Amin Elhassan on Kawhi Leonard Los Angeles Clippers
Credit: The Dan Le Batard Show
The NBA’s investigation into Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers appears to be reaching its final stages, and the dispute over the ultimate ruling is spilling into the public.
The saga began nearly a year ago, when the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast published an investigation showing evidence that the Clippers worked with arena sponsor Aspiration, an environmental firm, to circumvent the salary cap and compensate Leonard beyond his contract.
After several twists and turns, including the recent revelation that the Clippers may have also facilitated a similar deal between Leonard and another arena sponsor, ESPN published a story this week reporting that the NBA had found “no evidence” that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer “funneled” money to Leonard. Quickly, the league put out a statement disputing ESPN’s story, saying it had “numerous and significant inaccuracies.”
ESPN issued its own response:
“We stand by our reporting, which included numerous attempts by ESPN to get comment from the NBA,” an ESPN spokesperson told Awful Announcing.
Then on Tuesday, Amin Elhassan, a contributor to Torre’s coverage of the Leonard scandal, weighed in on The Dan Le Batard Show. Elhassan, who also worked in the Phoenix Suns front office and hosts a weekly radio show for SiriusXM NBA, suggested that ESPN was parroting the Clippers’ perspective and said he found the story “hard to believe.”
“Before I even saw (NBA spokesperson) Mike Bass’s statement, I was like, ‘I find that hard to believe,'” Elhassan said. “Based on all the things that we’ve presented and all the things that we have still yet to present. I find it hard to believe they would be like, ‘Yeah, we didn’t do anything wrong.'”
“(The NBA) could have just kept quiet. For them to come out that quickly … the story probably contains significant inaccuracies.”
While Elhassan stopped short of claiming foul play by ESPN, he accused the network’s reporters of relying on sources who are “trying to influence the news cycle.”
“My thing is always this. I believe reporters are always trying to get it right … but their one vulnerability is the source,” he explained. “I can get multiple independent sources who give me incorrect information. Whether that’s because they had it wrong, whether that’s because they’re trying to influence the news cycle, it happens, and it happens a lot.”
Later, top producer Mike Ryan pointed out how unique it was to see ESPN and the NBA not on the same page.
“What happened yesterday was fascinating. We have to keep in mind, the NBA and ESPN are partners,” he said.
“While everyone’s getting their jokes off on Pablo Torre and everyone’s assuming the league partner is carrying water for the league, and this is all the plan, the NBA comes out with a statement that … was a lot stronger than anything they directed in the direction of Pablo or his reports. I think that part has to be paid attention to.
“I think the league was really upset at the optics, and already setting the expectation that there would be zero consequence here. But it’s very rare for this to happen, that they’re not aligned, ESPN’s reporters and the league.”
Considering that ESPN cited three sources close to “discussions” between the NBA and the Clippers, the Le Batard Show crew also questioned why those talks happened at all. The ESPN story suggests the league may pin its punishment on lower-level Clippers employees rather than Ballmer or the team’s basketball operations executives. Talks between the NBA and the Clippers would look like a settlement rather than a punishment.
For weeks, as Torre has openly cast doubt on the likelihood of Ballmer being punished, he and others around Meadowlark Media have openly challenged the NBA. Torre and Le Batard alleged that the league and commissioner Adam Silver were afraid to rule against Ballmer for fear he would retaliate and attempt to undermine the salary cap rules and their legal legitimacy.
Even after ESPN published reporting that appeared to back up their argument, Elhassan and Ryan became more skeptical of ESPN over the insinuation that Torre’s reporting would not result in a punishment. By going public with a rebuttal, the NBA has opened itself up to further questions about its process and the investigation overall — one that Elhassan believes is pretty straightforward.
“To me, open-and-shut case right there,” he said.