{"id":2127663,"date":"2026-09-04T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2127663"},"modified":"2026-09-04T10:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:00:33","slug":"for-clippers-fans-nbas-cap-circumvention-punishment-an-all-too-familiar-shame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2127663","title":{"rendered":"For Clippers fans, NBA\u2019s cap circumvention punishment an all-too-familiar shame"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As actor Paul Scheer\u2019s phone buzzed Wednesday afternoon, the messages let him know he\u2019d been cast in a part he knew exactly how to play.<\/p>\n

His role? Embarrassed Clippers fan.<\/p>\n

Scheer, best known for starring in FX\u2019s \u201cThe League\u201d and Showtime\u2019s \u201cBlack Monday,\u201d had moved to Los Angeles in need of a team to get behind. The city\u2019s best Bad News Bears story appealed to him. The end of the Donald Sterling era featured the most talented rosters in Clippers history, and the energy from new owner Steve Ballmer had him all in for the other team in town.<\/p>\n

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But as news broke Wednesday afternoon that the NBA had found the Clippers guilty of salary cap circumvention with Kawhi Leonard<\/a>, text after text reminded him of his fandom fate.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just feel that they will always be the laughingstock,\u201d Scheer told The Athletic<\/em> on Thursday. \u201cAnd as a fan, you\u2019re always fighting that. You remind people they have the (active 15-season) streak of winning seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then something happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Something happened when, according to a year-long investigation by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the team improperly brokered multi-million dollar endorsement deals with multiple companies for Leonard. Something, of course, always seems to happen.<\/p>\n

Something happened when Sports Illustrated called the Clippers the \u201cworst sports franchise ever\u201d<\/a> on its cover in 2000. Something happened when Blake Griffin stepped on Lamar Odom\u2019s ankle during a playoff practice and could hardly move for the rest of the 2013 postseason. Something happened when Donald Sterling\u2019s racist rants were released in the middle of the 2014 playoff run. Something happened when Josh Smith and Corey Brewer took turns as the Splash Brothers in a Game 6 the year after. Something happened when Chris Paul got his hand caught in a Portland Trail Blazers player\u2019s jersey, ending the 2016 playoff run with a broken bone. Something happened when the Clippers included a lanky rookie point guard named Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a trade for Paul George. Something happened when Lou Williams broke COVID-19 protocols at Magic City in 2020.<\/p>\n

And something happened last fall when the \u201cPablo Torre Finds Out\u201d podcast published its first episode<\/a> alleging that the Clippers\u2019 broke NBA salary cap rules by getting Leonard an endorsement contract with the now-bankrupt environmental company Aspiration.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEvery five or six years, something massive happens that sets back that franchise,\u201d Scheer said. \u201cBeing a Clippers fan is high highs, and then the lowest of lows.\u201d<\/p>\n

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“This is the largest punishment in the history of the NBA.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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