Adam Silver addressed the NBA’s investigation into whether the Los Angeles Clippers circumvented the salary cap with Aspiration’s endorsement deal with Kawhi Leonard. Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix asked Silver what he needs to see to determine the Clippers have committed a foul. The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement indicates that circumstantial evidence may be sufficient if it “cannot be rationally explained.”
“Someone asked me if circumstantial evidence is enough, and just like in a court of law, sometimes there is direct evidence and sometimes there is circumstantial evidence,” Silver said. And certainly, circumstantial evidence alone does not preclude findings on one side. But even with circumstantial evidence you look at the totality of the circumstances. So it is not a formula. We will look at everything presented to us, and that includes inferences drawn from evidence.”
Silver was also asked whether he expects this to be a lengthy investigation.
“I really don’t know,” Silver replied. “I can say it will take some time, just based on past experience. From the reporting so far, many of the sources are anonymous, but there are several. And you have a separate legal proceeding here. We have a guilty plea [by Aspiration cofounder Joe Sanberg for wire fraud]. So there’s a fair amount of evidence that we can look at. The stakes are very high here. “We want to be careful as a league and make sure that we are not only fair to the Clippers and Steve Ballmer, but also that we fully understand what happened here.”
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