Category: Basketball

Next week, the NBA Board of Governors — better known as the 30 team owners — is meeting in New York, and we know what will be the hot topic of discussion now.

The NBA has opened an investigation into allegations that the Los Angeles Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer circumvented the salary cap to get Kawhi Leonard an additional $28 million through a now-bankrupt environmental company, reporting done by Pablo Torre and team for the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast (PTFO).

While the NBA league office, under the guidance of Commissioner Adam Silver, will conduct the investigation, it is the other 29 owners who would have to vote on any sanctions or punishments. Right now, there are more questions than answers.

There are two key topics for the investigation looking forward. First, what did Ballmer and the Clippers know, and when did they know it? Second, depending on the findings (especially if the evidence is all circumstantial), how willing are the other 29 owners to come down hard on one of their own? There's a lot to get at, let's break it all down in bullet points.

Circumstantial vs. smoking gun evidence

• PTFO laid out a troubling timeline garnered through court records and former employees of Aspiration (a "green bank" whose model was to do large amounts of tree planting to gain carbon credits for its corporate clients, a company that has since filed for bankruptcy and had its CEO plead guilty to fraud).

That timeline: In September 2021, Ballmer made a personal $50 million investment in Aspiration. A couple of weeks later, Leonard signed a four-year, $176 million contract extension with the Clippers. At the Clippers' media day in September 2021, Ballmer announced a $300 million partnership with Aspiration as part of making the Intuit Dome "green" (a priority of his). Soon after, Kawhi Leonard signed a $28 million endorsement deal with Aspiration.

• That endorsement was what several Aspiration employees told Torre was a "no-show" job. Leonard never made any public appearances for the company, did not appear in its marketing, nor did he post anything on social media about Aspiration (as others who had endorsements with the company, such as Robert Downey Jr., had done). Leonard just collected the checks, using a clause in his endorsement deal that allowed him to get out of anything he didn't believe in (which was apparently everything).

• Multiple Aspiration employees said to PTFO they were told not to question the Leonard endorsement and that it was a way for the Clippers to circumvent the salary cap. It doesn't help the Clippers' case that Leonard's adviser, business partner and uncle, Dennis Robertson — who famously made unreasonable requests such as sponsorship deals, a house, a plane on call, and more when teams were recruiting Leonard in 2019 — is involved and helping Leonard cash those checks.

• Here's where it gets tricky for the league's investigators: All of that is circumstantial evidence.

• Ballmer investing in a green company that turned out to be a scam? He wasn't the only billionaire bilked by Aspiration and its CEO. Leonard signing an endorsement deal with Aspiration? Star players signing independent endorsement contracts with team sponsors is pretty common. The Aspiration employees PTFO spoke with said they were "told" this was to circumvent the NBA salary cap, which can be brushed aside as office rumors if there is no email or recorded conversation with Ballmer or a Clippers executive saying exactly that.

• The Clippers deny everything, saying they were scammed like everyone else, and that they had nothing to do with Leonard's endorsement deal and how that operated. Here is the Clippers' longer statement on the accusations, sent to a number of media members.

"Neither the Clippers nor Steve Ballmer circumvented the salary cap. The notion that Steve invested in Aspiration in order to funnel money to Kawhi Leonard is absurd. Steve invested because Aspiration's co-founders presented themselves as committed to doing right by their customers while protecting the environment.

"After a long campaign of market manipulation, which defrauded not only Steve but numerous other investors and sports teams, Aspiration filed for bankruptcy. Its co-founder, Joseph Sanberg, recently pleaded guilty to a $243 million fraud. Neither Steve nor the Clippers had knowledge of any improper activity by Aspiration or its co-founder until after the government initiated its investigation. Aspiration was a team sponsor for the 2021-2022 and 2022 2023 seasons before defaulting on its contract.

"There is nothing unusual or untoward about team sponsors doing endorsement deals with players on the same team. Neither Steve nor the Clippers organization had any oversight of Kawhi's independent endorsement agreement with Aspiration. To say otherwise is flat-out wrong.

"The Clippers take NBA compliance extremely seriously, fully respect the league's rules, and welcome its investigation related to Aspiration. The Clippers will also continue to cooperate with law enforcement in its investigation into Aspiration's blatantly fraudulent activity."

• The Clippers' defense is the same one politicians use all the time: Plausible deniability. Leonard and his representatives have yet to comment at all.

• This is where Mavericks' minority owner Mark Cuban comes in: He says Ballmer got scammed, but even if he wanted to circumvent the salary cap he is too smart to leave a paper trail.

Crime and Punishment

• A lot of fans and media members pointed to 2000, when the Minnesota Timberwolves were caught circumventing the salary cap with free agent Joe Smith (promising him a larger second contract if he signed a lower-priced one-year first one): Five first-round picks taken away (two were later returned), $3.5M fine (equivalent to a $6.7 million fine now), Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor was suspended for a year, team GM Kevin McHale was forced to take a leave of absence, and Joe Smith's contract was torn up. I have seen speculation online now that the league could force Ballmer to sell the team.

• Nothing that severe is happening. First, selling the team is off the table — the only time the league pushed an owner out was due to the backlash to the racist comments and actions of former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, and the misogynistic workplace backlash to former Suns owner Robert Sarver. Whatever the NBA's investigation finds with Ballmer, it is at most cheating the salary cap, which is not near the severity of the other issues.

• In the Joe Smith/Minnesota case, there was a paper trail — the sides agreed to that deal in writing. Again, whatever you think of Ballmer and what he's done here, Cuban is right: he's not that stupid.

• Which leads to the big question for the other owners: Assuming the investigation ends with a lot of coincidences and circumstantial evidence, but no smoking gun, and the Clippers vehemently denying anything untoward happened, how hard are they willing to come down on one of their own?

• The answer to that question starts with what exactly this investigation by the league finds. There is still a lot we don't know, and the Clippers have a lot of explaining to do to the league beyond that statement. Even without hard proof that Ballmer and the Clippers knew what was going on, if the investigation finds more circumstantial evidence, it is not good for the Clippers.

• The NBA CBA says that owners can be punished for "direct or circumstantial" evidence, something The Ringer’s Zach Lowe researched for his podcast. If the league and the other owners see this as a preponderance of circumstantial evidence, they could come down hard on Ballmer.

• There almost certainly will be some level of punishment for the Clippers — and it's not going to be the Knicks' slap-on-the-wrist losing a second-round draft pick after the league found New York tampered in recruiting Jalen Brunson. What other owners and front offices took away from the Knicks' punishment was that if the price to tamper with an elite player is just a second-round pick, it is worth it. The last thing the league wants is for the owners to take that same lesson about circumventing the salary cap, something Lowe notes.

• Despite what some have tried to say online, circumventing the cap like this is not common around the league. To pretend it never happens is naive, but it's not some common practice. The other owners who have been following the rules are not going to let the richest one of them start breaking them to his advantage.

• That said, don't expect the league and other owners to fully bring the hammer down on the Clippers in a truly franchise-changing way.

• The punishment phase of this is not going to happen for a long while. First up is the league's investigation and what it finds. That will set the tone.

This weekend, in Springfield, when Carmelo Anthony slips on the orange jacket and joins the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, he will have earned that spot. Many times over.

• He earned it by having arguably the best college freshman season ever, leading Syracuse to a national championship.

• He earned it by winning three Olympic gold medals with USA Basketball, setting 13 Olympic records along the way and being in the conversation for America's greatest international player ever.

• He earned it by being one of the most prolific scorers the NBA has ever seen, the foundation of a legendary NBA career.

Starting this fall, you can all that wisdom come into play as Carmelo Anthony joins NBC's broadcast team as the Association returns to NBC and Peacock.

‘Melo’s NBA Hall of Fame Case

That part about 'Melo's NBA Hall of Fame has gotten some odd pushback on social media, as if Anthony's NBA career alone wouldn't have made him a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Maybe that's a seed that got planted with some of his former coaches — George Karl and Phil Jackson, specifically — calling out 'Melo for dominating the ball too much or not playing enough defense during his career. Maybe there were fans who disliked Anthony's ball-dominant style and the physicality of his play. Perhaps it's because Anthony was the No. 3 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, and some tried to hype up a "Magic vs. Bird" rivalry with LeBron James that never materialized on the court (and they remain close friends off it). Maybe it's online trolls just doing what they do for attention. Whatever the reason, even Karl — the Nuggets coach who had a long-running feud with Anthony — is saying he is an unquestioned Hall of Fame.

Look at Anthony's NBA resume:

• 22.5 points and 6.2 rebounds a game across 19 NBA seasons
• Six-time All-NBA
• 10-time NBA All-Star
• 10th all-time in points scored (28,289)
• 2013 NBA scoring champion
• Member of NBA's 75th Anniversary Team member
• Finished in the top 15 in MVP voting six times

All of that doesn't even touch on him lifting up the Knicks organization in dark times, or the cultural impact he had on the league. The only knock can be "he didn't win a ring," but that's not exclusion worthy. Winning a title takes more than just being a star player, it's about being in the right organizations at the right time with the right teammates, and a little bit of luck. Maybe that didn't all come together for Anthony, but it doesn't diminish his NBA Career.

‘Melo in Olympics, at Syracuse

Nothing dispelled the "Carmelo is a ball hog" myth like watching Olympic 'Melo.

Surrounded by elite teammates she could trust, Anthony became the ultimate team player — he definitely still could get a bucket, but he also played within the up-tempo system and got his teammates going as well. He found his groove.

The debate about the greatest USA Basketball men's player ever on the Olympic stage is between Anthony and Kevin Durant. That's it. Which alone could be Hall of Fame worthy.

Then there is college, where Anthony had arguably the greatest freshman season in the history of NCAA hoops, leading Syracuse to the national title.

In his one season with the Orange, Anthony averaged 22.2 points, 10 rebounds and 2.2 assists a game. He put up those numbers efficiently, despite defenses throwing everything they could at him.

Combine all that, and there can be no doubt. Some NBA fans forget this is the "Basketball Hall of Fame" — what happens internationally, what happens in college and high school matters, too.

However, even if this were an NBA-only Hall of Fame, Carmelo Anthony would be voted in on the first ballot. Without question. To suggest otherwise is just being a troll.

Cam Thomas wasn't going to wait around for another month to see if things changed. He made his call.

The restricted free agent is rejecting the offers Brooklyn put in front of him and is signing the qualifying offer: A one-year, $6 million contract that gives him a no-trade clause for this season, then makes him an unrestricted free agent next summer, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN.

Brooklyn's offer to Thomas reportedly was maxed out at two years, around $28 million, with a team option on the second year of that deal — a very trade-friendly contract. Thomas, who averaged 24 points a game last season, sees himself as one of the NBA's elite scorers and wanted a multi-year contract that started well above $20 million a season and did not involve team options. However, with the Nets having leverage in the negotiations — no team had the cap space to give Thomas an offer sheet like he wanted, which Brooklyn likely would have matched anyway as was their right with a restricted free agent — the Nets offered a contract starting at about mid-level exception money of $14.1 million.

Thomas has bet on himself. He is betting that another season of putting up numbers — he and Michael Porter Jr. will have an all-you-can-eat shots buffet on a rebuilding Nets team in need of scoring this season — will have teams jumping at him as a free agent next summer, when as many as 10 teams are expected to have significant cap space.

However, that comes with risk. The first is simply money on the table: Thomas has made $10.5 million total in four NBA seasons; the Nets offer, even in its lowball form, was for 140% more money next season than his career earnings. That's a lot of cheddar to leave on the table, hoping it can be made up later.

The second big question: Is Thomas' demand what he thinks it will be? Thomas sees himself as the guy who averaged 24 points a game last season, who is an improved creator out of the pick-and-roll, who shot 39.4% from 3 last season and draws double teams. The perception in league circles is that he is more of a volume scorer, with questions about his efficiency in getting those buckets and his defense. Thomas has a valuable skill as a bucket getter, but teams don't see him as a long-term building block and are not willing to pay him as such. When The Athletic’s Fred Katz polled 16 executives about what would be a fair contract for Thomas, results were all over the map, with one executive willing to go up close to $30 million a season, but the average was $16.7 million. And to a man, nobody wanted to do more than a two-year contract. As one executive said to Katz, Thomas' scoring is very eye of the beholder.

Thomas has pushed back hard against that perception, calling out The Ringer's Zach Lowe for saying front offices see him as "an empty calorie ball hog.

Except that is the perception in a lot of front offices. Thomas has bet big on himself, now having a year to win over front offices and secure himself a big bag next summer when he becomes a free agent.

God Shammgod had haters. At age 15.

Just when a teenage Shammgod was emerging as a New York City playground legend for his handles at places like Rucker Park, there were some old heads who had other names for him. They didn't see a guy whose dribble foretold the future of the game, they saw a showboat.

"Like 25 years earlier, people used to ridicule me for dribbling like this or being too fancy or stuff like that," Shammgod told NBC Sports while discussing his new book, ‘Word of God.' "And now when you look at the NBA or any college, any high school, if you can't dribble, you might not have a job.

"It's funny because when I talk to certain kids.., I'm like, 'Y'all don't know how good y'all got it.' I'm like, 'In my era, I was ridiculed for this.' So I'm glad I'm getting praise now, but I'm like, man, only if y'all knew what I went through growing up where I wasn't being praised for this."

There is praise now. Shammgod — and the signature crossover named after him — have become legend within the league.

As the NBA game evolved in the past couple of decades — with 3-point shooting becoming a priority for all five spots — the floor opened up, putting a premium on high-level ball handling. It's not just point guards and maybe a wing who need to have handles now, it's everyone. Modern centers like Victor Wembanyama are out there pulling off the Shammgod in games.

What was once seen as "showboating" is now a coveted skill — and they want Shammgod to coach it. (He is currently an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic.)

"Now you see the way the NBA had to accept it and basketball as a whole had to accept it, that you could tell a difference between a person showing off and the person really playing basketball," Shammgod said. "Like, you got Kyrie Irving and you got Steph Curry and stuff like that, where this is just a part of their game. And that's how I felt with me growing up. But when we growing up, it wasn't really acceptable."

Passing along lessons

Teaching guys how to dribble was something Shammgod was asked to do going back to the 1995 ABC Camp when "Jelly Bean" Bryant asked him to work with his son, Kobe (a story Shammgod tells in his book). What Shammgod did not know then was that his teaching skills would add to his legend.

What he teaches NBA players about handles is not a formula, but rather the opposite — he urges players to be creative and intuitive. To go with their natural flow.

"Some people dribble like robots and some people dribble. So it's just all about teaching them how to find their own unique flow," Shammgod said. "Like they don't need to dribble like me, like they need to find their own unique flow.

"And I think that's why a lot of players work with me because I never try to make them me. I try to find their own unique flow and just bring that out of them. So like, if you only, if you only going to dribble three, three dribbles every time you catch the ball, then I need to make you the best three dribble person in the world."
As he describes in “Word of God," — in between a wealth of great stories from a man who has been around so much in the game — what Shammgod is trying to teach is more intuitive for a hooper than what can be found in endless drills. It's about comfort level with that flow.

"Like only thing I did was I always wanted to make sure I was comfortable in uncomfortable situations when it came to basketball. So I just read and react. And sometimes the moves are amazing. Sometimes the moves are regular.

"I think I'm so relevant because I, the way I play is how kids play today."

Those kids now have made Shammgod more popular than ever. Which might shock some old heads on New York City playgrounds a couple of decades ago.

We already knew next February's NBA All-Star Game — broadcast on NBC and Peacock — was going to be a USA vs. World format, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed it.

Now we have a few more details. The NBA's Competition Committee was presented with the idea of three 8-man teams — two USA, one World team — playing in a round-robin format, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. These would be 12-minute games, three of them, with the undefeated team (if there is one) taking the title. The idea was presented by the NBA and the players' union to the committee (made of owners, GMs and players) and received positive feedback, according to the report.

A few quick thoughts on this:

• The USA vs. World format fits perfectly on NBC and Peacock in 2026 because the NBA All-Star Game falls in the middle of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. While Silver was vague on details, this is expected to be a Ryder Cup-style format, featuring the USA vs. the World.

• The 2026 NBA All-Star Game in Southern California (at the Clippers' new Intuit Dome) will be played in the afternoon Pacific time, allowing for a Winter Olympic lead-in and more Olympic content on NBC and Peacock after the NBA exhibition.

• Making it a three-team round robin eliminates the need for a fourth team to fill out a bracket-style tournament, as was done last year in San Francisco. The fourth team in that tournament was the winner of the Rising Stars game (rookies and sophomores) and those youngsters getting on the Sunday All-Star stage was not popular with veteran players and other All-Stars who were voted onto the team by fans or selected by coaches for their play.

• An eight-man World Team roster would be stacked — the last seven MVP winners were international players. The world team could be an eight-man roster of Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Victor Wembanyama, Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam and Jamal Murray — and that doesn't include Franz Wagner, Lauri Markkanen, Kristaps Porzingis, Alperen Sengun and Rudy Gobert.

• When asked about a potential USA vs. World format at last February's All-Star weekend, international players were far more enthusiastic than the Americans.

"I would love that. Oh, I would love that," Antetokounmpo said. "I think that would be the most interesting and most exciting format. I would love that. For sure, I'd take pride in that."

It was Baby Jokic's day.

In a showdown of All-Star NBA centers, it was Alperen Sengun's day as he outdueled Nikola Jokic and was the key reason Turkiye handed Serbia its first loss of EuroBasket, 95-90, in what was the highest level of play we have seen so far in the tournament.

With that win, Turkiye remains undefeated and takes Group A, while Serbia falls to 4-1 and second in the group.

Two other teams punched their tickets on Wednesday for the knockout round and the final 16 of EuroBasket.

In a straight-up win-or-go-home game from Group A, Portugal got 15 points from Celtics center Neemias Queta and then were able to hang on after he was ejected in the third quarter to beat Estonia 68-65. In Group B, Montenegro needed only to beat winless Great Britain to advance, but the British earned the win instead, creating a three-way tie at 1-4 for the final knockout round spot. Based on point differential, Sweden – led by Miami's Pelle Larsson — advances to the next round.

With that, four of the Round of 16 knockout games are set, all to be played on Saturday:

Turkiye vs. Sweden
Serbia vs. Finland
Latvia vs. Lithuania
Portugal vs. Germany

The most star-studded game of those four will see Jokic and a deep Serbian side taking on Utah's Lauri Markkanen — who has been a force in this tournament — and Finland.

There are two remaining spots in the round of 16 from Group C, and they will be set on Thursday.

Kawhi Leonard had a $28 million endorsement deal with a now bankrupt environmental startup where he did no work, essentially a "no-show job," for a company Clippers owner Steve Ballmer had made a $50 million investment in, per an investigation from Pablo Torre Finds Out (PTFO), reported Wednesday on his podcast. That investigation claims the Clippers tried to circumvent the salary cap with this deal.

"We are aware of this morning's media report regarding the LA Clippers and are commencing an investigation," NBA spokesman Mike Bass told NBC Sports.

That company in question was called Aspiration, a "green bank" whose model was to do large amounts of tree planting to gain carbon credits for its corporate clients. Aspiration had a long list of celebrity endorsements including Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr. and Drake. Leonard agreed to his endorsement deal in 2021; however, the deal was not made public and Leonard never made an appearance or so much as a social media post for Aspiration, PTFO reports.

In 2021, prior to Leonard's endorsement deal (but after Leonard signed a four-year, $176 million contract extension to stay in Los Angeles), Clippers owner Steve Ballmer made a $50 million investment in Aspiration. The company became a founding partner in the Clippers' then-under-construction new home, the Intuit Dome. Ballmer often emphasized his plans to make the arena a green building.

Torre's reporting works to connect Ballmer's donation and Leonard's endorsement deal through internal documents and comments from multiple Aspiration employees, alleging a functional workaround for the NBA's salary cap — something that would bring the wrath of the league down on the Clippers, if true.

One source, described by PTFO as a former Aspiration finance employee, said: "We went through a litany of really, really top-tier name contracts. And then, 'Oh, by the way, we also have a marketing deal with Kawhi Leonard' — and that if I had any questions about it, essentially don't, because it was to circumvent the salary cap." Leonard's deal with Aspiration gave him the ability to reject anything he didn't want to do for the company with no consequences, PTFO reported.

The Clippers vehemently deny all the accusations, stating that neither Ballmer nor the Clippers had ties to Leonard's endorsement deal. They also state that the team severed ties with Aspiration after the company failed to fulfill its end of the agreement with the team and Intuit Dome.

The Clippers sent this statement to NBC Sports:

"Neither Mr. Ballmer nor the Clippers circumvented the salary cap or engaged in any misconduct related to Aspiration. Any contrary assertion is provably false. The team ended its relationship with Aspiration years ago, during the 2022–23 season, when Aspiration defaulted on its obligations. Neither the Clippers nor Mr. Ballmer was aware of any improper activity by Aspiration or its co-founder until after the government instituted its investigation. The team and Mr. Ballmer stand ready to assist law enforcement in any way they can."

It is unknown — or, at the very least, has not been proven — whether Ballmer had direct knowledge of Leonard's endorsement contract with Aspiration.

While all of this with the Clippers was going on, Aspiration and its business model were falling apart. A federal investigation into Aspiration and its eventual bankruptcy led to co-founder Joe Sanberg pleading guilty two weeks ago to defrauding investors of more than $248 million. That investigation is ongoing, as is the bankruptcy. In that bankruptcy, the Clippers, Forum Entertainment (another Ballmer company, this one for a popular concert venue about a mile from the Intuit Dome) and Leonard's LLC are the three largest creditors, The Athletic reports.

Back in 2019, when Leonard first came to the Clippers after helping lead the Raptors to a title, there were multiple reports that Leonard's adviser, business partner and uncle, Dennis Robertson, made unreasonable requests such as sponsorship deals, a house, a plane on call, and more — all of which would have violated the CBA. (The Lakers reportedly felt they got played in their Leonard pursuit.) The NBA investigated the matter but found no wrongdoing on the part of the Clippers. That case was several years before and is not directly tied to this investigation.