the NBA encourages it, writes it into the CBA as very legal, and the NBAPA loves it too. They would have a very hard time penalizing either LAC or KL without literally violating federal labor law. Because Pablo "found out!!!" something he could make a big deal about, that isn't really an NBA Big Deal, and doesn't make this a real issue.

The fact that LAC is paying the max to KL avoids the issue of CAP circumvention, because there's no way anyone can say he is being cap-charged a smaller number for his salary. He's literally on the books for the biggest number the NBA allows.

The one exception that makes a possible issue would be if Ballmer paid someone to pay KL, but they report they have found no evidence whatsoever of that, it seems. Show me the money. If a company wants to pay KL and then gets little value, that's on them for being stupid, not on Ballmer, LAC, or KL.

I just don't think there's anything here, I think it's been much ado about nothing, and life will go on. The NBA loves the situation where players get Money For Nothing for being NBA celebrities. The players do too. So there's no one to drive a complaint or real hearing or a penalty. With the ESPN article opting for common sense and focusing on the rules issues (which favor Ballmer and Kawhi, who apparently but unsurprisingly did nothing to actually violate the rules as written, because they incredibly broad), and opting for the facts rather than manufactured outrage or angst, this silliness should die very soon. imo

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

Yea, ESPN is definitely an impartial observer in this situation.  



ESPN has an 11-year, $76 billion league-wide media rights agreement shared with NBCUniversal and Amazon, running from the 2025–26 season through the 2035–36 season. Under the Disney Agreements, ESPN and ABC retain exclusive rights to the NBA Finals, regular-season packages, playoffs, and licensed studio programming like Inside the NBA.

[F Gump]

Be that as it may, there's no smoking gun to work with. In fact, there's no dead body either. Who has been hurt? Rich people shuffling money to other rich people in ways that seem too easy sure makes us poor people jealous, but please.

NO ONE (with "standing" to do so) has incentive to complain, and even more so when the evidence of any real CBA wrongdoing is somewhere between wispy and non-existent. What happened as is known (and reported to date, from about every actual report of what happened) is not against the NBA rules (in fact, it's basically endorsed in a backhanded way in the rules themselves) and there are very likely 29 other teams whose players may be in similar deals. Money For Nothing. No one in the actual NBA world cares. Not even a little bit.