CLIPPERS ESCAPE CALAMITY

By Lane C.

Staff Writer

Good morning. Billionaires! They do what they must, because they can.

Gone are the days of the hometown tycoon buying teams up out of conquest and, perhaps equally, ego. In hindsight, those guys still resembled sports fans. As NBA teams have surged to an average selling price of around $5 billion, the comparatively plebeian rich folk with only a few billion to their name simply can’t outpunch the new age money. The upkeep of a team has proven to be quite an annoyance to Trailblazers owner Tom Dundon, who has famously cut costs in such egregious ways as canceling free t-shirt night.

On the other end of the spectrum, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been able to run his Clippers team (purchased for $2 billion in 2014) as one might run a fantasy football team in a league with a $15 buy-in. With an estimated net worth of $145 billion, perhaps one can understand how he might struggle to understand or concern himself with the rules and laws of the layman.

When the story broke that Kawhi Leonard had received millions of dollars in endorsements from a company Ballmer was an investor in, many fans believed that such an obvious circumvention of the salary cap would warrant some sort of punishment. The cofounder of the company was even arrested for falsifying financial data. Now, the NBA has reportedly found no wrongdoing after investigating. What happened? Perhaps in assuming consequences, we have overlooked reality. This class of person does not live in the same realm as you do.

In believing that NBA commissioner Adam Silver might bring the hammer down, many fans forget that his job is, first and foremost, to make the owners and the league more money. It is not unfair to compare him to a personal lawyer for the owners in this sense. Someone in such a position works for Ballmer, not the other way around. In Silver’s eyes, his only mistake was failing to cover the story up more effectively.