A well informed friend, someone who knows an owner and his associates, thinks Ballmer will be forced to sell.
Which I would find very surprising. But he knows more than I do for sure.
I’ll believe that when I see it, even after Pablo’s latest revelation. However mad other teams are at Ballmer for this, billionaire owners do not want to increase the number of precedents for their shiny toys to be taken away from them.
That said, it would be pretty incredible if ownership of the Clippers became a cursed position, like being the drummer of Spinal Tap or Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. The league was so relieved when Ballmer took over for Sterling, and now… this.
big news of the day: i have officially made it to the other side of the DayZ map…
only took me a few weeks to learn how to stay alive for the 10 mile or so journey, just “gearing up” and jogging from the east coast of the map, where you spawn, and making it across the map took pretty much about six hours…
there are vehicles in the game, but that’s higher level kind of stuff to use those, i’m just getting okay making fire and fishing…plus almost all the “good” gear is on the west side of the map…
I’m still (probably) not totally awake, because it took me to the 3rd paragraph to acknowledge you’re talking about a game, Geo. At first i thought you were out there in the wild, living the life. LOL
The league was so relieved when Ballmer took over for Sterling, and now… this.
I don’t think this is outrageous to the point of taking the team away from Ballmer. Can’t they issue a huge penalty? He tried to pay 20M that the rules didn’t allow him to do, if you make him pay 10 times that, i don’t think any of the other billionaires will engage in this. They have the money to do it, but they love money so much that i don’t think they’d risk having to pay such penalties.
The argument, Cyber, is that these rules are in place to keep someone like Ballmer — who’s as rich as all the other owners combined — from wildly outspending them. Part of the reason all these franchises are so valuable is that the Indiana Pacers are in theory on a level playing field with the Lakers. If the richest owners can apply their full financial might, then the value of the smaller market teams plummet. They can’t have that.
Yeah this is a tough one. I agree that Ballmer probably won’t have to sell the team. But he could get a year ban away from the team, a huge fine, and lose the team’s firsts between 2030 and 2035. Also, Kawhi’s agent will probably be banned from the NBA, and Kawhi could get a suspension (not sure how culpable he is here). I’m not sure if Silver would bother to void the contract because that might punish Kawhi too much.
Silver could also decide the Stepien Rule doesn’t apply in this case, and take away all the current picks that the Clips aren’t allowed to trade.
I’m not sure if Silver would bother to void the contract because that might punish Kawhi too much.
How much would it punish him? If he were a free agent next summer, would other teams give him the same contract he currently has with the Clips? On the one hand, he has the injury history. On the other, he’s Kawhi Leonard. Hmm.
6 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.09.14)”
I’ll believe that when I see it, even after Pablo’s latest revelation. However mad other teams are at Ballmer for this, billionaire owners do not want to increase the number of precedents for their shiny toys to be taken away from them.
That said, it would be pretty incredible if ownership of the Clippers became a cursed position, like being the drummer of Spinal Tap or Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. The league was so relieved when Ballmer took over for Sterling, and now… this.
I’m still (probably) not totally awake, because it took me to the 3rd paragraph to acknowledge you’re talking about a game, Geo. At first i thought you were out there in the wild, living the life. LOL
I don’t think this is outrageous to the point of taking the team away from Ballmer. Can’t they issue a huge penalty? He tried to pay 20M that the rules didn’t allow him to do, if you make him pay 10 times that, i don’t think any of the other billionaires will engage in this. They have the money to do it, but they love money so much that i don’t think they’d risk having to pay such penalties.
The argument, Cyber, is that these rules are in place to keep someone like Ballmer — who’s as rich as all the other owners combined — from wildly outspending them. Part of the reason all these franchises are so valuable is that the Indiana Pacers are in theory on a level playing field with the Lakers. If the richest owners can apply their full financial might, then the value of the smaller market teams plummet. They can’t have that.
Yeah this is a tough one. I agree that Ballmer probably won’t have to sell the team. But he could get a year ban away from the team, a huge fine, and lose the team’s firsts between 2030 and 2035. Also, Kawhi’s agent will probably be banned from the NBA, and Kawhi could get a suspension (not sure how culpable he is here). I’m not sure if Silver would bother to void the contract because that might punish Kawhi too much.
Silver could also decide the Stepien Rule doesn’t apply in this case, and take away all the current picks that the Clips aren’t allowed to trade.
How much would it punish him? If he were a free agent next summer, would other teams give him the same contract he currently has with the Clips? On the one hand, he has the injury history. On the other, he’s Kawhi Leonard. Hmm.
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