By Carron J. Phillips
When Harvey Dent famously said, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” in the 2008 film “The Dark Knight,” he wasn’t just talking about his transformation into Two-Face. He was foreshadowing Adam Silver’s tenure as NBA commissioner.
After a months-long investigation into whether Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer broke the “cardinal rule of the NBA” by allegedly circumventing the league’s salary cap by paying Clippers star forward Kawhi Leonard millions under the table through sponsorship deals, reports surfaced that the league found no evidence of wrongdoing.
If you’re a sports fan who usually avoids politics, this news probably felt out of place, like something you might randomly see on C-SPAN. And if you’re heavy into politics but seldom follow sports, you might have thought there was a mistake in your morning newsletters.
“The fact that a player has an endorsement relationship with a company that also does business with his team is not evidence of salary-cap circumvention,” read a statement from the Clippers. “After nearly a year of scrutiny, the central fact remains true and unchanged: the Clippers did not funnel money to Kawhi Leonard, arrange for others to compensate him on our behalf, or otherwise provide him with undisclosed compensation outside of his NBA contract.”
What did or didn’t happen between Ballmer, Leonard, and the alleged involved partners is only part of the issue here. The league attacking the integrity of four of the most credible journalists who cover the sport could wind up being an even costlier blunder.
“ESPN’s article regarding the LA Clippers investigation — for which the NBA declined to cooperate — contains numerous and significant inaccuracies. The results in this matter will be made clear once the investigation is concluded,” league spokesman Mike Bass wrote in a public statement, admonishing the reporting of ESPN journalists Don Van Natta Jr., Baxter Holmes, and Ramona Shelburne. The statement prompted ESPN to release its own statement backing the reporting of its journalists.
The Clippers, who paid a fine in 2019 for breaking tampering rules that involved Leonard, were later investigated by the league for further allegations connected to him. Ironically, the league’s latest investigation into the Clippers started only after journalist/podcaster (and frequent Contrarian guest) Pablo Torre reported that Ballmer invested millions into a company that later signed Leonard to an endorsement deal that was characterized as a “no-show” job, as shown in the internal documents Torre uncovered.
Torre won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting. Van Natta has been a member of two Pulitzer-winning teams during his career. Yet Silver’s league wants you to ignore their work.
It is not an exaggeration to interpret this as the NBA suggesting that Pulitzer Prizes have no value, despite a winner of the award predicting this outcome.
“I think there’s a very real chance that Steve Ballmer emerges relatively unscathed. Which is kind of insane to me, according to my reporting,” Torre anticipated two weeks ago when discussing the case with sports radio host Dan Patrick. Earlier this week, Torre highlighted the absurdity of negotiations that were involved in this investigation. “This is typically not how investigations work, whether in the criminal justice system or in journalism,” he explained. “The subject of the investigation does not get to negotiate with the group that is doing the investigating.”
Though politics and news have often been breeding grounds for disbelief and conspiracy theories, in sports meritocracy replaces democracy, allowing contests to be perceived as “anybody’s game.” However, at a time in which we’ve already seen a World Cup elimination game feel as if it was potentially rigged by the government, rebuking journalists for uncovering alleged corruption feels more like something the White House would do than a professional basketball league.
From now on, when NBA owners are accused of breaking the rules, they will attempt to defend themselves by disparaging journalists (similar to someone else who often does so) despite the mountains of evidence that may have been revealed. It will be less of a diversion tactic and more of a decision to follow precedent.
Adam Silver built his reputation as NBA commissioner on how he once handled an investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers. He may have just ruined his reputation as commissioner because of how he’s mishandling an investigation into the same team. It’s a scenario that illustrates history rhyming but not repeating — like when former NBA Commissioner David Stern labeled former NBA referee Tim Donaghy a “rogue, isolated criminal“ for his alleged involvement in fixing games, just for several players and one coach in the league to be investigated by the FBI for links to organized crime and gambling 18 years later.
Carron J. Phillips is an award-winning journalist who writes on race, culture, social issues, politics, and sports. He hails from Saginaw, Michigan, and is a graduate of Morehouse College and Syracuse University. Follow his personal Substack to keep up with more of his work.
This is absolutely NO surprise. US companies and sports leagues are just copying what see being done by the orange convicted felon and all of his ass kissers and clan members in Washington DC.
Where's the difference? I, for one, believe Pablo Torre and the Pulitzer Prize committee.