Steve Ballmer may skirt harshest charge in NBAs Kawhi Leonard investigation

The most consequential outcome of the NBA’s Kawhi Leonard investigation may not be the punishment.It may be the road map the league leaves behind.After nearly a year examining whether the Clippers circumvented the salary cap through Leonard’s endorsement relationships with team sponsors, the investigation reportedly appears to be moving away from its most serious possibility.ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne said discussions between the league and Steve Ballmer’s lawyers have focused more on a potential “failure to supervise” and the Clippers’ introductions of Leonard’s representatives to sponsors than on direct evidence that Ballmer funneled money to his star.Shelburne called direct cap circumvention the investigation’s “murder charge”—the most serious allegation and the hardest to prove.The NBA has cautioned that the investigation remains unfinished and accused ESPN’s previous account of containing “numerous and significant inaccuracies.” Ballmer, Leonard and the Clippers have denied circumventing the cap.

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So does the direction of the reported negotiations.If the league concludes that an owner can introduce a player to team business partners, benefit from the resulting arrangement and avoid the harshest accountability unless investigators uncover a direct order or payment, it will create a dangerous blueprint.Future teams would not need a secret contract.They would only need some distance.An owner could connect a superstar with a sponsor, allow intermediaries to handle the terms and later claim no knowledge of what occurred.

Plausible deniability would become a roster-building strategy.That would undermine the salary cap’s purpose.Competitive balance becomes impo...