NEW YORK — Adam Silver was far from rattled.
Silver was nonchalant as he delivered his opening remarks, ranging from comments on the league’s new media partners to the prospect of launching NBA Europe and the state of expansion.
There was no grand statement about the elephant in the room with the enormous claws.
We’re talking, of course, about the considerable circumstantial evidence revealed by the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, which appears to have connected plenty of dots between LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and Kawhi Leonard in an alleged salary-cap circumvention scheme to pay the All-Star forward millions beyond his max-salary contract.
Yet that characterization certainly does not apply to Silver.
New York — Adam Silver was not at all alarmed. Sitting in the second row of the same ballroom in midtown Manhattan where the NBA commissioner has frequently addressed a media audience after Board of Governors meetings, I was actually impressed by how Silver took the podium behind that blue, white, and red logo as if there hadn’t been a deafening clamor accusing a string of incidents that, if confirmed, would amount to possibly the biggest roster-building scandal in the history of American professional sports.
Silver was nonchalant as he delivered his opening remarks, ranging from comments on the league’s new media partners to the prospect of launching NBA Europe and the state of expansion. The elephant with the huge claws in the room was not the subject of any grandiose remarks.
Naturally, the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast has uncovered a wealth of circumstantial evidence that seems to have linked Kawhi Leonard and LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer to a purported salary-cap circumvention scheme that paid the All-Star forward millions more than his maximum contract. Shortly after this week’s BOG meetings, Torre released a new episode on Thursday morning that included more claims that the Clippers were in fact involved in Leonard’s alleged $28 million four-year endorsement contract.
Aspiration, a sustainability-focused financial firm, struck a $300 million sponsorship agreement with the Clippers to supply their jersey patch dot. and following Ballmer’s $50 million investment in Aspiration.
According to fan reactions on social media and my numerous interviews with sources throughout the NBA, including coaches, longtime agents, ownership-level sources, salary cap strategists, and more, there was an unmistakable feeling that many people in the league believed the Clippers were guilty until proven innocent even before Torre’s most recent podcasted outburst of reporting.
However, that description most definitely does not apply to Silver.
