Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has been suspended for one year by the NBA.
The league’s investigation found Ballmer and the Clippers were guilty of violating the salary cap circumvention rules. The Clippers have been stripped of five first-round picks and have been fined $30 million.
“This was the biggest punishment ever handed out in the National Basketball Association. You know all of it at this point…This was a phenomenal level of incompetence from [Steve] Ballmer and the Clippers. They have screwed up almost a decade and a half of their franchise,” Simmons said on The Ringer.
“I never thought the Clippers would find a new rock bottom, but I think they have.”
Simmons believes Ballmer has outdone previous Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was forced to sell the team in 2014 after audio recordings of his racist remarks were revealed. Sterling faces a lifetime ban from NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Ballmer purchased the team from the Sterling family for $2 billion in 2014, with a fairly simple task after Stering sullied his reputation. But it appears the franchise drama has only continued under Ballmer, though he denies the findings of the NBA’s investigation.
There is speculation that the next step is Ballmer potentially striking back and filing a lawsuit against the NBA. The team’s statement on the results of the investigation indicate the salary cap saga is far from over.
“For the past year, we cooperated fully and in good faith and we will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence. We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process,” the Clippers statement read.
While the Clippers owner tries to prove otherwise, there has been overwhelming evidence indicating he was directly involved in violating the league’s salary cap circumvention rules.
Only time will tell where this story goes from here.
