NBA Drops The Hammer On Clippers After Kawhi Leonard Scandal!

Clippers will be irrelevant for years after NBA drops hammer on franchise Kobe Price of the California Post Has been all over the news and he's the one that wrote the article So let's talk about one of the harshest penalties dished out in league history Kobe your last name is fitting because Steve Ballmer and the Clippers are definitely paying the price for Cheating I did there right there Here we go five straight first-round picks gone from 2029 to 2033 and they can't even trade around it But the league only finds quiet. So why was the NBA so harsh on the Clippers? But they took it out on this took it easy on. Mr. Leonard Well, first off via means the five first-round picks 30 million dollar fine for the organization They're gonna be overlooked or watched over by the league for a foreseeable future and Steve Ballmer suspended for a year Lawrence Frank president of Basketball operations suspended for half a year six months and then Julian Zucker president of business operations suspended for a full year So yeah The league brought the hammer down on the Clippers and Adam silver, you know in his statement that he released as part of the NBA's announcement essentially said like the the punishments are so harsh just because of the the actions in the you know, the report will the allegations report just how strong and just how For a lack of better term just how messed up it was like they saw Larry Conn what you're saying earlier just blatant cheating breaking the rules and the league is making it clear to not just the Clippers but the entire NBA They're not gonna stand for that. They're not gonna have that. So there's a precedent From you know, mm with Joe Smith and the Timberwolves of the draft picks, but the fine I mean the fine was pretty steep as well obviously in addition to The suspensions and the big question is okay, I mean obviously the Clippers are now gonna try to fight it It doesn't seem to really be like many avenues for them to fight it But at least in the right now, it seems like I'm gonna try to fight it But in the interim who's gonna run the Clippers? What does this mean for the future? But for what we do know the league took this matter very seriously and that's reflected upon The punishments that the Clippers are taking on and that's for Kawhi It seemed pretty clear that they saw Kawhi more so connected to to The rules being broken not as a perpetrator if that makes sense All right, so let's go back to the Clippers and what options they're left with I mean realistically how or what options does the front office now have to try and build anything? Competitive through the draft for the better part of a decade with all those first-round picks gone Does this basically force them to be a win now or a bus mode with the roster that they currently have? Potentially but I think you can look at another way in the sense of look, you know assuming that this trade between the Clippers and the Raptors does go through where Kawhi Leonard goes back to Toronto and and the Clippers receive running Ingram Grady Dick a couple of first-round picks and a second round pick like those are you know, those are parts in terms of Rebuilding the team and those may not be played you may not keep these players like in terms of trade assets obviously, you can't trade the picks up until the draft, but you still do have young players like Grady Dick you do have you know in their prime all-star caliber players like Brennan Ingram and Darius Garland You know this roster, you know funny enough the Clippers were looking at a rebuild, you know, they traded away Zubach they trade their way trade. Excuse me traded away James Harden and they're in the process of trading away Kawhi Leonard So the players that they receive in those trades will prop couldn't know very likely be players that they look to trade out Whether it's for more draft picks to rebuild their roster Or just you know other young players throughout the league who fit their timeline a little bit better as opposed to in their prime good players right now You mentioned Balmer being out for years Zucker being out without pay as well. That's ownership and business operations both both of those Important Departments gone at the same time. So now who's in charge of the organization's day-to-day right now and how much Influence does that person or those people have on everyday basketball decisions this season? Yeah, as of right now that still remains to be determined the Clippers haven't officially announced Who was going to be an interim? I mean again There are a variety of people who have been suspended between the owner the end the presidents of basketball in business operations The other one of the big questions too is who's gonna be the governor like again? Who even who's gonna be the governor who's gonna be, you know representing the Clippers, you know at the Board of Governors meeting There is a Board of Governors meeting. I believe in exactly two weeks, so Assuming Steve Balmer can't be a part of those discussions to be part of the meeting Who's gonna be representing the Clippers then it could be Dennis wall And he does have an ownership stake in the franchise and I believe you know from my understanding He was listed as the alternate governor. So maybe you know, he's the one who's looked upon to kind of Put the pieces back into place as the Clippers look to rebuild Rebuild things for the foreseeable future next six months to a year to go back to why? Does this scandal follow his legacy the way the Timberwolves Joe Smith scandal still kind of gets brought up? 25 years later like how do how does the NBA now look at Kawhi's legacy? I mean, let's be this we're gonna be completely honest Joe Smith. That's probably the most The biggest notable thing from his NBA career probably right just being attached to that scandal Kawhi Leonard. That's not the case This is a guy we're talking about a premier up. Excuse me perennial all-nba caliber player two times final MVP Obviously, he's going back to Toronto where he was responsible Big part in the Raptors winning their lone NBA championship So yes, when we you know, when Kawhi retires and however many years and we look back on this part of his career Obviously, this will be brought up. This will be brought up, you know, the Clippers time with the Clippers the disappointment, you know The cap circumvention that surrounded him that followed him in his seven years with the franchise But no, I do not think it's gonna be attached to his legacy in the same way that we attach the Timberwolves scandal from 2000 to Joe Smith's legacy. I just think Kawhi Leonard. He's I think it's fair to say He's he's produced at a whole different level strats for a player Compared to Joe Smith and that's no disrespect. That's just I think the fact of the matter I mean I can agree with you on that I just think it's funny quite get some trouble and he leaves the country like we say I'm out of here. I'm going north Drake's gonna take care of me. That's what I'm saying He's going back to the place where yeah, he won that's how so they're gonna he's gonna go back a hero He's gonna come back in here. I was like, he lived that he lived, uh, left the organization on fire and it's deuces. Peace out So yeah, he's here should be fun new balances for everybody here for everybody All right, Kobe. I appreciate you hop it all with this man appreciate