{"id":150693,"date":"2025-09-12T05:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T05:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/150693\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T05:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T05:14:08","slug":"should-the-nba-punish-the-clippers-for-circumventing-the-salary-cap-the-bradley-scout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/150693\/","title":{"rendered":"Should the NBA punish the Clippers for circumventing the salary cap? \u2013 The Bradley Scout"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Kawhi Leonard. Image courtesy of Juan Ocampo\/Getty Images.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 3, The Athletic\u2019s Pablo Torre reported that the Los Angeles Clippers were using a company called Aspiration to circumvent the cap and pay Kawhi Leonard through a no-show deal worth $28 million. Contributors Jake Aimone and Ian Manley debate whether the Clippers should be punished for what NBA Commissioner Adam Silver calls a \u201ccardinal sin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes\u00a0<\/p>\n

By Jake Aimone<\/p>\n

If you ain\u2019t cheating, you ain\u2019t trying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Clippers have been accused of circumventing the salary cap by paying All-Star small forward Kawhi Leonard through a no-show deal with a company that is now bankrupt.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NBA\u2019s salary cap, first implemented during the 1984-85 season, was designed to create competitive balance between the league\u2019s teams. While some super teams have been assembled, it\u2019s not without a cost, as teams must pay a luxury tax depending on how much they\u2019ve exceeded the predetermined cap.<\/p>\n

Enter the Clippers, who allegedly paid Leonard outside the system to reduce their luxury tax. While the effort to scam the league was well-conceived, as this has worked for the past four years, there\u2019s no room for actions like this in professional sports. The LA Clippers defrauded the NBA, and they deserve to face the consequences of their actions\u2014plain and simple.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

No<\/p>\n

By Ian Manley<\/p>\n

While the situation certainly is concerning, it\u2019s essential to take a step back and acknowledge none of this has been confirmed. The Clippers invested $50 million into Aspiration, and Aspiration signed Kawhi Leonard to a $28 million endorsement deal. Aspiration also inked a $300 million contract with the Clippers to put their names on the jerseys. If they really wanted to circumvent the salary cap, why do it through a company you are so publicly affiliated with?\u00a0<\/p>\n

On top of that, Aspiration\u2019s founder pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud last month, defrauding victims of $248 million. It seems much more likely that the Clippers and Kawhi were duped by a shoddy company rather than any malicious and intentional salary cap violation. Furthermore, Kawhi\u2019s contract with the Clippers already has him getting paid $7 million more per year than any other team could offer; it\u2019s not like the Clippers are underpaying him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a contract negotiation with Paul George in 2024, the Clippers were unable to offer him enough money despite his wanting to stay on the team. If they were able to circumvent the cap in 2021 for one star, why not do it again in 2024 for another? It\u2019s clear to me that the Clippers are innocent, and if the NBA is to punish anyone, it should be Aspiration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kawhi Leonard. Image courtesy of Juan Ocampo\/Getty Images. On Sept. 3, The Athletic\u2019s Pablo Torre reported that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-150693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}