{"id":2147216,"date":"2026-09-16T10:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T07:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2147216"},"modified":"2026-09-16T10:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T07:00:07","slug":"adam-silver-in-closing-door-on-clippers-sends-message-to-nbas-owner-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2147216","title":{"rendered":"Adam Silver, in closing door on Clippers, sends message to NBA\u2019s owner class"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NEW YORK \u2014 There will be no mercy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe discipline is final,\u201d Adam Silver said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

You learn, in covering the NBA, never to say never. But Silver\u2019s words after the Board of Governors meeting don\u2019t leave any wiggle room for Steve Ballmer or the LA Clippers to appeal the unprecedented penalties the league issued a week ago<\/a> against both the league\u2019s wealthiest owner and his basketball team.<\/p>\n

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That means the yearlong suspensions Silver gave Ballmer and team president of business operations, Gillian Zucker, along with the six-month suspension levied against president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, will stand. It means Ballmer will not get back any of the $30 million fine he said he\u2019s already paid. Most importantly, it means those five consecutive first-round picks the league docked between 2029 and 2033 will remain unavailable. The NBA will not, as it did when the Minnesota Timberwolves were cited for cap circumvention by the late former commissioner David Stern in their free-agent contract with Joe Smith in 2000, return any picks for good behavior during the suspensions.<\/p>\n

Ballmer\u2019s mea culpa late Sunday night<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 in which he apologized to the team\u2019s fans and employees, and to his fellow governors, for \u201cthe distraction and distress\u201d the circumvention case caused, and that he \u201caccepted responsibility\u201d for said distraction\/distress \u2014 does not grease the skids for revisiting the punishment down the road.<\/p>\n

Stern\u2019s superpower was intimidating the people that were his bosses, at whose pleasure he served, when it came to business. If you weren\u2019t holding up your end on spending for your arenas, marketing, or sales, Stern would read you the riot act, no matter how lucrative your portfolio. And his rich bosses would fall into place. Silver isn\u2019t bombastic like that, but his actions against the Clippers \u2014 laser-focused and consequential \u2014 spoke volumes.<\/p>\n

Silver is standing on business. In doing so, he made one thing clear: The NBA thought it more important to go after the bigger, more difficult target to reach, rather than the more famous, easier one.<\/p>\n

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Pablo Torre reflects on the NBA’s historic ruling in the Kawhi Leonard case<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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